Field Journal #10

Is the digital age improving graphing design?  Gosh, what a question.  For the most part, that answer is "yes," since the internet has made people think more broadly about the World and the people in it.
But is there anything lost in translation? Perhaps the fact that less materials are needed for computer design with a tablet, stylus and mouse than what you would need for your standard low-tech collage.
I have always thought that most of one's art inspiration in this world comes from the "real world--" outside your computer screen or whatever you see in person, rather than the media you consume on screen. I feel this is mostly because I just find it sometimes hard to be creative in front of small computer screen more than to be creative with a group of people in front of an enormous piece of paper.

With the digital age also comes a more speedy way of thinking in advertising, shows, movies, and games throughout.  For instance, now that some people are able to make a little movie of a green giant squirrel riding a robotic shark in outer space without actually taming any animals, making costumes or needing a stage set, viewers expect less "normal" things to happen all at once in their media.  While this means faster, more unique media for the viewer, this can also make certain potential designers, inventors or artists worry that all the "slower or more down-to-earth stories and ideas" are already done and kaput.
The picture you see on the right is actually a collage I made in Photoshop in 2008 for my high school English class, "A Bird's Eye View of AirSpace One" based on themes and excerpts from Orson Welles' novel 1984.  While some people could imagine making this piece out of cut-up magazines, airbrushes, and overlaying type, I certainly couldn't: I would have had a worse time making this piece if it weren't for Adobe Photoshop, and that's just the way I liked it.