Jakub Konupka is freelance graphic & type designer.
Digital First: Visual Communication and Literacy in a World Dominated by Digital Media
Given the current state of technology used as a means of visual communication, we predominantly create, share, and consume information in the digital form. This status quo, being relatively new (as we were ushered into it in quite a hasty manner caused by the rapidness of computer and networking development), remains only partially embraced. In education, for example, there is no general consensus on whether textbooks should remain printed or should be converted into digital learning materials. This is an indication that the way we consume information has changed in its nature. The “classic” way of reading and viewing printed and other physical media is still present, but our attention has been divided between that and all the new possibilities of digital media. This has changed our visual literacy. Surviving in today’s society means adapting ourselves to the new way of consuming information. In my paper I will concentrate on the way printed media can coexist with digital media as their rightful and useful counterparts. I will demonstrate that the use of printed media is neither subject to tradition, nor merely nostalgic. Even when print becomes far less practical than it is today, it will still be present. We are looking at a future in which print will find a new niche and assume a different function corresponding to the newly defined visual literacy. To show how we are approaching that state, I will show some actual works, including some students’ projects I have co-supervised at the studio of Graphic Design 1 at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. To show what such a future media environment could look like, I will share some of the conclusions of my PhD research.