Notes

The State Of GRAPHICAL DESIGN In Jordan
Jordan's unique geographical position results in its experts choosing self development, which includes graphic design. Experts are also involved with developments occurring in neighbouring countries and the web was extremely useful in putting interested parties in these two fields in touch with each other and sharing possible development tools. The development of GRAPHICAL DESIGN can be assisted by annual exhibitions and specialised conferences held both in Jordan and beyond your Arab world.

The academic and professional specialists for the basis in developing graphical design through the forming of local learning institutions. In these institutions academics, programmers and graphic design teachers can meet with professional designers and discuss just how business is continue and requirements of the labour market.

Practical training is definitely the foundation of Graphic Design, upon which the academic skill of the student and his creativity are designed. Working in a design office is considered to be the main and effective tool in measuring the amount of academic learning. In addition, it gives an indication of the effectiveness of teachers in creating a generation of students with the capacity of coping with the academic ethos and engaging with the requirements of the profession. This training provides the students with opportunities to polish and develop their skills by working along side established practitioners. Today's graphic design tools rely on it for producing visualisations of scientific developments. This visualisation requires an understanding of the scientific theory and the visualisation tools available, which in turn relies on the expertise of graphic designers.

In this paper I am going to focus on the profession of graphic design and its own development by discussing its early development. I will review the positive and negative aspects of that development and how they linked to changes in the market and how big is the market and labour force. I'll also discuss the academic concepts, and the requirement for graduate graphic designers.

In Wedding Photography draw from my experience of employed in Jordan since 1987 at the MIDAS Establishment and my roles in student training at Yarmouk University and the SYSTEMS University, which I had been attached to since 1999. This paper addresses many questions and aims to explore the mechanics of enhancing graphic design in the academic and professional sectors.

The historic and technical initial stages of graphical design in Jordan

Graphical design developed alongside the printing and it industries. Printing was taken to Jordan in the 1940s by individuals who had learnt the trade in other countries. Jordan's printing evolution was similar to that of other countries. Printing started using wooden moulds, then zinc clich�s and letterpress, as well as other printing tools, symbols and shapes. It was the printing technology that restricted the scope for producing new designs. The number of items printed was limited to newspapers, cards and stationary. Printing started mainly in monochrome, and was then developed to make photo made clich�s by which the printers could actually print in full colour. Typolography, or raised printing was the primary method and is still used today. Offset printing enhanced the standard of production, providing improvements in colour and picture reproduction. Round the same time the role of the graphic designer originated, relating to the preparation of makettes and film montage and plates to be equipped for printing (prepress); this relied on the professionalism of the film montage technician for the preparation of backgrounds for the pictures and words. Prepress was considered the main process in the production of the final printed article. This process was completed at the prepress service centre that was limited to an individual institution until 1987. This centre had the ability and technology to perform a range of techniques where an artistic touch was required.

In the late sixties, design pioneers were not graphic artists, but had learnt the technologies of collage and calligraphy. These were able to imitate designs from abroad and occasionally reproduced them. Their work initially ranged from greetings cards, business cards, social stationary, letterheads and envelopes, then progressed to brochures and folders. The work was mainly limited to newspaper advertising which relied predominantly on the offset printing method. We shouldn't your investment air brush technology that provided designers by using graded colours, achieving 3d effects for some designs, although the number of people using this was limited.

From 1980-87 design was performed by specialists in Plastic Arts and Architecture, along with the first graduates of the college of arts at Yarmuok University and similar institutions. By the finish of the eighties, the computer Linotype was used as a publishing tool by newspapers to prepare text for layout and paste it on the required pages next to advertising. Some publishing houses have graphical design offices which also acquired these systems to ensure the production of books and magazines to an identical quality. Linotype was also used to get ready the design of brochures and advertising materials that can't be hand drawn. As time passes Linotype was also useful for the preparation of other material by this method, including handmade cards, posters and advertisements.

The design and printing sectors found the computer to be a good way of improving productivity. In 1988 with the arrival of the first design computer by Apple Macintosh, the amounts of workers in the field increased and performance progressed in the pre-printing stages such as for example film making and separation. However, the trouble of computers meant that there use was still limited. The production of personal computers by competitors of Apple Macintosh in addition to the ease with which film could be processed through its programs, created a huge increase in the number of professionals interested in graphic design. This became evident by the growth in the number of agencies, design offices, publishing houses and service centres.

Computers affected the technical and artistic areas of production. Some production centres were able to develop their skill base and by recruiting experienced designers and developing them by organising classes. These experienced individuals achieved high standards of work within and outside Jordan and were able to contend with others in the Arab regions and captured a share of the markets, producing many publications. Jordanian specialists became serious competitors against other Arab countries which had previously monopolised the fields of design and printing. Jordan is rolling out in order that it can meet the demand for design and printing within the united states. Jordan has turned into a magnet for many publishing houses in the Arab region. Many production and publishing organisations were able to catch around the levels of the latest technology. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that they'll develop further, using modern production tools, and this will ensure you can find enough local specialists who is able to continue steadily to produce work of the highest quality.

The pace of technological development managed to get essential for the academic institutions to supply the Jordanian market with the skilled workers who can work to the high standards required. These institutions need to continually adapt to the advancing technology along with support the academics in their quest to improve the artistic, scientific and technological aspects of production and publishing. Relationships must be strengthened by co-operation between business leaders and academic institutions to be able to provide the mutual benefit of improve standards, with the best aim of maintaining both local and international developments.

The easiest way to guage the standard of design and printing in a country is through the newspapers, magazines and books published. Television also provides a showcase for visual communication through locally produced advertisements. The speed of printing development has made impositions on graphic design and the designers themselves. Designers need to continuously update their training to help keep abreast of new technology. This enables them to be at the forefront of improving quality and creativity in all aspects of production.

Advantages and disadvantages of sectors allied with graphical design

When discussing the organisations involved with design and production in Jordan you can easily become overwhelmed by the variety and abundance of these. These organisations saturate the marketplace. One of the known reasons for the amount of organisations is the variety of production formats, each of which has its own structure. Computerisation has result in many operators being made unemployed.

Production sources can be divided into;

- Design

- Commercial printing

- Publishing houses

- Pre-press services centres

- Software applications training centres

They are the organisations where people often search for graphic designers, although most of them do not have academically trained staff who specialise in graphical design. Many of the people who own these organisations have chosen to specialise. A number of them specialised because the profession does not require a large capital outlay, others specialised because they had a knowledge of the tools used. Most may actually have specialised because this gives them with status within their community.

Although there are many organisations working in graphic design, the workers and owners in these establishments often lack awareness of the professional graphic design concepts as they have not studied the subject in depth. Employment opportunities for graduates only started to develop after 2000 when some organisations recognised the need for such skilled workers and academic institutions were able to produce professionals of this standard. The impression of graphic design graduates has changed so companies are no longer choosing graduates who studied abroad. Design establishments have noticed the top quality of products which trained graduates can produce making use of their competence and skills, and their capability to use the full selection of design and printing equipment. Without this properly structured training curriculum, experience have been gained through hap-hazard face to face training.

One of many weaknesses of those producing the designs is they are not always confident about how to use the most recent techniques. They often ask advice and would rather work within their comfort zones, failing to produce designs that could demand significant amounts of time, effort or care. Graduates are much more comfortable with change and ready to develop new skills. There are some professionals, however, who have been invaluable in the development of graphic design by training others and developing their very own technical and professional skills. These folks also have monitored the pace of development in the fields of printing and graphical design.

Most of the professionals have established themselves thorough the high quality of the task they produce. This is not possible with out a capable, aware and educated body of co-workers, who have scientific knowledge and so are creative rather than imitating the task of others.

The increasing gap between academic designers and employers, or art directors and creative managers is often due to misunderstanding the role of graphic artists. In industry, the priority of some designers or agency owners is profitability whatever the quality of the results.

The first problem is that a few of the art directors or creative managers are not aware of the importance of their position, and often the employer is equally ignorant of the. Job titles tend to be arbitrary so artistic or creative managers frequently lack experience and expertise.

There is an lack of a common language between academic designers and managers or employers. This often frustrates designers, creating insecurity and hindering creativity. Such an environment can be an attempt to reduce a designers` status and restricts him from engaging in the creative thinking he would have already been taught and university.

Adequacy of the professional reality

Graphic artists are distinguished from other fields when you are one of the creative professions; they use information technology and visual communication. In addition, it involves dealing with the business world, where credibility and ability are necessary to achieve the creative work. Qualifications and talent are crucial for this.

A graphic designer is not only an artist but also a technician who is in a position to use software and techniques to tackle the project at hand. His approach should go beyond communication with the audience, to effective promotion and display. His aim is to produce clarity and he will be able to do this from the info using the techniques available to him. The goal is to connect the info and to carry out this must understand the development and design of the software that could be used. He has to comprehend all the innovations and ways of designing texts.

The look sector requires professionals to have the experience to be able to select and classify information, also to create links between related elements. However, this won't be enough if they cannot interpret this and transform it into definite forms. It is also vital that you understand the vocabularies of with language, sound and music as they are the main tools of communication. Added to this, the designer must understand how to use the specialised design software to create texts, prepare drawings, animated cartoons and websites. The designer ought to know about design, timing, transformation, rhythm and visual presentation.

The potential of the look sector ought to be realised by understanding of the required theories and ways to improve communication with the audience, enrich the design proposals and understand the reflective aspect of the design process, studies and research.

There is much variation in the qualifications of staff within the look sector. You should differentiate between your craftsman and the academic designer. The graphic designer is a complete cultural and intellectual entity that is noted in the sensational theory, linguistic theory, visual eloquence and the cultural history of art, literature, science, technology, industry and humanity. They can not isolate themselves from developments in theories of communication, information development, and from management and criticism. Moreover to improve the added value of the ultimate product, all methods and tools used in production and publication should be understood. They must understand the stages prior to the design, and they must understand the printing process and its implications on the design.

The market is crowded with many people working in graphic design. Due to the wide use of graphic design in many fields of work, the widespread usage of computers and option of basic software packages there is a role for folks using graphic design without any prior knowledge. The expression of graphical design is still not adequately understood by some employers in industrial and commercial firms and organisations that need graphic design services.

I do not doubt the potential of the vocational sector but this can be a reality of graphic design. It must be remembered that well qualified people now occupy high status positions in the Jordanian market, showing its expertise and its own ability to demonstrate the highest levels of graphic design.

The size of the marketplace and people employed in graphic design

There are now a lot more than five hundred establishments working in graphic design. There are various who would not classify themselves as an agency, centre or office, as they have found their own market niche. Therefore these classifications can not be meaningfully applied in Jordan.

The sector is large compared to the market. The establishment of new graphical design organisations peaked in 1999. Since that time, some have declined while some have expanded. Some have stagnated or changed management, while others have merged.

A quick consider the design sector will show that 85% of these employed in the field could be classified as;

- Computer science graduates

- Architecture graduates

- Interior design graduates

- Graduates in 'Computers and the Fine Arts' from community colleges

- Fine arts graduates (both graphic design specialists and non-specialists)

- Graduates of design courses run by computer centres

- Unemployed those people who are interested in computers

University educated graphical design graduates fulfil an important role because;

- Universities produce GRAPHIC ARTISTS with another outlook to those mentioned previously.

- Organisations run by individuals who understand graphic design will be better in a position to develop designers skills and adapt to the future

I'm concerned for students who study graphical design at university but do not try to improve his rate of innovation and creativity in order to improve. This will affect whether he could be employable.

Academically and scientifically talented students could have few problems because good employers need students who are able to form ideas quickly, use appropriate design programs for his ideas and in a position to produce those. Other organisations aren't useful for the academic designer. These are the push-pull degree of the graphic design sector which reflects the degrees of knowing of the concepts and functions of graphic design.

The market is capable of absorbing all graduates. This is influenced by the development of visual communication methods through graphical design. Such development requires the current presence of skilled workers with the capacity of meeting the needs of the marketplace. This places incentives for educational organisations that deal with design to plan to suit the graphic design market.

The academic reality of graphic design

The emergence of academic institutions that specialised in the arts started at the Yarmouk University where in fact the first arts and music department was established in 1980. This became a faculty in 2001, teaching drama, design (industrial, interior and graphic), plastic arts and music. The university awards bachelor degrees. It started in 2001 at the height of the computer revolution within the look sector in Jordan. In1991 teaching graphic design started as an independent specialisation within the Arts Department at the Applied Sciences University. This was accompanied by the Ahiya Amman University, the Petra University, Philadelphia University, AlZaytouneh University, the University of Jordan, and later the Israh University.

Apart from universities, during the time when graphical design became popular and a profitable profession, community colleges started teaching graphical design. These included the Al-Quds College, Granada College, Middle University College and Princess Alya College.

The work of the universities that award bachelor degrees is comparable to colleges that grant two year diplomas, because both produce students with a certificate in graphic design. But in reality where creativity and technical skills are worried we find differences. The differences are in the course curricula, you need to include understanding the production process, product identity, understanding of software and design innovation.

There is confusion between graphical design and graphic art. These differences affect the student, particularly when he enters employment. He could be judged by both his creativity and innovation in producing new ideas and his ability to use technology which now involves the computer, the primary graphic design tool.

The reason for these differences becomes clear when we look at the number of workers in the market and where they graduated from. At that time that the largest amount of graduates were being produced, the best quality graduates were produced by well-known institutions and these were recruited by probably the most successful companies.

A distinction is rolling out between technicians and designers. It is because some academic institutions focus on technology and the practical areas of design software, whilst others developing the ability to use knowledge and discover how to connect ideas to the psychological and social context you need to include qualitative studies of theories and design curricula.

The reasons because of this are;

- The absence of specialised academic experts in graphic design and the poor quality of some of the teachers.

- The absence of appropriate study plans for creating graphic designers

- The absence of a system defining the role of universities and colleges in teaching graphic design

- The lack of entry examinations to graphic design courses, unlike courses in the art specialisations

- The absence links to the exterior world, apart from through books.

- Some universities and colleges do not understand the concept of graphical design within an industrial context.

- The lack of official government support for finding a method to set up a core curriculum for university courses.


I have taught in the art departments of several universities and also have assessed many graduation projects. These gave me the opportunity to discover more regarding graphic design teaching, the standards of students, and showed the necessity for appropriate study plans. There is a lack of competitiveness which would improve educational standards and there's an arbitrary use of teaching methods. Objectives could be clear, but often mistake in not using the appropriate teaching methodology results in them not being achieved.

In order to develop and improve, the graphical design sector needs skilled and competent workers. The workers will never be able to react to the changes in technology unless they will have a formal academic training. To experience this advancement it is necessary that graduate students are employed as graphic design specialists.

Conclusion

You will find a requirement in the Jordanian arena for the academic and professional sectors to review their experiences and identify their strengths and weaknesses. That is used by them to create a strategy capable of giving graphical design the respected position it deserves.

There is a requirement for government intervention to provide arena where specialists in graphical design may discuss many of the concepts that help them make company owners and managers aware of how to make the very best use of graphic designers.

And also teaching read more , universities and community colleges must support the markets needs for designers and artisans within the new specialisations which ought to be introduced to be able to reduce unemployment.There is a need for a professional body in graphical design to provide support to designers, co-ordinate educational and technical preparation and for making contacts with the exterior world. It is important to hold workshops and symposiums that improve the competence of teaching staff, designers and students; these should be held with assistance from international institutions which are respected in this field.

It is also vital that you hold national and international competitions to encourage creativity and innovation. This can develop a competitive atmosphere where graphical design can flourish.

Finally, you should create a national identity in graphic design, that may cement its position in the international arena.
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