Mapping the Future | 97Jan van Toorn Spread from
the visual essay “Panorama of Habits”
in Design’s Delight, 2006.
as one millennium ended and anoTher began, digiTal
Technology fundamenTally Transformed graphic design.
old avanT-garde issues of auThorship, universaliTy, and
social responsibiliTy were reborn wiThin socieTy’s newly
decenTralized neTworked sTrucTure. Designers became graphic
authors, initiators of content, much to the chagrin of die-hard modernists and
service-oriented professionals. Industry-standard software and restrictive web
protocols formed a new universal graphic language, while the subjective shift
expressed in New Wave and postmodern design instilled a revived sense of
agency among designers. Kalle Lasn launched Adbusters, tearing a hole in the
detached professional facade of the ad industry. Designers rebelled against
the sleekness of technology, looking to a renewed sense of craft, as ornament
reentered the design scene. Visionary global design leaders like Kenya Hara
brought global consciousness and environmental ethos to big business. Cyber-
space no longer represented the terrain of specialized interactive designers;
instead virtual and physical reality began to merge, forming a new collective
working environment for all.Section three