I personally love print. The quality of paper and the feel of it in your hands really elevates the work, and that’s something you can’t get from digital.
Many people still want to see and feel a well-designed print piece. It seems to signify that the ‘product’ has permanence and isn’t as fleeting as online or digital pieces. Non-profits, educational organizations, and think tanks can use print to their advantage.
As far as what I see, print absolutely still has an important place in professional design work today. Touch and permanence may be even more meaningful now, but the touch needs to really stand out to compete with digital media. Soft touch, motion coating, reticulation, spot gloss, felt stock: talk to your printer about what stocks/ techniques/finishes they offer that can set your print piece apart.
I have a private-school client that went to a digital-only version of their weekly, informative parent newsletter. It goes out via email and is posted on the website. We found that the parents are now less informed because they either don’t read the newsletter anymore, or they don’t retain the information. When it was in print, the parents would hold onto the newsletter and refer to it regularly. Parents are missing important dates and information and we are considering going back to a print version.
In-store POP is still very important. We still use print at trade shows but also share it digitally with customers.
The demographic for my business is much older so print is still the main vehicle of communication.
Print still has a place in our work, however more clients are concerned about cost and less concerned about touch, feel, special processes.
Digital communication is great for something quick, but it will never be able to take the place of printed work and it’s staying power. Print is still important but size and number of pages are greatly reduced for optimal client approval. They want the meat and not a whole lot of filler.
We are old school. We love offset printing and specialty processes and we look to do them as often as possible, but it is a digital world.
These days all of our work is integrated. A concept has to work across all channels, print and digital. Rather than working for one medium or the other, the necessity is to work with the client toward appropriate channels.
Audiences of any age, gender, race or region appreciate physical material. The tactile nature offers some kind of personal connection that can’t be achieved through digital, potentially offering a larger impact.
Business Cards, letterhead, forms, brochures, posters, punch cards are all better in print.
Print continues to have an important place in graphic design and communications. Employing the sense of touch is integral to the overall visual experience. Catalogs, brochures and collateral in general are still in very high demand. A great looking invitation or stationery with die-cuts and embossment cannot be achieved in digital format.
Print is even more special in our predominantly digital age. The extra impact is valuable, but can be difficult to justify against cost, particularly for nonprofits and small businesses.
Print is very important. Packaging is a huge part of our customer experience; and sales sheets and brochures help our sales teams interact with distributors, channels sales and end users.
I am primarily a print designer. The tangible object of a book and the physical qualities of the cover/jacket are still very relevant to the felt value of the object by the user, perhaps even more so than 5 or 10 years ago – permanent, physical realness in the age of virtual and invisible realities. Books, in the way they are conceived and written today, are still better and more widely consumed as printed matter.
Print works very well for all of my clients. I’m even currently working on a print project for a mobile app client, so even the tech guys need print!
Print is useful for architecture, art, cultural organizations, nonprofits, education, editorial, the list goes on and on.
My clients attend a lot of trade shows. Our team designs the graphics for the booths and all the collaterals too. A quality piece elevates the brand and is a useful tool for our sales team.
Print is still very important for our company. Clients seem to want more customized packaging and collateral than in the past.
As a member of an inhouse design team at a publishing company, I would say print is as robust as ever. We are publishing dozens of new books each season and the demand for printed books, largely due to their tactile, traditional qualities, is as high as ever. Nothing compares to holding a printed book in your hands, smelling the fresh ink and bending the binding for the first time. – Brianna Dombo, Designer, Ave Maria Press
It’s a zoo out there. You can navigate and flip from one ad to another in a matter of seconds, and just as quickly forget all you saw or read. – Zohrab Donabedian, Creative Director, The Designers
Having something to hold in your hand is still useful today.
I work for a B2B company who is a master re-distributor and our product catalog is a highly sought after piece.
I still have a real fondness for print because that’s how I started my career, and I still think its strength is its permanence, but I’m not sure the rest of the world agrees. It works best for clients that want to be more inclusive and support their online and social presence.
Print will be around for many years to come. I’ve had clients who tried to take their magazines completely online and it did not work out. Theses clients received complaints from members who WANTED a printed piece, not a digital copy.
Digital advertising is becoming oversaturated and producing shareable content is expensive.
Our annual meeting is huge and though we have an app and a website, a print program is extremely necessary as are printed signage and menu cards, etc.
Print is of 100% importance in my every day job, but I’m not sure that touch actually plays a large role as much as it used to. Now it is more about the message conveyed and what’s in it for the consumer.
As digital as this world is, from living on your mobile to using online ordering and paying with digital money, people still want something physical to hold and touch to feel the worth.
Print maintains an important place in my work today and its strength is the tactile sensation along with easier viewing. Print works best with most types of collateral and announcements/invitations.
Packaging is a large part of our work – touch and feel is a key component and huge indicator of quality, concept and competitive edge for our work & clients.
The touch and feel of paper is very impactful in a digital era.
Print is still meaningful, especially for events and campaigns on the road and where we need to leave behind information or promotion with CTAs. Touch and permanence are details that should always be considered with print and are very much a part of the solution.
My clients like to have and receive tangible materials for promotion. I find print works best for annual reports and print materials.
Print still plays and always has played an important part in my job, especially for our History publications.
Ironically, I just met with my Paper Rep yesterday and we were discussing how important print is, more than ever. The tactile feel and versatility of paper can make or break a project. We all still cherish that favorite book, or collect beautifully printed packaging or business cards. These things have lasting impact and are physically there to experience time and again. Digital work just doesn’t have that kind of clout or permanence. And as for projects, I’d say without a doubt, print is great for packaging, business cards (there’s a sort of ritual there), and well-done publications – especially cookbooks. I don’t even look at my kindle cookbooks and, mostly, forget they are there. But a greatly composed, photographed and printed cookbook? Priceless.
I am an in-plant printer and we print more now than ever.
No matter what, someone needs to open their mailbox and physically touch a piece of direct mail That is time that they are holding the piece and time they could be reading the piece even if it is to walk it to the recycle bin. With social media there is an easy swipe to delete or block.
