Thank you for having us in the other week, we really appreciated your time.
Whilst talking to you we touched upon the current situation with regards to the use of print today. I am currently working on a brief questioning the statement 'Print is Dead' so wondered if you could please take a few minutes to answer the following questions?
1. How do you think the current rise in digital based media has affected print based media? Massively, the truth is that lots of printing companies have ‘died’, any printer producing ink on paper products that we basically used for info only uses such as price lists, catalogues etc has suffered as this can be produced more effectively and easily updated electronically on the web. The marketing budget is now split across far more mediums (print, SMS, e-mail, web, etc) than it used to be. Therefore what is spent on print and paper is a fraction of say 10 years ago.
What printing companies have had to do is really find their USP to add value to what they do, just been a printer is not enough in these times. At Team we embraced the high end design led markets (fashion, arts, corporate) offering a full in house service of all facilities (litho, digital, POS, foiling, embossing, varnishing, etc) to enable us to produce any client requirement to any quantity.
Other printers have embraced more of a marketing solutions approach by linking print to SMS and electronic media, this is termed web to print. Either way just putting ink on paper is not enough.
2. Do you think the rise in digital media has affected the way in which designers design for print? Yes, because print is less used, when it is, designers want it to have more of a wow factor. Colours, processes, finishes, techniques, bindings are used to really make the experience of print more luxurious.
3. Is it beneficial for designers to take into consideration print processes and print finishes from the initial stages of the design process? Absolutely, see above. When designing for print, it is not just about creating something that looks good on screen, you need to know what is possible and how it will reproduce.
4. Has there been a noticeable change in type of print jobs clients require? Yes. Mainly shorter runs but more process and higher quality.
I hope you can find the time to answer my questions as it will truly aid the development of my brief.
