Groundbreaking technology — Apple computers

The art scene took a different turn in the road when in 1984 the first computer was introduced to the world — an Apple computer that employed bit-mapped graphics with a resolution of 72 dpi on a screen that was slightly larger than a postcard. Amazing.

There were three big companies at this time that had introduced groundbreaking technology: Apple computers, Adobe and Aldus.

A large advantage of Apple computers at this time was their simplicity, and user-friendly nature. Having an application that was easy-to-use was vital at this time. Apple came complete with a mouse and applications including paint and many typefaces.

At the same time, Adobe was developing PostScript technology that contained a cleaner version of type than bit-maps. Adobe was also developing a new layout application called PageMaker, which a University of Oregon student invented.

Up until this time, design was mainly challenged movement to movement by the past movement’s philosophies. Now, with substantial technology emerging from the 1980s on, the ever-evolving technology and new media challenged the art world.

There were now all new possibilities with working with type and layout, and constant software development was being introduced.

Before this new technology, producing a publication contained a very long list of editors, writers, designers, typesetters, graphic artists, paste-up specialists, pre-production, plate makers, press operators and more.

In the mid 1980s, desktop publishing came to the forefront and combined many of the jobs from the list above, changing the art world as we knew it.