Xeno: 1991-2001

If the ’80s were the dawn of the digital age, the ’90s were the dawn of the Internet. This was the real period of transition from how things used to get done to present times. Graphic design operated in the same arena of print media and production methods for about 75 years prior to the 1990s. Now it all changed and it was exhilarating experience. Designers, programmers, illustrators, printers – we were all learning new skills as technology propelled everything forward.

The ’90s, for us, are defined by our clients in the music products business: Remo, NAMM, Percussion Marketing Council, Kellar Bass… high-tech: Chiron Vision (acquired by Bausch & Lomb Surgical), SATTEL Communications/Coyote Technologies… Petersen Publishing, Southern California Association of Governments, L.A. Gear and Axis Clothing Corporation.

Our first website design was in 1992 before websites were commonly used. I named it Axsys and my developers explained to me it was an information server. So there it was, the Axsys Information Server – one of the first modern online interfaces on record.

Client: Art Directors Club of Los Angeles
Axsys Information Server: User Interface and System Design
1992

Two years before Netscape launched their web browser creating the modern Internet experience, I casually suggested to the board members of the Los Angeles Art Directors Club, “we ought to deliver our newsletter electronically. Members could download via modem and print it themselves.” “Do you know how to do that?” they asked. “…don’t have a clue, but I’ll research it.” The green light was given to what became the Axsys Information Server.

No network or browser existed as we know it today, but with technical support from ResNova Software (a hybrid of bulletin board software and Apple’s HyperCard), plus our own server made from an Apple Macintosh II, we did it. I told the crowd atttending the launch, “soon you’ll be able to buy fonts and artwork online…”

I can’t believe it been almost 20 years.  – c –

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Samples shown represent work for REMO Inc., Kellar Bass Systems, Coyote Technologies, Chiron Vision and AmFAR