Evaluate the impact of evolving output mediums on the design and creation of graphic images

There are many ways in which output media has developed over the past ten years alone, for example flat screen television and monitors. It was not that long ago when many still used the large backed televisions and scart leads. These were extremely weighty and the quality of them was not always outstanding, the bulbs were prone to either breaking showing no image or discolouring the picture quality. We needed something better and this is where flat screen televisions came in. Because they were lighter in weight and thinner they were more portable to and able to be placed up against walls as opposed to just being on a television stand which can take up a great deal of space in a confined home. Another feature of the flat screen television was the amount of output options they have, many come built in with a standard RGB output, 1 or more HDMI outputs and at least 2 scarts outputs. With this many outputs they can now support several different consoles without the need for an output divider. 



The next development for flat screen televisions is the rate of resolution you can get. As I mentioned earlier large backed televisions often had poor resolution and quite often discoloured to either a green or blue colour once they got older and the bulbs were starting to break. There are two different types of flat screen televisions that we can have and that is: LCD and Plasma. LCD televisions tend to be smaller in size with 20” going to 37” whereas plasma televisions are much larger (42” and upwards). An LCD uses liquid crystals, hence liquid crystals display (or LCD for short) and is commonly used for laptops screens; however plasma uses pockets of gas and uses a great deal more electricity. Another issue you can get from plasma TV’s is burned in imagery. This often happens when you leave a still image on the screen for a long period of time to which the light then becomes burned onto the glass in front which can cause issues when you move the image to watch something else, although this is becoming less of an issue. Overall the LCD is better technology because they are more economic for the environment and your electric bill, and finally because they are liquid crystals they are able to move and this is why we are recently innovating to a new form flat screen which is curved to enhance the user’s experience as we move into 3D television.

Another form of output media is mobile phones, or more suitably known Smartphones. Many users of technology are beginning to use their phones for a lot more than just texting and calling, many are watching films, reading books and taking high quality photographic imagery. A phone is now no longer just a phone but it is a camera, a booking and a DVD all in your pocket. Back in the early 2000’s a smartphone such as this was not even thought about, what we looked for was good memory, Bluetooth, the game snake and a decent amount of characters for texting. Now in a phone we tend to search a high resolution screen, a 5mp camera 3G internet access and a contract deal which is affordable, and possibly the occasional snake game which we could now download as an app instead. Phones have developed greatly in the past 10 years, screens are now built in with a higher resolution, and have vibrant colours which to not blend into one another as well as become too bright for the user. The screens are set at standard resolution (varying per phone, per screen) so that we can see clearly on the smaller screen without any pixilation or any noise which can either be blinding or annoyance to the human eye. As our lives move with technology, technology needs to move with us therefore meaning that smartphones must be constantly updating to keep with our busy lives. Phones are now able to even keep to both our social and work lives, we can have a presentation created by our phones set and ready to instantly link up to a projector. There is no doubt that you get what you pay for when it comes to mobile phone technology, especially when it comes to the operating system of the phone. Many would much rather prefer Apple’s iOS system as opposed to the Android system, however the difference in price for an iPhone is £450 pay-as-you-go or £55 at minimum on contract. Whereas an Android phone (depending on the phone) can price at as little as £100. It all depends on the quality you wish for.

Printers have greatly evolved since the invention of the printing press. Inkjet printers are most common use in the workplace and in the household in today’s market, this is because they are not expensive and product decent quality imagery which is rather speedy depending on the quality you are printing. This is a great deal faster than the original inkjets from the 70’s and 80’s. We have to consider the Deskjets when it comes to this particular kind of printer, as back in the 80’s inkjets (and the HP Deskjet) could not print in colour, only in black and white, however the more recent Deskjets area able to print in both black and white as well as colour with the ability to print at speeds of 16 pages per minute. Modern Deskjet printers can also print up to 1200dpi images colour and 600dpi as a standard.

We then move onto the Laserjet printer also extremely common in today’s workplaces because they have the capability to produce high quality images and a tremendously fast speed. They also tend to have a long life span meaning that the user will have no need to worry about the expense if the printer lasts for a long time. Another attribute to this printer is how silently it prints compared to the Deskjet we mentioned above, this will be because of the fast pace they are able to print at. Back in the 1980’s these two printers would have been massively expensive and very bulky for the user. It is clear to see that today’s modern printers have improved greatly for both portability and price

We need to consider the details of both the Mac and the PC for instance how well it can support Photoshop through screen size and the resolution. It is not unknown that there is massive rivalry between Apple and Microsoft software, and it is not uncommon for many to favour the Mac design when it comes to most types of designing industry (i.e. Digital Graphics, and Animation). When studying Macs and PC laptops in a local shop I can understand why some favour the Mac instantly over a Windows PC, this simply comes from the resolution. I chose several laptops and compared them through similar prices to see what you would also be getting for your money’s worth. With a Mac it seems that you have to spend just under £300 to see massive improvement in your resolution. A Mac laptop priced at £999 gives you a screen size of 15” with a resolution of 1440x990, which is what would expect from an expensive Mac such as this, whereas a Sony Windows laptop also priced at £999 gave you a smaller screen of 14” but a higher resolution of 1920 x 1080, it also gives you double the RAM at 8Gb and double the storage of 1Tb. This makes me instantly believe that This Sony windows PC is the more suitable option more supporting software such as Photoshop and even Lightroom users. However, spend just under £300 and you seem to get a surprisingly a little bit more, for some reason storage wise you lose a great deal at 256Gb for standard storage this maybe to encourage external hard drive for in the professional work place but it does not seem like a great compensation for the 8Gb RAM that you gain its place and the higher resolution of 2560 x 1600, although it does make it easier.

                This brings me to the file sizes that a digital graphics designer could be dealing with, especially with high resolution projects and RAW imagery. When working on my cartoon “Sketch Yourself” I found that the file size as a PSD and an image with the equivalent of one quarter edited came to a total file size of, 75Mb. This suggests that the smaller hard drive that the £1,250 Mac delivers would not be useful for a professional standard and you would need to get an external hard drive just to support all your files and your Mac is useful for either personal projects or a high end student laptop. The cheaper Mac option of £999 does pose as a better option due to the higher storage of 500Gb but may also not be able to support the large file size because the smaller amount of RAM half of our final option. This conclusion proves that the Sony Windows PC is in fact the better option and a great deal more value for money. The resolution sits in the middle of our two Mac options and runs on the same processor as the £1,250 Mac, you also have a larger hard drive and an 8Gb RAM which is likely to handle the large file sizes that you would be working on as a digital graphics.