The Origins of “Technological Visuals”

Courses of Research on the Design of Opening Credits in the First Decade of Rai Tv Broadcasts

Abstract

Since the earliest days of Italian public television, opening titles have been a fertile ground for experimentation with images in motion, a place where design ideas and technology found a special meeting ground. Based on research in the archives of Rai public television and analysis of a representative selection of opening credits from the first ten years of broadcasts, this article offers elements for a reconstruction of the early history of motion graphics in Italy. Articles published in the house organ of Rai television and in specialized magazines, as well as observations by designers, enable us to contextualize this early work within a wider critical debate. Several points of contact can thus be established between different strands of experimental research which, drawing upon the new world of images opened up by electronics, explored the possibilities of “programming” images in motion.