PressPausePlay

The digital media age

We watched the documentary PressPausePlay, and I chose to answer the question (with a focus on graphic design): 

How has new technology democratised media? What possibilities and problems are posed by this democratisation?

The advent of cheap and readily available equipment, whatever field your ambitions lie in (i.e. a PC, software and relevant digital equipment - recording, photography, design, etc) has enabled everyone to "have a go". The explosion of the internet and the ability to share whatever you have created immediately has caused a deluge of work to flood the internet, via YouTube and social media. With the plethora out there, it can be hard to break through all the noise and get noticed. However, potentially your work can reach a much larger audience than would have been possible before. If you work the system well and learn the skills of internet networking, you can achieve a huge following. 

Creatives no longer need to get a record deal and a publisher, they have the ability to produce their own music and upload it for anyone browsing, or who subscribes to their blog, Twitter feed, YouTube channel etc, to view it.

Before equipment became so affordable, only professionals would have access to the relevant tools. Only graphic designers would own the equipment necessary and have the skills to create good work. Now anyone can access software relatively cheaply, or even a pirated copy for free. Lessons are viewable online and work can be uploaded to Behance, for instant feedback from the design community. Everyone now thinks they can be a graphic designer. Now YouTube can teach you anything you want to learn, there is no mystery to the profession. 

A graphic designer no longer needs an agent or to work for an agency. Work can be sought on line, or those commissioning work can find designers from their online portfolio or other online presence. The internet has meant that designers can work from home, for a company located the other end of the country, or the opposite side of the world. They can create their own brand and manage their own time. It is possible to publish your work and get a commission or employment immediately now.  It is also very easy to share work and collaborate with anyone, no matter where they are. Software now does it all. It speeds up workflow, meaning jobs can be accomplished in a fraction of the time. Sharing digitally means there is no waiting for the post to arrive, and responses and feedback are immediate. 

More people can now express themselves creatively than ever before, meaning that this way of relaxing, creating and calming has benefitted an enormous amount of people. Younger people can now teach themselves and skills are not necessarily acquired by only those who have served their time and worked their way up the ranks. Producing work that is available to all is not now the preserve of the educated white middle classes who had the opportunities of privilege and education. Work is produced by younger people for their contemporaries, not by people who "think" they know what that generation responds to. Money isn't needed to get your work seen, only Internet savvy and good social media skills. 

However, not everyone has talent, the internet phenomena of a particular kind of celebrity means that recognition goes to those with the most clicks, likes, or fans. Some might say that we are drowning in a sea of mediocrity and that this dumbed down level will become the new norm - are we entering a new dark age of creativity?

For those people that were successful before digitalisation, would they now have been noticed? Would their work be so good, now that computer skills are so relevant? How would their work have got noticed through the noise? The computer can create work that only those with experience and skills could have done before. By downloading templates, photography, and a watching quick YouTube lesson those with basic skills can accomplish a high standard of work, without any creative skills themselves. 

One person can now perform many functions - photographer, illustrator, typographer, and graphic designer meaning that person's vision and ideas do not get watered down. Their vision remains evident in the final work. 

It is now just as important to be taught the skills of ideation and communicating, of team working and self promotion, and of adapting to change, as it is to learn the fundamentals of design. Creativity is more important now than the knowledge of craft. Technology changes so quickly that those skills soon become obsolete. 

Purely digital work can be seen as soulless, too perfect and without character. Some designers work with both physical media and digital, combining them to achieve something more personal. Print making is popular because every piece is individual. Buyers want to see evidence of the craft, and they want something just a little bit unique. 

People consume digitally with much less focus - click click click through the Pinterest wormhole while watching TV or eating a meal. Everyone is more distracted and less able to focus. We live in a world where we can't truly relax and unplug ourselves. Everyone wants to be fed snippets of information or imagery, for 2 seconds before moving on. Have we become unable to concentrate?

You don't just have to be a good graphic designer now, you have to be a good marketeer. You need to understand how to make social media work for you. You must embrace it and utilise it, making contacts and gaining a following. Digital content can be given away for free in self-promotion.

Art is no longer elitist, it is truly democratised. The visions of William Morris and the Bauhaus have been realised, in a format that they could never have imagined. As the documentary stated, for most of us "this is the best shot you'll ever get".