Commentary & Analysis
Yes Virginia, there is a printing industry
By Frank Romano
Published: December 14, 2012
The skeptics have all but writen us off
The pundits call us a sunset industry
Misguided marketers think electronic substitution replaces print
But print will prevail
Yes, some print has become electronic
And some more print may become electronic
But you cannot replace all print
An e-greeting is not the same as a beautiful card held in your hand, today and decades from now
Digital photos look great on a screen but your grandkids will never see them in the future unless they are printed
Yes, Virginia, there will be print forever
There will be a printing industry forever
We will still have packaging
We will still have real books that record our memories
We will still have direct mail
We will still have posters
We will still have promotional material
We will still have many products that cannot be reduced to zeros and ones
Print cannot die, Virginia
It can only become better
When you want to impress
motivate
influence
you will use print
Print alone
Or, print and electronic communication
Print is special
It activates multiple senses
It is 3-dimensional and tactile
It says to the receiver
that the sender cares
It makes communication glorious
The use of print is wrongly considered un-green
Yet, print uses little energy and pollutes less than electronic methods
Printers have been great stewards of our environment
Yes, Virginia, print is special
The naysayers may have their day
But print will have many days
Now and far into the future
Your life will be enriched by print
And by the people who make print
The printing industry
Frank Romano has spent over 50 years in the printing and publishing industries. Many know him best as the editor of the International Paper Pocket Pal or from the hundreds of articles he has written for publications from North America and Europe to the Middle East to Asia and Australia.
He is the author of over 52 books, including the 10,000-term Encyclopedia of Graphic Communications (with Richard Romano), the standard reference in the field. His books on QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, and PDF workflow were among the first in their fields. He has authored most of the books on digital printing. One of his books is the 800-page textbook for Moscow State University.
He has founded eight publications, serving as publisher or editor for TypeWorld/Electronic Publishing (which ended in its 30th year of publication), Computer Artist, Color Publishing, The Typographer, EP&P, and both the NCPA and PrintRIT Journals. His columns appear monthly in the Digital Printing Report. He was the editor of the EDSF Report for 14 years.
Romano lectures extensively, having addressed virtually every club, association, group, and professional organization at one time or another. He is one of the industry's foremost keynote speakers.
He has consulted for major corporations, publishers, government, and other users of digital printing and publishing technology. He wrote the first report on on-demand digital printing in 1980 and ran the first conference on the subject in 1985. He has conceptualized many of the workflow and applications techniques of the industry and was the principal researcher on the landmark EDSF study, “Printing in the Age of the Web and Beyond.”
He has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Times of London, USA Today, Business Week, Forbes, and many other newspapers and publications, as well as on TV and radio.
He continues to teach courses at RIT and other universities and works with students on unique research projects.
Please offer your feedback to Frank. He can be reached at frank@whattheythink.com.
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