The fifth issue of French design journal Back Office considers the increasing importance of 3-D technologies among graphic design productions. 3-D has never been as accessible as it is today, thanks to the increasing processing capacities, to the wide-spread use of open-source softwares and of “real-time” creation environments. Often limited to a search for photorealistic performance, 3-D is slow to offer a graphic language of its own.

What are the effects of this trend on the reader, in cultural, cognitive and sensitive terms ? What is the relation between image and text in a simulated environment, whether figurative or abstract ? This issue is an attempt to propose diverse answers, through interviews and articles, illustrated with numerous examples, taken from video games, interfaces or movies (Terminator, Mario Kart, etc.).

Back Office is an annual review, encompassing graphic design and digital activities. It explores the creative processes at work in the diverse fields of contemporary media and digital practices. By dealing with themes such as the code/form relation, the challenges of creative tools, and the permeable nature of media, it is a unique French-speaking space for reflection and a worldwide vehicle of visibility for the French-speaking community.

Back Office is entirely bilingual and is designed as an interface for the reception of the overwhelmingly English-speaking digital culture, through commissioned articles by authors and original translations.

Contents: "From Rectangles to Polygons: the Emergence of 3-D Technologies in Contemporary Posters," by Jean-Michel Géridan; "Getting real, skeuomorphism in the History of Interfaces," by Emmanuel Debien; "Hybridized Spaces," an interview with graphic designer Kevin Bray; "Textures Archaeology," by Kévin Donnot, Élise Gray and Anthony Masure; "Interfaces of Immersive Media," by Julie Woletz; "Back to the Future for 3-D Interfaces," by Nolwenn Maudet; and "Worlds within Worlds," an interview with Tereza Ruller from The Rodina.

Designed by E+K (Élise Gay & Kévin Donnot)

Published by Éditions B42 and Fork Éditions, 2022
Bilingual, in French and English

144 pages, color and b&w images, 7.75 × 11 inches

ISBN: 978-2-49-007791-5