What was it like to be a designer in the pre-macintosh days of graphic design? Compared to today…a living hell. Sit back and relax while we go back and relive the life of a graphic designer in the 1980’s.

The Studio Office
A typical designer’s office consisted of a huge drawing board, a T-square, a rolling cart filled with assorted production tools, a Pixar style lamp, and cabinets full of rubylith, zipatone lettering and illustration boards. There were electronics of course, like a push-button phone, a radio and a big time saving device – the electric pencil sharpener.

Creating Layouts
A good designer would typically need a week to create a detailed layout for a client and then another week or two to create “camera-ready” art for the printer. Creating a simple headline using transfer lettering or Zipatone lettering, was tedious and frustrating. Getting the letters to be in perfect alignment and kerned was an art in itself. Sometimes the letters would partially adhere to the paper or fall off. This typically happened while being presented to the client. A simple 8-page brochure layout could weigh 2 lbs. – thanks to the huge amounts of paper, rubber cement, markers, colored pencils, photos and staples to hold the book together.

Color Options
Today we have 1.6 million colors to choose from. Old school color selection was based on how many different color markers the designer had. Most designers had a huge set of pantone markers – very expensive ($250 a set) and they dried up quickly. Streaky marker layouts were replaced with color films. These solid colored films had an adhesive back to burnish onto the paper. The films were extremely expensive and if done incorrectly, large air bubbles and streaks appeared (kind of like the clear touchscreen covers for the iPhone).

Stock Images
If you think searching stock sites for the perfect photo or illustration is time consuming, think again. Back then a designer would call a large photo house such as Getty Images and request a search of photos, such as: people on the beach, ages 25-40, white, with kids, playing in the sand. Two days later, a box full of 3 x 5 film transparencies of beach images arrives. Designers then sift through hundreds of images using a lightbox and a loupe to see the image detail. 

Using licensed photos came with a hefty price tag. The price was determined by how large the image will be printed, quantity of printed pieces, target market audience, and placement (cover, inside or back cover). It was not unusual to pay anywhere from $1500 to $3000 for a single image. Once the project was printed, designers had to return all the transparencies back to the vendor. If one was missing, then they billed full price.

Needless to say times have changed and computers have simplified and streamlined the design process. Now designers can spend more time “creating” art and less time “building” art. I found a cool site, The Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies that features images of some of the retro art supplies and tools I mentioned earlier. I grabbed a few of my favorites to show below. Whether you are seasoned veteran or a rookie designer, you won’t want to miss this collection of early design “torture” tools. Check it out!