Gli anni del contatto: graphic design, nuove tecnologie e nuovi media

Issue no. 8 of “AIS/Design. Storia e Ricerche” is devoted to the theme “The years they made contact: Graphic design, new technologies and new media”. The issue aims to contribute to the historical study and understanding of a phenomenon – the advent of the digital – that has radically redefined the conceptual and operational scenario of contemporary design. Thirty years after the desktop publishing revolution, the journal explores the longest period of intersection, convergence and tension that was produced when graphic design “made contact” with electronic and digital technologies and media. Through the reconstruction and discussion of specific cases and experiences, the articles examine the impact of the various innovations that were introduced from the 1950s to the new millennium on the profession and on the very idea of graphic design. As a whole, the research studies, essays and micro-histories featured in this issue on the one hand illuminate how the new tools and media challenged and transformed from within the production chain and the boundaries of graphic design, including the field of design education; on the other, they highlight the slow process of cultural assimilation and the resistance to a change that forced designers to deeply reconsider the technical nature of their practice.