Reading Response 1 – SL

Technology played a big role in graphic design when it first emerged because it allowed designers to be more efficient. The reading claimed that “Designers are looking beyond successful business and aesthetic practices to the broader effects of the culture they helped create.” Having the accessibility to technology allows graphic designers to play a deeper role in society. They can tackle other topics such as ones that fall into the social and political changes. The reading states, “Designers are actively engaging their societies politically and culturally, increasingly thinking globally inside a tightly networked world. As more and more designers, enabled by technology, produce both form and content, issues like sustainability and social justice are moving to the forefront.” (page 11) Designers are able to bring these issues that affect society into light because of technological advances. However, designers should be careful on what they give out to their clients and the public because they “run the risk of being creatively sidelined by it.” (page 11) If a designer gives up all his tricks of the trade, nobody will need his services in the long run because everything will be available for anyone to use. In conclusion, technology has played an impactful role in shaping design and the role design has on society. Design allows artists to reach another demographic once they bring in social justices.