Print is timeless. With digital platforms changing so rapidly and media contributing to our lack of peace, a printed piece — that you can read at your own pace without being bombarded with ads and moving figures on the bluelight screen in front of you — helps us to keep our sanity.
‒ CATE B., MANAGER OF MEDIA AND MARKETING,
FAMILY MISSIONS COMPANY AND FREELANCE DESIGNER
Print plays a large role in society, whether we realize it or not. It surrounds us, from forms, direct mailing, to signage/environmental graphics — it’s everywhere. Can you imagine a world of only digital marketing? There is absolutely a need for printed material to this day and I don’t see it leaving. As the world evolves, so does our industry – but I believe we are just adding new platforms to it, not eliminating the old.
Clients are turning back to print to set themselves apart from the clutter of digital media and/or using it as a way to drive traffic to their websites. Consumers are still drawn to the warm, tactile qualities of print materials – especially after the pandemic. Print exudes a familiar, organic feeling and reminds them of simpler times.
The ease and accessibility of digital communication will reduce the amount of print work produced, but I believe the power of the printed medium maintains enough of a hold on people, generally, that will prevent it from disappearing completely. There is a truth in print not expressed with digital.
I love the ritual of picking up a printed piece and holding it as I read — it is always a different experience. Much more tactile then holding your phone, which you are constantly looking at anyway— the digital info just seems like so much clutter after a while.
The other day I saw an email about some upscale linens, but when I tried to tell my friend the name, I could not remember it. Later that week, I saw a printed insert tucked into my newspaper about linens. That company I remember, because when I saw the message, I was more focused and in a better situation to note it.
It’s an emotional connection to have and hold art in a personal form. An image on screen is fleeting and forgotten in today’s two second memory.
Print is an incredible part of both work and personal life. Always love seeing well-designed printed pieces and will take time to review. Print’s traditional strengths are and continue to be important because of the impact they make compared with a digital experience. Being able to engage the senses adds a great dimension that digital has not.
I still like holding a book to read, receiving collateral I can touch, and appreciate embossing, tooth, and other techniques.
My company has been able to grow its footprint within the industry when others are failing precisely because we rely on maintaining a print presence in addition to our online presence and projects.
Print definitely adds quality, detailed information, and sustains branding. In a traditional sense, print still matters as a strong foundation of the entire communications matrix.
Print will never be replaced by digital. I design with print in mind.
The tangibility of print is part of its strength. Customers seem to trust it more than advertising in a digital space where they aren’t sure who is seeing it.
Print is still important to our clients and our firm due to its permanence. It also reaches certain demographics better than digital can. Our audiences appreciate printed reports and marketing materials due to its credibility and how we can extend their brands.
With more people working remotely, a tangible printed piece brings more credence and authenticity to products and services.
Print will always be important. The feel of the paper and various techniques applied during printing adding elements of texture and creating visual impact still resonate whether it is something you hold in your hand or view in a trade show booth.
We are an in-house agency with multiple business units that delivers to a membership base on-site at show presences and through direct mail. We love to incorporate specialty print finishes and/or items into our audience’s hands.
The more the world goes digital, the more people will crave (whether for practical or nostalgic reasons) paper.
Print does still matter. Holding the printed piece in your hand has value. There is too much online and you cannot guarantee your target audience will even see the work.
Print is not dead!! It is still SO important. We live in a visual world and there cannot (nor should there ever be) based wholly on screens surrounding us and being the ‘be all, end all’ hub for all things design and branding and information.
Tangible ‘things’ are still important in my professional life. As an inhouse designer for a nursery and garden supply chain, I’ve noticed the following: (1) When outside in the bright light, printed pieces are easier to see than digital screens (2) A portion of our customers are retired folk (3) To-Do lists from our printed catalog are clipped and attached to customers’ refrigerators/garage doors/supply closets (4) In the first week a new catalog is delivered, customers come in with the catalogs dog-eared and products circled (5) You don’t need electricity to read a catalog.
Print makes a statement, people don’t get many print pieces anymore, so they do stand out.
We still have a segment of customers who can only be reached by print.
For me personally, print will always be important — it’s finite, tactile, and can exude quality in a way digital cannot.
Print is always important. The most important piece of print for any company is the business card. No matter how many companies try to invent a ‘digital’ version of a business card, it just doesn’t work. There are just too many variables. At the end of the day, there is nothing incompatible with handing someone a printed piece with your logo and contact info on it. It is important and makes your company look professional.
‒ DUSTIN BRENTON PRESIDENT + CREATIVE DIRECTOR, BRENTON CREATIVE
I work as a designer and photographer primarily in education. A fair amount of our materials are provided in print and online. I don’t see that changing.
Personally, since I spend all day staring at a computer screen, when it comes time to read, I want a printed book. I don’t like to read on another screen if I can help it.
I still like having something physical as opposed to digital. Being able to touch and feel make pieces more authentic.
Absolutely, but I’m a print dinosaur. The tangibility of print is as appealing as it’s ever been and is a great sales tool. People still like to hold things. There’s a human quality to printed work that isn’t in digital.
Print is very important in my professional and personal life. Yes, the strengths and attributes of print still matter. With print you have a physical artifact that can be a tether to a special event or fond memory, something that can be held and felt, not merely viewed on a screen.
Touch is one of the five senses and print helps us reach out on another level to audiences using that sense. Texture, color, appearance all aid in graphic design.
Print packaging is still the last touch point before a consumer interacts with a product. It is imperative, more than ever, that this experience enhances the consumers first impression of the product. Touch and sight are two senses engaged with print.
Yes, print still matters. And I am grateful to have come up in our industry with such a strong background in print. I do believe its place in our culture is evolving, though. This year, I created a Sustainability Report that was completely digital where in the past, it had been printed. Humans are tactile creatures. We like to touch, manipulate, and hold things with our hands. For that reason, some pieces will remain as tangible items. We also still need takeaways, posters, signs, etc. Maybe in the future, everything will be like the SyFy shows where all that greets our eyes in the environment is digital, but we are not there yet.
It depends on the industry. For higher ed, print is still very much alive. For business and with the pandemic, people are emailing deliverables to review them.
While the industry has changed a lot, it has become more focused. I’m particularly excited about the recent pairing of print with AR. I hope to do more print again as quality execution becomes more of a novelty.
When I am trying to understand something important or am buying something expensive, I gravitate toward print. For everyday matters, searching online is easier
I rely more on digital communications than print, but as a designer, I can really appreciate the beauty of a well-designed print piece. I especially love when nice paper and finishes are used. This is something that can’t be duplicated in digital communications and marketing.
I’ve been a graphic designer for over 30 years and remember the time when print flipped to digital/social media. Social media seems to be presenting with a few negatives that are pushing print back into the limelight. Print’s traditional strengths (touch, permanence, credibility, accessibility, quality leads) get back to basic human connection. You can see digital/social media, but it’s not tangible … Personally, I prefer to receive invitations and information about brands in hand. For my banking, medical and job tacking, digital is more streamlined.
Print is what I like the most about my job, but I also would like to see less paper overall in terms of sustainability/waste management. So, I’m always inclined to papers and methods that are environmentally friendly. Or to print only when necessary, such as packaging and branding collateral, and turn to digital for things such as catalogs and flyers.
Print is relevant and will continue to be so. The quality of digital printing has made printing more accessible and economical for companies that have smaller budgets and for those that need to frequently update information.
Even though the amount of print work that I do is dwindling, print is not a lost art. In fact, in the digital society that we are in, I think people appreciate print more than they did in the past.
Print still matters, but its role in marketing communications diminishes a bit each year. I don’t envision a ‘printless’ world any time soon, but I suspect print will shrink another 25-50% over the next ten years.
I work in business development on proposals and have noticed a steep decline in print materials in the last two years, but I do see it returning somewhat.
For my private, non-profit organization, print is outdated quickly, compared with online or digital graphics and messaging. We print on-demand as much as possible and I also have a solid copy machine to print smaller quantities inhouse. We don’t mail as much and many times email or share our materials online. BUT, for C-level meetings and meet ’n greet events, it is still nice to have small pieces to hand to a person requesting information. We use small business-card-sized brochures to give teaser info and push them to our website for more information.
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