Graphics are ubiquitous and increasingly associated with computers. A car display can show the optimal travel route, statisticians use pie charts and bar graphs to represent numbers, and most user programs today use graphic interfaces with icons that can be clicked with a mouse.

Computer games heavily rely on graphics in the form of still or moving images and click here buttons that are clicked. They are often recreated so realistically that they can turn a person into a chicken or make fantasy figures appear as living creatures.

Images and computer graphics

Computers have been spreading rapidly since the 1980s and have continuously surpassed one another in technical parameters and features. This development has had a lasting impact on society and individuals, particularly with regard to the unprecedented importance of pictures.

This radical change does not only apply to pictures but also to the media used to present them. Electronic media, which have a vast variety of forms of representation, have long since joined the classic image carriers such as paper, foil, film, or typography. The graphic has a specific meaning, while other forms of representation include photographs, films, or geographical maps.

Computer graphics bring together the associated methods and representation techniques at a higher level while opening up unimaginable dimensions of design.

The term graphics

The term graphics originate from visual arts and traditionally refers to a product used to clearly represent real and imaginary objects. The artist creates original pieces using woodcuts, copper engravings, paintings, prints, etchings, lithographs, and other possible processes. Freehand drawings with pencil or charcoal can also be considered “original graphics.” The artist presents their two-dimensional view of the world as lines, patterns, and colors on paper or canvas.

Since computers became prevalent, interest in graphics has surged. Digital technology has significantly expanded the concept of graphics. Today, graphics include all computer-based data intended for output devices, such as screens, plotters, printers, slide recorders, video recorders, and projectors.