Diss Final

‘Do digital technologies of the World Wide Web create new
jobs or do they only induce graphic designers to increment
their skills?’
Ashley Samways
BA Hons Graphic Design Year Three
2015

‘Do digital technologies of the World Wide Web create new jobs or
do they only induce graphic designers to increment their skills?’
Ashley Samways
BA Hons Graphic Design Year Three
2015

Submission Declaration
‘Do digital technologies of the World Wide Web create new jobs or
do they only induce graphic designers to increment their skills?’
Submitted by Ashley Samways to Plymouth College of Art in
partnership with Open University as a dissertation towards the
degree of Bachelor of Arts by study in BA (Hons) Graphic Design,
2015.I certify that all material in this dissertation which is not my
own work has been identified:
SIGN HERE………………..…………….............................................

Abstract
Background: This dissertation is my personal research project into a field that I wish to
be part of which is Web design. I myself am I Graphic Designer so I thought important
to understand where this field developed from, the history and workings of that. The
way in which commercially it has adapted to the standard we all use today. I also look
into what application it has for both designer and client, where the future of its use may
be leaning towards in the future as well as to how what exactly is a modern job in this
field consisted of these days. In short I aim to investigate whether this industry has
created a demand for work that I can personally step into, or, should I begin to
specialise in this field for the future.
Research: My primary source of research has been a mixture of books, online
sources, online books, blogging and interview based information that I alone have
sourced and conducted. In my primary research interviews, I have conducted them to
Designers that have worked through this time of change to ascertain their personal
experience. Through which I have tried to look at a broad spectrum of the history and
potential trends that the World Wide Web may develop into for future work for
designers of all paths. I have also tried to explain how Design itself has been effected
by the change in digital media, the way it is accessed, created and exhibited in a
modern society.
Conclusion: A research lead analysis, backed by personal research, highlighting using
trends observed the information relevant to the subject around the future and
probability of progress already observed.

List of Contents
List of Illustrations............................................................................. 1
Acknowledgements.......................................................................... 2
Introduction....................................................................................... 3
Chapter 1- History of the Web.......................................................... 5
Chapter 1.5- Growth of Web accessibility........................................ 8
Chapter 2 - Progression of Web in industry ................................... 10
Chapter 2.5 - Growth of web codes: Accessibility ......................... 14
Chapter 3- Progression to modern standards................................ 16
Chapter 4- Alternative Digital media .............................................. 21
Chapter 5- Have technologies created jobs in industry for
Graphics? ....................................................................................... 24
Conclusion...................................................................................... 28
Reference List ................................................................................ 30
Bibliography.................................................................................... 33

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List of Illustrations
Fig.1 A screenshot of the world's first Web browser. Homepage (1991)
[http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-the-world-wide-web--
webdesign-8710]
Fig. 2 Viola Browser. Home page (1992)
[http://www.donmouth.co.uk/web_design/browsermuseum/browsermuseum.html]
Fig. 3 Pepsi Corporation Website. Home page (1996)
Fig. 4 Coca Cola Website. Home page (1996)
Fig.5 Pepsi Corporation Website. Homepage (2013)
Fig. 6 ‘Design for the audience’ Illustration Amy Samuel (14 / 2 / 2012)
[https://www.back40design.com/blog/m.blog/83/design-for-the-audience]
Fig.7 ‘6 Platform updates You should know about’ Tamar Koifman (8/10/2010)
[http://fashionscollective.com/FashionAndLuxury/08/6-facebook-platform-updates-
you-should-know-about/]

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Acknowledgements
I wish to firstly thank my tutors, Frederique Santune, Kamal Gohil, Andy Way &
Matt Thame, for the valuable guidance and direction throughout tutorials and
lectures, ultimately enabling me to produce this dissertation. I also want to
acknowledge my family, my miserable flat mate back home, my friends and
doting girlfriend who have supported me through this lengthy process and
towards the completion of my project.

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Introduction
‘The medium is the message’ (McLuhan, 2001: 1) a phrase, coined by Marshall
McLuhan in his work Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, first published in
1964 which embodies successful design over the past fifty years. The understanding
of audiences and their interaction with any semiotically derived format is a designer’s
greatest asset due to forever changing tools of skill and knowledge. Design is a tool of
industry; digital media is the biggest development in terms of design in the past 30
years, of which the World Wide Web (WWW) is at the global fore front of this medium.
To understand the roots of Web design, the creation and development of the Web and
its culture digitally, the influences of its creation and development must be
acknowledged to realise where its future lies. Features of its progress over the years
that cannot be overlooked are the associated users of this format, they are the
necessity that drives user interaction and interface design; they are the changing
needs and requirements that influence the way design must co-operate and function.
This Dissertation is broken into five chapters. First is an investigation into recognising
the change of the Web and its use by the public, its beginning, plus why and how it
was needed in the early 90’s. Also looking back at the first stages of the Web’s cultural
induction, showing how as a tool of communication it vastly grew into the tremendous
medium it is used as today. Secondly, an analysis of the progression of the Web and
its designers, where the role of design became as important as base functionality and
how it evolved to meet an ever increasing user standard. Thirdly, a stark contrast
between the top classes of websites and their previous incarnations, how the bar of
expectancy has been lifted by today’s users and where the designer’s role lies
between the creative and programmer titles they consist of. In the fourth chapter,
cases of what a Graphic Designer must augment into their skill-set to stand out in the
current climate of Web, and what the users of today expect as a standard.

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In addition, the questions of where a designer’s limits reach when technical knowledge
must also be incremented into their role will be explored. In the final chapter, a search
of how new technologies are creating innovative formats for design, and how they are
carving the way for Designers will be highlighted and analysed. Throughout these
chapters there are sections of personal research on a case study of Designers,
regarding their experience of digital media before, during and up to today; their points
are used to confirm or deny any ideas expressed.
This will lead onto the conclusion. As a method of summing up the initial question
looking at both sides of Graphic Design, digital against non-digital designers. The
effect that digital media has had on their respective creativity, their pace and workflow,
in short how it has affected their industry; as well as how work has been created and
lost, as well as how Design itself stands.

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Chapter 1- History of the Web
To fully appreciate the roles surrounding design on the WWW a short delve into its
history explains where the necessity of Graphic Design formed, where the path of
design has come from and how it will shape in the direction it is going. As Kozma
(1991) states ‘If we understand the media we use, they can inspire our creativity and
enable powerful designs’, this statement embodies the beauty of the Web; the
enabling of shared creativity to inspire.
When discussing the history of the Web, it is important to understand the contrasts
between the WWW and the Internet. Shortly below is an illustration to help visualise
this misconception. In practice while the end result is perceived as being similar by
mainstream users, there is a plain difference especially for the designer; the Web is a
platform for exposure whereas the internet is a means.

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The Internet is a series of interconnected computer networks; these permit multiple
mainframes to connect and intercommunicate with each other on computers and
various devices. Within the internet there are a host of languages which allow data to
stream from one device to another. These languages are recognised as protocols.
For example, an everyday protocol for communicating emails is the process of Internet
Message Access protocol (IMAP), this is in the form of a universally transmitted code
that can be received globally on the internet by any capable device running
appropriate software. Web design is a combination of protocols, firstly it reads the
practical information of codes and computer languages which process the functions
and interactions. Secondly it renders the result of the visual information that represent
all these functions and protocols on screen. Simply put, the whole Web is similar to a
giant code punch card machine, every site has a specifically punched code card that
the server reads and displays accordingly.
To further understand the social impact this created, the reasons why the need for
Web arose, and how it began, its process from communication to interaction through
interactivity must be investigated. The birth of Web started with a proposal named
Information Management by Sir Tim Berners-Lee (1989-1990) more commonly known
today as the creator of the internet. A brief summary, a physicist Berners-Lee worked
on a task known as 'Enquire': a basic grouped database of people and software. This
task experimented with ‘hypertext’; hypertext is text that can be displayed on devices
which utilise hyperlinks. The system used hyperlinks on each page of the database,
with each page referencing other relevantly associated documents in the system.
As a physicist Berners-Lee had a desperate need to share data with his colleagues
from across the globe, but there were no easy means to complete this at his fingertips.
This is why his proposal was written for a ‘centralized database’, which contained links
to other data bearing documents that could be interlinked between offices, buildings
and local areas.

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This became perfect solution for communication instantly and eventually of globally,
the name that stuck was the ‘World Wide Web’ which was later named ‘Nexux’. By
1990 Berners-Lee and physicist Robert Cailliau revised the proposal initially, it was
together that the revelation to chain hypertext with internet protocols to forge web
pages began; this is where the core functionality of all Web design was created. They
continued to develop three major components for the web: hypertext transmit protocol
(HTTP), hypertext mark-up language (HTML) and the world’s first Web browser called
the WWW. It consisted of basic function, basic visual display but all efficient at its
process, this is where design entered at a base minimum for visual association and
navigational purposes; minimal branding.
In 1991 Berners-Lee summarised how “The WWW project was started to allow high
energy physicists to share data” (Lumsden, 2012), this was just the foundation for
Web, a simple function in its multitude of potential. Berners-Lee goes on to highlight
this, showing how he is “very interested in spreading the web to other areas, and
having gateway servers for other data” (Lumsden, 2012); the unhampered start of this
medium quickly grew in its accessibility.
Fig.1

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Chapter 1.5- Growth of Web accessibility
From basic protocols came accessibility to a brand new medium that would take the
world by storm, both socially and creating an age of digital Commerce. Design for
Web had a solid base to work, limited in tools and creative functions, the area for
inventive ways to interact opened up. From Fig.1 you can see the basic functionality
of the first Web pages, they were created with the intention of practicality, providing
accessibility of information to users. A stark contrast between modern sites in which
interaction and aesthetics are the primary focus. The limits of the technology are a key
factor to this imagery and non-excessively designed fonts, bearing in mind the
resolution of screens, functions like fonts were kept to a design minimum. The H.T.M.L
one used to create this page was so basic breaking new ground, the area for more
customisability simply hadn’t been developed yet.
Fig.2 a website designed in 1992 named Viola. Widely suggested to be the world's
first popular browser, it surpassed Fig.1 only a year later.
Fig.2

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Viola brought with it a style sheet and scripting language, long before JavaScript and
CSS. The progress achieved in a matter of months to the design of this format was
remarkable, with even more advanced computer languages, accessibility to design for
the Web was now achievable and growing. The profession of the Web designer was
about to dawn. Professions like Web typography and multiple language encoder with
HTML, CSS & JavaScript updating more versions as the years progressed post 1993
which allowed for workflow to be shared at a far greater pace. As any language
develops, computing or linguistic, the more advanced the greater the yield of
expression, simply being able to work on a combined shared style sheet allowed a
work pace to flow between people along with their creativity.
All this progress seems astounding but developing the infrastructure for the internet
was a slow process, integrating this globally required a colossal amount of physical
hardware just to create networks. Not to mention that the Personal Computer that we
know today was still a highly sought commodity. However, taking into consideration
what the process for sharing, analogue if you will, paper was like it is understandable
as to why this medium gathered such success. Before this accessibility to shared files,
‘everything, artwork, files, all was delivered to a courier via a disk’, the physicality of it
brought a sense of ‘closure on the job’ (Thames, 2015); the time alone saved was one
of the greatest assets of this new digital media. Looking on the other hand, with any
form of higher efficiency did digital media cut any roles of paper based graphics? With
new digital software and processes ‘like InDesign, it abolished type layers,
photographer croppers you name it, all hand rendered inputs declined’ (Way, 2015);
but where was commercial Web heading?

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Chapter 2 - Progression of Web in industry
“Necessity is the mother of all invention” (Knowles, 2006), a saying that represents the
idea of a necessity, prompting development of the creative process. According to
Coyier (2013) Titles such as ‘Art Director’, in which control of quality, management of
one or more co-web designers and client image are held high as the coding itself,
were created. ‘UX Designer’, where there is a focus on reviewing and investigating
how people use their Web space specifically for their system, it is all about
understanding user base, titles such as these created jobs. The need for an online
presence, especially for some of the biggest franchises in the world to advertise on a
global level, was becoming a competitive market in the early 90’s. Coyier (2013) goes
on to explain how roles like: ‘Information Architect’, ‘Web Designer’, ‘Community
Manager’ and more recently ‘Social Manager’ and ‘Creative Technologist’ also came
into existence. Competition of digital design between countries sparked up demand as
well, a stock market of digital media marketing that today can easily be seen feuded
between Microsoft and Apple. Words designed for the Web began to be coined and
integrated into common knowledge such as search engine, website and email.
This demand for a presence that could be accessed globally, in any language with
fitting visual dynamics, was the next stage up from simple browser and data
interfaces. For example companies such as Pepsi and Coca Cola were quick to make
use of this group of connected users and potential clients. For this to be viable the
foundations of a physical hardware spanning the globe to reach these clients had to
be established.

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Fig. 3
After four years of webpage evolution, Companies took to a global stage with their
already renowned brand, the Web continued to develop due to the help of technology
with a more prevalent concentration on relevant design and aesthetics. Fig.3 shows
the exploration of visual style and customisation, in comparison to the first browsers in
1992, the use of design is much more prominent than the initial prototypes, which
arguably neglected design in favour of a more text based focus. Although displaying
basic functionality and somewhat low level design, compensating data for functionality
to create a practical result. The impact visually of this site alone shows the
development of user interface relations in such a short space of time. Fig.3 and 4 are
screen shots using a modern 1080 screen which when compared to the typical 14inch
CRT issued monitors, 33MHz processor powered, 24-bit accelerated video card and
24.4 modem issued PC’s of 1995; the quality was as modern as could be allowed
for. A 24-bit video card could show 17,000,000 colour shades, but with few 24-bit
images saturated on the Web, by then as programs did not require such depth on
monitors like those, even colour was hampered.

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Is the application of design hampered by technology or rather is it denied its full
potential? Comparing these sites from this age to their modern day versions later will
help express the fluidity that was denied to previous designers of the Web. Although,
could it be argued that good design is not subject to technological advancement? Is
this digital art and design of that time period or just creative programming?
Furthermore looking at Fig.3, when comparing the fonts, image placement and use of
grid to Fig.2, there is an easier path for the user to identify key points of relevant
information; it is presented elegantly. It is clear that this site is not restricted to such a
harsh column and listed groups of H.T.M.L one, the whole visual dynamics are set to
break away from such a registered style, the available fonts for Web and even their
brand colour were new developments that had to be created for this sole site’s
purpose. With only 255 colours these were technical restraints not creative. Having
more options to represent design could be argued as a way to improve design, ‘they
can also be significant in defining the nature of the experience of an interactive
artwork’ (Candy and Edmonds 2002 p30); by not restricting the original thought
process from the user.
Fig. 4

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Now comparing the Pepsi site to Coca Cola they are widely contrasted examples of
form, the use of canvas image placement with tailored type is very contemporarily
styled; an example of how design can age and still have user recognition. Looking
down to the stack of lines in Fig.4, the functionality vs. visual aesthetics is where a
listed code ruins the fluidity of the home page above, ‘where coders were in charge for
a long time who did not have a creative eye that meant, visually it lacked’ (Thame,
2015). This is where designer and technology can be limited, despite that in Fig.3
there has been a solution around this, the progression of user expectation and
demand may be hindered by the limitations of the code or the strategy of the designer
themselves. Again this is captured on a larger screen than it was created for but it
would have been remanded by the same hardware constraints as the Pepsi site. One
further point that is quite apparently missing for such a harshly recognised brand, is
the distinctive red colour that Coca Cola employ in all their brand campaigns due to
the 255 colours that the programmers were restricted to. Created by in-house
technicians, the website had no creative management as far as Graphic or Web
designers went, according to their employee roster of the time. An example of
functionality over creativity perhaps as ‘Creative roles in web changed user interface
for the better’ (Thame 2015), but as an initial step for their brand far more innovative
than the pages of the years before.

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Chapter 2.5 - Growth of web codes: Accessibility
Web codes since their creation in 1992 grew in their functionality and accessibility to
Designers: CSS, HTML 2 and Java Script soon began to explode in their level of
customisation and how they were understood by the Designer community. Software
from companies such as Adobe and the forerunner of the time, Quork, would later go
on to revolutionise the way in which world media would be created; only beginning to
be used on mass in the later 1980s. When a device for sharing graphics, although
granted this took time to be set up, became available, its value befitted immeasurably.
It bridged the gap from analogue hand-set graphics to saveable, instantly reproducible
images and set grids that didn’t serve to improve design, but save time and effort. In
contrast to that ‘you had a loss of originality, a loss of identity where people used same
stock images’ (Way 2015), the production of user content was still at a minimum due
to reduced accessibility tools and programmes for creative at that time.
Regardless of thought process, looking at interface, without supporting browsers
design could not be rendered as intended right? To begin with the WWW did not
support graphics embedded in pages, not until 1993 when the National Centre for
Super Computing Applications (NCSA) created Mosaic 2.0. Netscape, a Web browser
that introduced a selection of mainstream functions defining Web browsers that we
would recognise today. Version One of Netscape in 1994 named Mozilla, introduced
progressive rendering of Web pages and images. A page could now appear and data
could be read before all graphics and images had been downloaded; functionality and
design emerged as one. The development of these Web codes allowed the Graphic
Designer to associate with format in a way that did not require computer programmer-
like knowledge anymore. The further the codes progressed in user accessibility and
the more knowledge that was shared, this allowed for greater impact of design’s grasp
on the Web. The combination of these Web languages and supporting browsers
allowed entire industries to grow in the next decade.

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As a final part to this chapter some aspects of the WWW have not and may never
change, Internet Explorer version 1.0.0 went online August 1995. It brought no new
languages or supportive functions & has spent the majority of its existence catching up
to fore running browsers as a standard.

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Chapter 3 - Progression to modern standards
Now that the basis of the Web has been explored and the impact of its structure in the
world of digital media, can the role of the modern Graphic Designer be examined? The
title Graphic Designer has many roles that are attributed to it, as well as specialities
that are highly experienced in certain fields, some are Printers, Painters and
Typographers but all can and often are fused with digital media. In order for them to be
granted the exposure that in today’s society is more commonly found on the WWW
they combine their work with digital mediums. For this process to happen many seek
“a place in the Global village” (McLuhan and Fiore, 1996: p 63) to exhibit this, some
choose public sites of exhibition or a bibliographic styled public forum or ‘blog’. Yet an
important question to consider is where does their knowledge have to extend to in
order for good design to be recognised on this media engine? To answer this the jump
between the levels of Web design described in the previous chapter to today’s
expectations must be examined. The modern user has come to expect a higher
standard, the national time span for the UK is seven seconds of attention; the impact
of a webpage therefore has a higher target to meet for the modern web user. Reasons
like this are why it is necessary to look into why design has changed for the user over
the years, this is in order to appreciate the savoir-faire that is currently in action to
create a satisfying page in 2014.
Contrasting Web design from 1994 to 2014 there is a vast amount of variance, many
aspects of hardware improved to cope with high level processing needs, such as new
languages and functions. Therefore to do this with such smooth exchanges, the goals
and expectations levied upon the Designer have reached new heights. To illustrate
this point look at the sites examined in the previous chapter, now compare the
immediate level of user interface design and how their impact matched in comparison
to their refreshed siblings.

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Fig.5
These sites, Fig.5 and Fig.6, are modelled on the highest state of fluidity that
computing languages can produce to this day. Any Graphic designer who would wish
to increment their skills to create something of similar gallery-like quality, to exhibit
their work, would find it a task well beyond that which lies in the immediate realm of
graphics. Using a gallery as an example is within the realm of a Graphic Designer’s
client palette, but to create work like this on such a scale of complexity their rates
could be set equally as high. Of course semiotics aside the design of the site itself is
not the task that the Designer would have no knowledge of to handle. More to the
point, the internal components that knit these webpages together, the codes and
scripts needed to make it all work are a curve ball of standard knowledge. It could be
argued that scripts and codes do not birth creativity, for design itself is not something
that can be written as one equates to X? But in a technical sense without extending
through the technicality of this medium can the message be sent? A general overview
of a Web designer’s relationship to their craft would be a good place to ascertain how
this relationship works, as Nico Macdonald points out ‘Web designers are typically
more involved in client strategy than Graphic designers, and in the evaluation of the

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business benefits’ (2004 p213). The results from this practice are above all responsive
user design, ‘these distinct design skills may eventually disappear and become part of
every other design discipline, including graphic design’(2004 p213), the same
progression that graphic design gave the Web creatively in its development has grown
to now influence the way Graphic design is seen and used.
Looking specifically at Fig.5, comparing first of all the use of brand colour and imagery
to the detail in Fig.3, the almost spectacle. In their first website, the use of a sci-fi like
background does not build towards their brand but merely as a tool to create a mise
en scène theme of that age. Now it is a sharp fluid grid that is, above all, responsive, a
word that really defines the pillars of modern Web design. Alongside subtle faded grid
edges, sheer crisp high resolution graphics and a free flowing statement of branding
throughout, these form a template in which design bonds the strength of user interface
with strong product recognition.
To end the comparison both Pepsi Web pages are ‘Tailor made’, their technical
advancements and freedom from colour limits etc. have aided their creative
expression much more effectively than their parent sites. However, can design be at
the cutting edge of modern standards without modern exposure methods, could a
Graphic Designer expose their designs to meet today’s high standard market with 90’s
basic functionality? Shortened down is digital art always going to be subjected to
advancement, what can be defined as relevant?

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Fig.6
On the other side of this refreshed coin is Fig.6, the 2013 Coca Cola site. The most
instantaneously striking aspect compared with Fig.4 is the use of brand colour, the
wholesome identity of the Coca Cola brand is expressed now on a far more effective
level; extended colour palette improving user relation to product perhaps compared to
Fig.4.
A point that must be illuminated is the integration of the relentless Social media. Social
media has become a mainstream commodity when it comes to modern user interface,
the traffic from these highways of interest are part of the fluid navigation, and a
successful site stands up through this process on the WWW presently. This is one of
many new components that have been developed over the years that needs to be
further incremented into a designer’s palette of skills. Multiple formats on multiple
devices, all requiring total integration and saturation of a brand message. Compared
to Fig.4 the once billboard state of the Web page, a modern site like this is more of a
responsive live grid with varying levels of applications.

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The title Social manager is an example of how one component of the Web has been
adopted to mainstream companies, which has generated creatively suited jobs. As the
standard for Web increases, every new component requires knowledge in their own
specialist areas, in this could the space for more digital work be created, or simply
amalgamated into existing roles of ‘Web Architects’?

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Chapter 4- Alternative Digital media
So far the current peak of knowledge required to be a Web Designer may seem to be
rivalling Everest to the average Graphic Designer, surely there are other options
available than straight coding? There are formats in which this necessity of knowledge
can be passed over, such as template sites which are free to use for anyone. The
purpose of a template site is so a user can place their work on a digital-like canvas,
pre-set to become a webpage. This writes the functionality of a webpage, into a
previewed webpage display for the client, thus skipping the hardship of Web codes.
This can come at the cost of customisability, the simplicity of the user face controls
means that only a set amount of functions and visual displays can be achieved.
Although it contains a greater amount of functions than were available in Fig.1 and
Fig.2, the product formed is only as good as the ideas that have been contributed. Its
target demographic are smaller craft users who are seeking exposure without the
knowledge to do so. If design can be achieved by this process then why is there a
need for Web Designers, why are corporations in Fig.5 and 6 paying designers,
perhaps, ‘They know they need a product that will speak to their end users, they
understand the importance of good user experience’ (ODey.D 2013); the importance
of brand control.
The nature of companies creates a need that overheads their competitors, ‘The leader
of an organisation lacking a good strategy may simply believe that strategy is
unnecessary. But more often the lack is due to the presence of bad strategy.’ (Rumelt,
2011: p11) if a website can be designed by anyone is there a need for Web Designers,
adaption, or a better product? It must be taken into account that template sites are
merely a tool, limited by the scope of the user, more so than what the tool can actually
create.

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Fig.6
Design is a tool of industry, it is information, semiotics, the information that links a
consumer’s product whether on paper, on the Web or on the label; well researched
design will always compliment the interaction between the two. Whether achieved with
a template site, personally coded site or on a customised blog, the bar for commerce
is set high in regards to expectations of the user.
The future of all these Web principles could be made irrelevant, ‘This is not a website
builder. This is your personal AI web developer’ (thegrid.io 2015), the grids own
description set to release ‘late spring 2015’. The premise is a user tool that is as easy
to use and automated as social media, a variant on template sites that could be more
sophisticated or harder to use, however it is still a tool and design will be subject to it
and its user.
Factors like traffic through Web pages; linking between far reaching areas and
domains to multiple platforms, operating systems and browsers are all obstacles that
can hinder exposure.

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For example in 2010 Apple launched their new IPhone and IPad without supporting
Adobe Flash Player software, yet some Web Designers create entire sites using
Adobe Flash; which meant a whole section of the market was then cut off from user
exposure.
HTML 5, the new standard that has been adopted by Apple, Google and
many others, lets web developers create advanced graphics, typography,
animations, and transitions without relying on third party browser plug-ins
(like flash). (Cited in Jobs, 2010)
Simple changes of industries like this can effect whole developments of ideas and
processes that before were considered contemporary. The state of the Web is not still,
it is ever advancing and morphing to fit new trends, but must the Designer co-exist
with this evolution to allow for good design to be exposed to the user, despite using
older formats?
Expectations for the Web have grown since 1992, but where does this leave the
Graphic Designer? With such an array of knowledge that is forever refreshing, the
skills that are required to forge on the latest platform, do they lie beyond the realm of
basic design? The information for digital training is accessible to all, but the
application of this is where one Designer’s skills compared to another could result in
varying degrees of work related success. Digital media much like fashion can become
quickly outdated and rendered unviable, but it begs the question of whether this
creates or conglomerates job roles? However, where the arrival of WWW ceased
analogue routines, ‘it’s opened up new avenues for me coming from print, I can create
small apps which has opened up work to me’ (Way 2015), from one source of decline
comes another avenue for progress.

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Chapter 5- Have technologies created jobs in industry for
Graphics?
With extreme leaps of progress in a mere decade, the sphere of design, shown by the
previous images, for Web requires ever more intrinsic knowledge to stand out in. This
does not simply require knowledge of Web codes, although they are vital for the latest
dynamic transitional apps. The level of creativity that can be expressed through the
processes examined is an aspect that a designer can mould and compete with. Mobile
app development has soared in growth creating a boom of developmental and design
based jobs. Although this has peaked by 2014 in its immediate growth volume, the
premise will be another integrated section of the future and current pre-sets of Web.
When it comes to actual client work, whether based in the studio or freelance, the
skills required to undertake specific jobs can be varied or especially skilled. David
Aiery’s book, Work for money, Design for love… is a grounded example of how the
expectation of clients can shift and leave applicants wanting, if they are not equipped
to engage in the task effectively (Aiery, 2013: p11-13). It can also be adapted to the
field of Web work, as needs and aspects change with social fluctuations. It is
important that ‘experience dominants our thought processes’ the knowledge of such
adaptation as a Graphic Designer is vital to contemporary style. However, when
dealing with any interaction especially online with clients, a Designer could be ‘failing
to act professionally; for instance masking their portfolio work with all the latest Web
bells and whistles, or showing artwork without any context or decryption.’ (Airey, 2013:
p11). Having a medium where no physical involvement takes place between you and
your user requires knowledge, to get a job this way requires even more tactics, ‘how
do the most well-known, well respected studios present…Their websites are easy to
navigate, they make it easy to contact them, and the focus is strongly on their client
work’ (Airey, 2013: p11).

25
Clients are only a portion of the work that is derived by digital media, there are many
aspects that a Web designer must contend with to claim notoriety for their work on
such a global stage, ‘The biggest lie... I don’t worry where the next client is coming
from’ (Monteiro, 2012: p121).
Moving onward from freelance clients and P.C websites, the latest stage of Web
adaptation is multiple device based applications, another area where digital
technology is driving the work horse of Designers. Much like the app design boom,
new platforms began to grow vastly; tablets, smart phones, smart TV’S and variations
on these devices like the Kindle and note book PCs. All of these platforms run off
different operating systems of which some even have their own customised versions
especially with android devices. All these competing devices are what drives such a
strong market today. Filter in the idea that all these platform run applications for
magazines, news, weather etc., which require customised multiple platform versions.
Take Facebook for example, a globally recognised and used social media giant, every
device that can connect to the internet has got some app designed for their particular
Operating System.
Facebook even has customised software for developers to make their own version of
a Facebook Application, a system called ‘Facebook Platform’. Information regarding
which can be found via https://developers.facebook.com as well as the Facebook
platform. Where developers can use and learn all there is to developing on the mass
social media market that is now Facebook.

26
Fig.7
It allows developers to use the built in social media services and servers that access
data within Facebook. Facebook went on to launch the Facebook platform on May
24th, 2007, which provided a context for Web Developers to create apps that
intermingle with core Facebook features. To further this, even a mark-up language
subtly called ‘Facebook Mark-up Language’ was announced. It is used to craft the
specific interface of a Facebook app so that it is universally recognised as an official
product. Released in 2010, as illustrated by Fig.7, it offered sets of programming
interfaces and tools that developers could then look at integrating data called the
‘Social Graph’. Data of personal relations and other marketable catalogued
information like music, locations and Facebook pages as well as companies. All
current widely used operating systems and devices are allowed to access the graph.

27
Now considering that this is only one, although one of the biggest, of the companies
that use multi-device based apps, the monumental amount of cross platform and
software design that is required out there is astonishing; creating more competition.
A better question than what new ventures are there for design is rather does the
modern designer want to accept these new roles under their projects? Is it viable for
them to invest in new extensions of the Web, what new professions will be accessible
or lost, ‘will you need a coder five years down the line? Muse will have taken over.’
(Way, 2015)

28
Conclusion
In conclusion, do digital technologies of the World Wide Web create new jobs or do
they only induce Graphic Designers to increment their skills? Based on the areas
explored and the disciplines examined here, the Web is an industry that has and
always will require adaptation in all forms that are adopted from it. From Programmers,
Administrative users and Formatters, to Web architects, Designers and even simple
bloggers; all that use the web as a tool for exposure and interaction are subject to its
evolving nature. Do jobs on the Web allow Designers with no knowledge of it to create
work and build upon it? Along with the evolution of interface comes the adaptation of
device and user based applications. In a sense for every new function or format that
the Web can conjure up, the need for a Designer to bulk up their skill set to interact
with this arises. The options are there to bypass this, any route taken to create a
section of the Web for one’s self, the path to that will require either self-education in
how-to, or the company of someone experienced in such endeavours. Modern
Graphic design is so heavily integrated with processes of the Web, it will more than
likely become a standard of practice for all with current growth in its social integration.
Looking at the whole relationship of Web and Designer over the past 22 years, the
accessibility and overall general user interface of inter Web protocols have never been
easier to use via the use of third party companies. It has become a much more
personalised and open place for Designers of all distinctions.
‘Man created technology, mankind is influenced by it’ (Santune 2015), technology
changes people’s expectations of media and our relation to others, but, should a
Graphic designer adapt to technology or does design transgress all mediums? There
is no one answer to this question to appease every Designer, those who intend to
work or already work using these formats of media may see this jump as a small leap
into familiar territory.

29
Contrasted to a Designer who works solely with printing formats or focused on hand-
made production, that requires little or no programming knowledge, then the gap is far
more demanding to close. It all comes down to comfortable levels of integration with
Web, some designers have been raised with it over the past 22 years. Each one’s
level of immersion and their personal interest into its workings and values will affect
how they will use it; tool, hobby, or even commercially, it is a multifunctional device.
This is to say that of course good design does not obviously now rely on the Web, the
Web is merely a tool to hold good design. It is the need for work that pushes the need
to use Web, as it stands as a vastly growing mechanism that all walks of society are
slowly adopting. It is this progression socially that makes the Web such an effective
tool of immersion, this is therefore subject to fluctuation. Digital mediums continue to
grow as they have done since 1992, with this progress more work may be created or
absolved into multiple roles but the nature of the WWW will change as it always has
done.
To summarise the title question, from the examples explored here and the progression
over the past two decades, it cannot have a determined answer. However, digital
technologies in the year 2015 appear to be at the forefront of more dedicated work
that requires specialist knowledge for design to be exposed to today’s higher
expectations. The Graphic Designer may split into specialist areas of non-digital
versus digital, to achieve their respective medium’s greatest areas of effect but ‘The
medium is the message’ (McLuhan, 2001) and design surely must adapt.
“Now, about 40 percent of us are connected and creating online. The web
has generated trillions of dollars of economic value, transformed
education and healthcare and activated many new movements for
democracy around the world. And we’re just getting started.” (Berners-Lee,
2014)
Word Count: 6376

30
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