Desktop publishing

Desktop Publishing Revolution 1985
• Which companies started the Desk Top Publishing revolution in the mid 1980s?

The ‘desktop revolution’ of Graphic design and Typography began in 1984. The three small but prosperous companies Apple, Adobe and Aldus were responsible for the new technology.

 Aldus was a software company that developed desktop publishing software. It was founded by Jeremy Jaech, Mark Sundstrom, Mike Templeman, Dave Walter and man named Paul Brainerd. He was born in 1947 and during his life he became a master in the areas of computer-aided editing, design and publishing. The company itself only lasted for 10 years but a specific three men who left Aldus in 1990 became the founders of Visio Corporation. That company then created a product which later became known as Microsoft Office Visio.

 Adobe systems were originally a company which focused upon the creation of multimedia and creativity software products. Today it has now broken its original boundaries and is now subjected  towards making  Internet application software development. The company was founded by John Warnock and Charlse Geschke in December of 1982. Quite similarly both these men created their company after leaving their previous occupations at Xerox PARC. Their main goal in creating adobe systems was to develop and sell PostScript page description language.

 As Adobe, Apple was also a California company. Apple was created on the 1st of April, 1976, through the efforts of Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. Their main objective was to sell the Apple 1 which was personal computer kit. The kits were hand-built by Steve Wozniak.I believe that their goal at the time was to create a new processing centre for business work storage and for the average Joe to enjoy himself. There was new technology for new purposes.

•What products did they launch?
Aldus was known for its creation and development on the PageMaker application, an early product in the desktop publishing field.
The PageMaker was released during July of 1985, and relied on Adobe's PostScript page description language. i also required the use of Apple's LaserWriter, a PostScript laser printer. PageMaker for the PC was released in 1986, but by then the Mac was already the de facto DTP platform, with Adobe Illustrator released in 1987 and Adobe Photo shop released in 1990 completing the suite of graphic design software.
•The switch to digital led to new forms of creative digital typography, graphics and publishing.
The Apple II was introduced on April 16, 1977. It was different from other new technology because its character cell-based colour graphics and an open architecture. Other early models used regular cassette tapes as storage devices, but they were made obsolete as there was the introduction of a 5 1/4 inchfloppy disk drive and interface, the Disk II. This made new ways of producing graphical and architectural work. It was also the next step in digital storage devices.

 •What was the result of these inventions on:

Workers in the traditional print industry?

The new technology made the old fashion traditional print industry obsolete and made a product which every company needed to buy.VisiCalc created a business market for the Apple II and gave people at home the environment of the office, this just gave people more reasons to buy an Apple II.

 The availability of information?

Anyone who had a computer at the time was able to research entire projects in one sitting. There internet was a new and more efficient substitute for the library, books and written questions.

 What was the opportunity to start up new newspapers and magazines?

People had more opportunities to say what they wanted in a cheaper and legal way. Things became more in detail. For example you could have a website for cooking making cook books useless. Using Apple and Aldus, new small magazines and newspapers came up independent of the old established publishing companies.
•The impact on typography design was ?
 There was the launch of ‘Image Pro’ in 1988 by brothers Knoll, Thomas and Glenn. The idea was rejected by Aldus as it was ‘too gimmicky’. It was then adopted by Adobe in 1990 who renamed it Photo shop 1.0 for use on Apple Macs. It was a new age of digital typography design. It gave artist new tools to work with.

 •How is text on screen different to text on print? Explain in full – why are some typefaces better suited for screen? Name one.

In typography, words in print the way that the eye reads it depends on  the light reflecting off the surface of the paper and into the reader’s eyes.
Typography on screen works with light that is emitted directly from the screen into the eyes.
Most typography is designed specifically to be readable at small sizes on a computer screen.

• What is typical of typography and text used on modern mobile devices?

 Since the 1990s Fonts on electronics are made up from using font creation software programmes such as Fontographer and FontLab. Using fontLab you are able to manipulate the font, kerning or stroke or any other attributes. Most fonts can now be bought online and downloaded instantly.

The characteristics of words on a mobile phone were changed. The x-height was moved 65 and 80% between from the cap height. The descenders are shortened and no ascenders above the cap height.