WYISWYG is a 3-year interdisciplinary research project that aims at documenting, from a historical and theoretical perspective, the digital turn of graphic design practice. How and when did the computer become the main working device for graphic designers? And what are the long-term unexpected effects of these technologies on the practice of graphic design today?

The project will produce data, timeline, critical analysis on the economy and distribution networks of WYSIWYG software (acronym of « What You See Is What You Get »: first-used in 1981 the expression designates a specific category of software whose graphic interface makes it possible to visualize a design on the screen as it will ultimately be printed). This includes word-processing systems, desktop publishing (DTP) software used for lay-out as well as software used for computer-based drawing and image-editing. WYSIWYG interfaces and software gave designers and editors unprecedented control over layout, typography, - and visual elements in print media. Boosting the creativity and possibility to experiment, these tools resulted in a more intuitive, visual-oriented and less-structured *practice of design*, and therefore questioning the accuracy of the concept of “automation” when it comes to design software.

The period considered stretches from the mid-1980s with the introduction of the first personal computers equipped with graphic design software (in particular the Macintosh from Apple, Inc., 1984) to contemporary discussions regarding their massive generalization. The survey will concentrate on Switzerland and France, in a comparative perspective, and with a focus on the significant intertwining of both countries’ graphic design cultures in this period of great upheaval.

The historical investigation will be articulated with contemporary theoretical questions in the framework of AI development. WYSIWYG intends to shed light on core issues in design theory, such as the relationship between technology and creation, and the border between professional and amateur mastering of “creative” digital tools.

The project is organized in 4 research-streams :

Research stream 1: Economy and international networks of graphic design digital revolution

WYSIWYG aims at documenting an understudied technological transition. We intend to understand how and when American graphic design software were launched, marketed and sold in Switzerland and France. The project will focus on the most popular software: Aldus PageMaker (1985), Ready!Set!Go! (1985), QuarkXPress (1987), Adobe Photoshop (1991) and InDesign (1999), as well as a few computer brands used by graphic design professionals (Macintosh from 1984, PC from the introduction of Windows in 1987, Amiga in 1987). Which software were used first and for what types of work? When did printing plants go digital? Who were the local players in the promotion of these tools (translators, newsletters, training institutes, consulting agencies…) ? How do they draw on the networks of the photocomposition era? From the point of view of freelance graphic designers, how was the costly investment in a computer and its software financed and justified?

Research stream 2: A profession in transition

WYSIWYG will document how digital tools changed graphic design practice between 1980 and 2000, by gathering testimonies from graphic designers active during this time of upheaval. How did the computer change the scope of activities, gestures, workflows and workspaces - at the same time as the stylistic characteristics of graphic artifacts ? We hypothesize that the adoption of graphic design digital tools articulates with debates on authorship and ethics in graphic design, as graphic designers have faced the emergence of non-professional desktop publishing, as well as the broadening of their tasks to those once taken in charge by other professionals of the graphic chain (typographic proofreading, photoengraving). In English-speaking countries, this has produced strongly authored projects, and a vein of digital craft which we expect to find understudied counterparts in France and Switzerland. We also wish to gather testimonies on the silent revolution of everyday typesetting and lay out, especially in the press industry. We will work on the hypothesis that computers have changed the gendered repartition of roles in the graphic chain and given women designers the opportunity to gain more recognition.

Research stream 3: Experimenting with the Digital in Graphic Design Education

Graphic design’s digital turn has been visible in the evolution of graphic design teaching over the period 1980 to 2000. Yet this transition has not or barely been studied, especially for France and Switzerland. Did Swiss and French graphic design schools and curricula initiate or follow the transition to digital? How were computers used within graphic design pedagogy, and can we trace an evolution from experimental to more professional “ready-for-work” training? This research stream’s hypothesis is that the digital was the catalyst of an unprecedented pedagogical renewal, in which the computer was used as tool, medium and aesthetic impulse, in the framework of a highly experimental pedagogy. This investigation will mainly build on the archives of 3 key graphic design schools: HGK (Basel), ZHdK (Zürich) and Ensad (Paris), which include exclusive students works, syllabi, brochures, and administrative records. The analysis of archive material will be complemented with oral history methods.

Research stream 4: Beyond WYSIWYG: publishing for print and web

WYSIWYG research program is rooted in contemporary graphic design practice with an eye on the future of web-to-print, creative coding, and automation of graphic design through AI. In the wake of Taylor Conrad’s interrogation “What has WYSIWYG done to us?” (1996), this RS explores the blurry boundary between WYSIWYG and non-WYSIWYG in the framework of online communication, web publishing, mobile apps and AI services. It will focus on specific hybrid creative processes in relationship to web technologies and multisupport publishing including web-to-print practices (use of HTML and CSS to create printed documents) and responsive web publication rooted into the framework of free and open source culture. On the other side, WYSIWYG paradigm has remained central in wide-audience design apps such as Canva (2010), that extend and renew the division between professional and non-professional graphic design. We also wish to investigate the future of WYSIWYG in the light of emerging vocal and neural interfaces.