Print to Digital

I recently had an interview where I made a pretty giant mistake of talking about how everything is going to be digital eventually. I tried to make it clear that I didn’t believe it was happening soon, but EVENTUALLY. Yes, print will remain, but it will remain as a novelty. I call this a mistake was because I was talking to people in the print publishing industry that I am guessing, from their astonished expressions, fear the digital age.

I’ve put a lot of thought into this since. I realize that only a few years ago, I personally was not all that interested in digital design. I’ve wondered, why has my mind changed? Is it really because I’ve realized that digital designers are more valuable? Is that why and does that mean I am being superficial? Well, maybe. But I’ve also realized that I have changed as a consumer. I don’t subscribe to newspapers. This is because when I did, I might read one full paper out of the many I received. I felt very wasteful sending all that information into the recycling without putting it into my head first. And I’ve started to think that subscribing to magazines as well is wasteful. I’d rather look up articles at my convenience online. I have my sources that I regularly surf. And podcasts! I’ve become quite addicted to podcasts.

I know that my responses were a mistake in that interview. But at the same time I believe that we all realized in that moment that no one would be all that happy if I were to accept a job in that position. I would rather work for a publisher with a similiar mindset to mine in terms of the future of publishing. That is to be excited about the future and is looking at ways to expand and grow the consumer base with new media options instead of living in fear that my job may be a dead end.

I am still one of those people who likes to hold a book in my hand and lounge outside or in a chair while reading it, but the next generation is growing up more and more comfortable with using technology to read or do many different things. But this is only my opinion, and I know I may have limited knowledge in terms of the publishing industry, but that doesn’t mean I won’t continue to think positively about how technology will change it.

Here’s an interesting article I found via Plazm. It talks directly about books, the design of them, and the the placement of such in terms of technology. I love this part inparticular as it embraces a sustainable and meaninful school of thought without forgetting the past:

Ask yourself, “Is your work disposable?” For me, in asking myself this, I only see one obvious ruleset:

Formless Content goes digital.
Definite Content gets divided between the iPad and printing.
Of the books we do print — the books we make — they need rigor. They need to be books where the object is embraced as a canvas by designer, publisher and writer. This is the only way these books as physical objects will carry any meaning moving forward.

The article was written by Craig Mod.