An area of graphic design I would like to see in the next edition of Graphic Design: A New History would be a section discussing the contributions of modern social media ephemera and its relationship over time to the practice of graphic design.
With the introduction of a myriad of social media platforms also came a new forum for creating and sharing many types of ephemera online, ranging from adverts, event promotions, viral videos and memes, to religious propaganda and various translations and adaptations of news media. Many of these platforms emphasize content creation encouraging users to create eye-catching content in order to secure the attention of their viewers/followers. Because of the intensely visual nature of social media, the compound result of this new media environment is a “deprivatization” of graphic design.
Many regular social media users without any formal education in visual design are creating (and at times, in various ways, even critiquing) design solutions to suit their online needs. In the earliest periods of this development, most online ephemera were quite crude in their design and people rarely created such ephemera themselves, rather most were simply re-posted severally so that the original author became practically untraceable (think family WhatsApp group chats or those reshared Facebook posts) – with the exception of advertisements created by actual brands, organizations and companies. These designs often used basic or non-existent structure, decorative typefaces and/or jarring combinations of typefaces, colors, and graphics (Many of these ephemera have evolved to become what we recognize as the modern meme). However, what these ephemera often lacked in their aesthetic, they made up for in their loud and direct message.
With time more users have begun to create their own content, especially with the advent of more truly “ephemeral” platforms and features such as Snapchat and Instagram stories. These apps/features allow users to create content that is deleted 24-hours after sharing, unlike regular profile posts which stay visible indefinitely unless hidden/deleted. The Instagram story feature especially has significantly developed since its introduction, adding more tools and features to allow users to be more creative and to make unique designs by combining any of the in-app features. As a result of these new forms of social media it seems lay people are developing a more refined sensibility for visual communication and graphic design; users are becoming increasingly selective with how they use in-app and out-of-app design tools to create aesthetically pleasing and unique designs to express themselves online. As a result, these designs (while typically quite personal in content and audience) are becoming more refined in their structure and even levels of meaning, taking cues from pop-culture and even psychology.
The evolution of social media ephemera is even beginning to have an effect on how companies advertise both within these apps and on other platforms, and I believe it can be argued that the trends of social media ephemera are having an effect on the professional practice of graphic design. This is a relationship that can be explored, however briefly, within a new edition of the textbook. Within the social media sphere, there appears to be a microcosm of graphic design development. While this may be perceived an insignificant phenomenon, we know that historically graphic design has been shaped repeatedly by changing popular trends among its consumers, therefore I believe this area is evolving to be a strong influence in the development of modern graphic design, and one that should be addressed and studied by design institutions and likewise within a major textbook like Graphic Design: A New History.
