history of graphic design software

[pecchi17]

hi all,

this is my first of probably many posts :)

i am doing a presentation on the history of graphic design software, i was wondering if any one could give me a helping hand in naming significant software packages used throughout the years up until now with cs3 etc

im new to graphic design and im not really sure of software used before all the latest packages

thank you and i hope to hear soon

jonny c

[mojoprime]

google is your friend!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_design

i'd start with Aldus Freehand and Aldus PageMaker. There's always MacDraw as well.

[Riefnu]

Just how far back are you going?

I mean a guy with a stick and mud would technically be a ancient graphic designer...

[pecchi17]

im looking for the history of graphic design software, different packages etc, thanks for your help so far :)

[Broacher]

Don't forget the 'dark chapter' on the birth of Windows, and the Corel Era. The Cowpland years. Maybe that's what Steve J. needs to put the Mac past the 'tipping point', a spouse like Marla.

Wiki blurb:

"Maclean's reported that Cowpland was frequently in Switzerland, at tennis courts or golf courses, while his programmers spent hours going over code. They also stated that he kept a drawer full of "youthful" drugs.

In 1992 he married his second wife, Marlen Cowpland, a young platinum blonde best known for her diamond-pierced navel. Their honeymoon photos, showing Michael and Marlen posing in front of their private jet and gull-wing door sports car, generated much attention, as did the Corel Christmas Card which featured Marlen in a tight red suit.

They live in a 20,000 ft² house in Rockcliffe Park, Ottawa. While Rockcliffe Park is now as a traditional blue-blood district, neighbors were outraged by the Cowpland's frequent partying."

[jimking]

Several years ago there was a Photoshop competitor called Live Picture http://philip.greenspun.com/wtr/live-picture-v-photoshop.html. For a short time I worked with the program and it had some very nice features.
Also check out Scitex Corporation http://www.answers.com/topic/scitex-corporation-ltd?cat=biz-fin which is long gone but was a world wide major player. My belief is without the advances Scitex invented, printing and graphics would still be in the stone ages (that's not a bad idea the more I think about it.:D) ..........sometimes. :)

[Silence04]

when i was younger i used a program called Xres, it was macromedia's photoshop rival. Also check out: MacPaint, Pixel Paint, and Paint Shop Pro.

[Broacher]

Jim, do you remember Aldus' Photostyler? I really thought that was a contender for PS. The UI design was years and years ahead of any competition, including Adobe's. Who... in fact, several years later, adopted Photostyler's highly innovative 'power toolbar' into Pshop-- the first toolbar that gave the user access to advanced tool functions as they moved from tool to tool. (Corel was smart enough to steal this brilliant innovation many years earlier)

[WannaBrie]

Back when I was in College (or back in the cave days as my son would say), I remember dabbling with some software called "Koala" or "Kangaroo" or something like that, I can't seem to find any info on it, though. I don't remember doing much with it as computers were not yet in use as design tools.

[lucdesaulniers]

WannaBrie, that was Koala, I was using it on Commodore 64 (with a light pen drawing directly on the monitor screen..!). As some others have mentionned, I would say it started with the advent of the Mac 128 and MacPaint and MacDraw (which the latter was more architect type app). Then came PageMaker 1.0 (really bad kerning), followed by Illustrator 1.0 (with vector drawing that drew eveyone on the floor on first sight). Then, QuarkXpress that took over in the print shop from PageMaker (Xpress was appreciated by prepress people, not necessarely by designers). Then, upgrades, upgrades, upgrades...

[Broacher]

Ahem... anyone remember 'Calamus' on the Atari ST?

And I once did actual production work with DeluxPaint on an Amiga for a game company. It was quite an amazing little app.

[jimking]

Jim, do you remember Aldus' Photostyler? I really thought that was a contender for PS. The UI design was years and years ahead of any competition, including Adobe's. Who... in fact, several years later, adopted Photostyler's highly innovative 'power toolbar' into Pshop-- the first toolbar that gave the user access to advanced tool functions as they moved from tool to tool. (Corel was smart enough to steal this brilliant innovation many years earlier)
I forgot all about that one. Yes I do remember it but I never worked with it.

[WannaBrie]

WannaBrie, that was Koala, I was using it on Commodore 64 (with a light pen drawing directly on the monitor screen..!). As some others have mentionned, I would say it started with the advent of the Mac 128 and MacPaint and MacDraw (which the latter was more architect type app). Then came PageMaker 1.0 (really bad kerning), followed by Illustrator 1.0 (with vector drawing that drew eveyone on the floor on first sight). Then, QuarkXpress that took over in the print shop from PageMaker (Xpress was appreciated by prepress people, not necessarely by designers). Then, upgrades, upgrades, upgrades...

Thanks lucdesaulniers, I was pretty sure it was Koala, but it was sooo long ago!

[garricks]

In the beginning, there was Chartpak. And rubylith. And wax.
And it was not good.
There was much wailing. And gnashing of teeth (and not just at lunch).


Seriously, the first time i launched runtime Windows and Aldus PageMaker on a PC XT with a 10 Mb hard drive and two 5-1/4" floppy drives, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

[urstwile]

Here's an interesting list (http://in3.org/info/cs.htm) I found using Google, I asked the Googe to look up the first typesetting system I ever used (CCI with Mergenthaler VIP output devices running paper tape), back in 1977.

[Broacher]

I remember doing ASCII art on a card reading system (with a ferrite bead, 8k core). Before that, we just used dried peas in coloured match boxes.

[lucdesaulniers]

In the beginning, there was Chartpak. And rubylith. And wax.
And it was not good.
There was much wailing. And gnashing of teeth (and not just at lunch).


Seriously, the first time i launched runtime Windows and Aldus PageMaker on a PC XT with a 10 Mb hard drive and two 5-1/4" floppy drives, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
You're forgetting good old rubber ciment, artboards, LETTRASET and burnisher, Pantone color papers and films, hand drawn cropmarks (cleaned using the tip of an Exacto blade and a printer's loupe)...

[Broacher]

Crop marks trimmed with a blade? Oh, you must have been in the gen before Scotch Magic Tape. That was the closest 'revolution' I remember in my early years. That, and the waxer. In school it really was ruling pens and X-acto line cleanups-- AND not just rubber cement, but TWO-sided rubber cement. Even pickier. Nothing like spending all day laying out an invoice form on a hand-ruled board, two coat cement, all corners of 8 point word slugs precisely trimmed with t-squares to be perfectly square (little-next-to-invisible nicks on their left/right edges to indicate baselines for lining up with the non-repro guides you've drawn). Then you go over all those slug edges with a fresh knife, light enough to break the cement 'hold' so that you can do a complete cleanup with your cement pickup-- being careful not to dull any linework... oh baby.

You know, sometimes I actually DO miss that. Or at least the part where you moved around and moved atoms instead of electrons. Pasteup parties could be a lot of fun-- the original designer social network, at least it was for me.

[lucdesaulniers]

Crop marks trimmed with a blade? Oh, you must have been in the gen before Scotch Magic Tape.

Yup, that was me (and yes TWO coats of rubber cement with a tracing paper in between when dropping the galley to the board..). How about that F* exacto knife with the pivot blade to cut circle?..:p

[Broacher]

Still have mine!

Ever use the Kern ruling pens?

[garricks]

You're forgetting good old rubber ciment, artboards, LETTRASET and burnisher, Pantone color papers and films, hand drawn cropmarks (cleaned using the tip of an Exacto blade and a printer's loupe)...Oh, I haven't forgotten those things...a Rush job came in (an ad that had to be created within half an hour.) :rolleyes: So I had to go back to work!