Stepping

Back
By Kathleen Vrinat
As young designers it is our ultimate goal to be at the forefront
of design. We wish to be new, different, cutting edge. Having
to live up to past expectations can be daunting and we often
find ourselves ignoring all precedents. At times it seems as
though all that could be designed, has been designed and our
community stands still waiting for the next revolution to arise.
It is at moments like these, that it is important for us to take a
step back and re-immerse ourselves within our design past, for
without history there is no future.

“without history there is

no future”
We often over look the relevance of researching and revisiting
the history of design, it’s not our fault history is often associated
with dense texts, over complicated explanations and outdated
theories. As visual communicators we find comfort in quick to
the point, easy to understand, visual dominant representations
of information and ideas. The study of history is often not
engaging, but that does not mean that design history is boring.
The history of design should be inspiring.
In today’s society we are quiet spoilt. The digital revolution
changed design forever. It has allowed us to create and
communicate our ideas and that of our clients almost
instantaneously. Without research and understanding, we do
not appreciate how far we have come.

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 Now let’s go back in time, before the revolution of the Walt Disney had little support, his wife was famously quoted
computer, starting with photography. Photography began in the saying “Nobody will go to see your stupid dwarf cartoon”, it
1830s, through the combination of the camera obscura which was said to be “Disney’s Folly”.
was used as a tool for painting and a trial of chemical mixtures
Walt Disney placed a lot of faith into this film. He believed that
for developing the images. Taking the photo was the easy part,
this could be achieved and mortgaged his home and his studio
getting the captured image to remain permanent on the canvas
to receive the funds needed to begin production. It took Walt
was much harder. The first successful photograph was made
in 1927 and took eight whole hours to develop. These days it
takes us only a matter of minutes to develop and with digital
photography that translates to seconds. “Snow White and
the Seven Dwarfs
Another sector is typography. Way back, typography was
highly specialised, typographers such as Jean Jannon, suffered
to create type casts by hand. These typecasts then needed to
be manually arranged on a linotype machine; adjusting the
leading, tracking and kerning. During a raid by the French revolutionalised the film
government Jean Jannon’s type casts were seized for producing
them illegally. Typography visually communicates what the text
has to say.
industry”
The struggle that these designers went through to alter the
Disney and his team of over 700 artists and musicians, working
way we design and facilities we use is priceless. These days,
shifts night and day for three years to create this film from start
typefaces are created regularly and often are just a rip off of
to finish, where as these days they can be made in a year.
older typefaces. Though there is one man, often over looked
and this is the writer’s inspirer; Walt Disney, with the classic Disney and his team created over three million paintings not
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. including drafts for the entire film. They developed more than
fifteen hundred colours for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
It revolutionised animation and the film industry, being the first
and each background is painted in watercolour and then
of its kind. With this film he broke down the boundaries and
photographed in sequence onto the film, this was done more
succeeded. The concept for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
than half a million times.
began in the 1930s. Never before had anyone attempted to
create a feature length film out of a cartoon.

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 Next time you watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs you
will truly see the beauty and effort they put in to create every
moment. There is a timeless grace that rarely transcends into
recent films. Remind yourself on how other sectors of design
have changed to benefit you. Photography is an enduring
example of how designers before us transformed it into a

The
design practise that takes minutes instead of hours. Also how
typographers have assisted in providing the written word
another means of communication.

End
It is important to revisit the past and learn how things were
done. Embrace design and take the time to awe over earlier
works and you will find motivation; because without history
there isn’t a future.

Bibliography:
A History of Photography. Robert Leggat. 1995. 6 Marc 2010
<http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/>
“Garamond”. Absolute Astronomy. 6 March 2010 <http://www.
absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Garamond>
Hart, Brad. “The True Origins and History of Snow White and
the Seven Dwarfs.” Goodread.com. 11 February 2010. 15
March 2010
<http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/60644-the-true-
origins-and-history-of-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs>
“Walt Disney.” Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 15 March
How Walt Disney Cartoons are Made. RKO Radio. Television,
2010 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/165713/
1938. Youtube 16 March 2010. Walt-Disney>.

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