Printing Industry Commentary & Analysis

Frank Read the News Today, Oh Boy

Published October 6, 2023

Newspapers are getting smaller. The broadsheet newspaper of the past is now a fraction of its size as it went from a width of 15 inches to under 12 inches today. If this trend continues, your newspaper may soon be a newsletter.

Frank Goes to the Library

Published September 29, 2023

Frank opines on the future of the library. He sees libraries as access locations for Internet connection because the ultimate library is on the Web. People will still borrow books, but most research will be online.

Frank Talk on Type with Allan Haley

Published September 22, 2023

Frank interviews type expert Allan Haley, who has spent a lifetime with letters. From Compugraphic to ITC to Monotype Imaging, he has been involved in and reported on typographic developments. As the number of typefaces grows, his job is getting bigger.

Around Frank's Web

Published September 15, 2023

Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989, seeing it as a portal to a world of knowledge. His model was an 1856 British book “Enquire Within Upon Everything.” Of course, Frank had to have a copy...or two.

Frank and the Good Book

Published September 8, 2023

Frank discusses the most printed book in the world: the Bible. He talks about some of the rare Bibles at the Museum of Printing. There is one leaf from every Bible printed in Colonial America and complete originals of about 50 Bibles. A number of reference books are also available.

Frank Against the Establishments

Published September 1, 2023

Frank looks into statistics reporting the number of printing establishments. Government data for NAICS 323 does not include Staples and FedEx Office, about 3,000 U.S. sites. Very small printers may self-categorize. We need more accurate industry sizing.

Frank on Broadway

Published August 25, 2023

Frank reviews a show coming to Broadway for a second time called “Gutenberg! The Musical!” In the upcoming 20-week run, two actors pitch a proposed show to Broadway investors. The show ran off-Broadway eight years ago and is being heavily promoted for its encore performance.

Remembering John Warnock

Published August 21, 2023

John Warnock the American computer scientist, inventor, and technology businessman best known for co-founding Adobe Systems Inc died on August 20, 2023.

Frank Is Free-Standing

Published August 18, 2023

Frank talks about the free-standing inserts (FSIs), the promotions that were once inserted in newspapers. Because email addresses are not linked to specific ZIP-coded areas, the U.S. Postal System is now the major distributor of FSIs.

Frank Goes Back to School

Published August 11, 2023

Frank has collected most of the textbooks used to teach printing. For decades, they did not change very much as they taught hand typesetting and letterpress printing. Offset lithography was also relatively standardized—but new printing technologies make it difficult for schools to cover them.

Frank Goes Across America

Published August 4, 2023

Frank joins the chorus supporting Print Across America, a day celebrating print. Print Across America is the brainchild of Deborah Corn, who has done more to promote print than any other person. Mark your calendar for October 25, 2023. Get more information at www.printacrossamerica.com and join the party.

Frank in the Box

Published July 28, 2023

Frank thinks outside the box as he notes that we are all online and thus buying online and this requires shipping which requires boxes. Thus, he opines, packaging in all its forms is a growth market that all printers should consider, especially digital packaging.

Frank Saves Pennies

Published July 21, 2023

Frank discusses the world of the advertising shopper, also called a “pennysaver.” At one time, most small towns and cities had these newsprint publications filled with ads for local businesses. They competed with the Yellow Pages. Now their content is mostly on social media.

Frank Drops Some Knowledge

Published July 14, 2023

Frank recommends two new books on how knowledge is communicated, then shows off his collection of encyclopedias—that is, a volume from most encyclopedia sets. Diderot’s Encyclopedie in the 1700s and the Encyclopedia Britannica in the 1800s led the way in putting knowledge at your fingertips.

Frank's Impressions

Published June 30, 2023

Frank congratulates Printing Impressions magazine on 65 years of publication and especially its editor for 40 of those years—Mark Michelson. There are only a handful of printed magazines for the printing industry and we need to support them.

Frank Goes to School

Published June 23, 2023

Frank discusses printing education and the need for college-educated workers for the changing printing industry. He thinks that print scholarship money should be directed at printing education and that the amounts should be increased.

Frank Rules

Published June 16, 2023

Frank takes the measure of the printing industry by talking about rulers. At one time, every print worker had a “pica pole” with them to confirm type measure and specs. Aprons had special slots for the many versions of rulers.

Pulp Friction

Published June 9, 2023

Frank reviews a book called “Dead Tree Media,” which prompts a tale of how the invention of newsprint grew the newspaper industry. It also led to conflict between the Canadian papermakers and the newspaper publishers.

Frank Knows Jack

Published June 2, 2023

Frank is on a sugar high from Cracker Jack, or in this case, Cracker Jill. He traces the history of the prizes from metal to plastic to paper to virtual. He bemoans the fact that the prizes are being discontinued and users will be directed to a website.

Frank's Far-Flong NYT Editions

Published May 26, 2023

Friends sent Frank a copy of the national edition of The New York Times—with a page from the Wall Street Journal inside. This prompts a discussion about consolidated daily newspaper production, stereotype molds, flongs, and PDF files. Only Frank can find a connection.

Frank's Walk in the PARC

Published May 19, 2023

Frank reports that Xerox has donated its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to another research organization, ending decades of research into advanced communication technologies. The Graphical User Interface changed the way we worked on computer screens, but other companies, primarily Apple, commercialized it.

Frank in the Year 5000

Published May 12, 2023

In 1939, they buried a time capsule at the New York World’s Fair. Frank reviews the printed items that went into the capsule—and asks what we might save for the world that will exist in the year 5000, if there is a world in 5000.

Frank Gets Discursive

Published May 5, 2023

Frank starts by commenting on how typesetters handled the character in Moby Dick who could not sign his name and then segues into the fact that many people cannot sign their name because they were not taught cursive writing.

Frank King

Published May 3, 2023

Frank makes a rare Wednesday appearance to talk about today's coronation of King Charles III in the context of all the printed materials required for such an event. Today's coronation would have had as large a print requirement as that of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953. Frank walks through the Penrose Annual's documentation of much of it.

Frank's Staple Industry

Published April 28, 2023

Google cost-cutting has affected every level of the organization. In one report, Frank saw that they were cutting the use of staplers. Frank wonders what they are stapling in the company that exemplifies the concept of a paperless office.

Frank Phones It In

Published April 21, 2023

Frank pivots from the 50th anniversary of the first cellphone call to the effect of smartphones on print communication. The mobile phone is much more than a phone. It is a music and video player, a camera and video recorder, an Internet communicator, and a reading device.

(Point) Size Matters

Published April 14, 2023

Frank shows two small books from the 1800s set in 2- or 3-point type. He compares the type in them to the backs and sides of pharmaceutical packaging today. Even with bifocals, they are hard to read. Point size is based on x-height and the numbers are not really descriptive.

Frank On Libraries

Published March 31, 2023

Frank notes that many academic libraries are replacing real books with digital versions. At the same time there is a movement toward book banning in some communities. What will a library look like in the future? Answer: a big building with empty shelves.

The Roots of the Printing Industry

Published March 24, 2023

Frank takes us on an historic journey from the Mimeograph to offset duplicators to modern inkjet printing. He tells of Thomas Edison, the Mimeograph, and A. B. Dick. The result of all this was evident at Hunkeler Innovationdays 2023 where inkjet printing dominated.

In Local Parentis

Published March 17, 2023

Frank reports that the state of Massachusetts is thinking of subsidizing local newspapers, so long as they have at least one local reporter. Whether it goes through or not remains to be seen, but it's a reaction to the current state of the newspaper industry and the importance and value of local news.

Frank Reads the Riot Act to Reading

Published March 10, 2023

Frank bemoans the reading experience as it is today on electronic devices, compared with printed newspapers. Articles are longer because space is not a constraint and text is interrupted with a barrage of ads.

Start the Presses!

Published March 3, 2023

The Museum of Printing in Haverhill, Mass., has more than 30 different letterpress models. Six of them are in the museum's Studio, where members can use them to create letterpress projects. MoP Director of Operations Mitchel Ahern took up the challenge of printing on all six in under 4 minutes—a world record.

Frank Looks Out

Published February 24, 2023

Frank talks about the WhatTheyThink Printing Outlook 2023 report. He traces a continuum from a 2000 RIT report projecting the industry from 2000 to 2020 and notes that the industry is now on a trajectory that will see growth for the next 20 years. There is meaningful data and commentary about the industry.

Frank is Book Smart

Published February 17, 2023

Print books continue to outsell ebooks. Ebooks are not as impressive on a shelf as print books are. They make you look smarter. No one can see your ebooks. Plus, you can sell or donate or lend your print books.

Frank and Printing's Scrapheap

Published February 10, 2023

Printing presses used to last almost forever—typical of mechanical devices—and used presses always found a market, often overseas. Until recently; there is now such a glut of used equipment that for the first time in history, presses are going to scrap. At the same time, digital devices do not have the same life spans which is why most are leased.

Frank Wastes Paper

Published February 3, 2023

One benefit of a newspaper is the paper. Frank repeats himself as he bemoans the loss of newspapers and the paper that he gets as a residual benefit. He envisions a world in which we must purchase waste paper for packing, starting fires, and lining bird cages.

Frank Goes Back to the Future

Published January 27, 2023

Frank looks into the past of predicting the future. As the Internet began to grow and usurp printed products in 2000, a number of studies were undertaken to understand future impacts. There is no doubt that the Internet has had as profound effect on printing as printing had on human communication.

Frank Is Old School

Published January 20, 2023

Frank rants about the high prices of textbooks. Barnes & Noble built bookstores on or near college campuses in order to get the textbook business. Amazon also entered the market with e-versions as well as print versions. College kids pay the price.

Frank and the "Personal Librarian"

Published January 13, 2023

Belle Da Costa Green was the librarian for J. Pierpoint Morgan, the richest man in the world. He hired her in 1904 to help him build one of the greatest libraries in the world. She became its first director in 1924. She was one of the first women to succeed in a male-dominated world. The book “Personal Librarian” by Heather Terrell and Victoria Christopher Murray, tells the story.

Frank Indulges

Published January 6, 2023

Frank goes historic. Before Gutenberg printed the Bible he printed indulgences. These were “passports to Heaven” which allowed you to bypass Purgatory if enough money was paid. There were blank spaces for the variable data. The first thing that Gutenberg printed was a form!

A Printing Carol

Published December 16, 2022

Frank has a visit from the Ghost of Printing Past.

Frank Reads Like the Dickens

Published December 16, 2022

For your holiday reading pleasure, Frank reviews “The Man Who Invented Christmas,” a book about Charles Dickens and the creation of “A Christmas Carol” by Les Standiford.

Frank Is the Bearer of Bad News

Published December 9, 2022

Newspapers continue to move from atoms to bits. Frank uncovers more news about newspapers reducing or cutting their print editions in favor of digital editions. Within the next two decades, the printed newspaper will be a vestigial product.

Frank Gets Branded

Published December 2, 2022

European consultant Eddy Hagen has researched and produced an excellent report on brand colors: “Project BBCG: a Better Brand Color Guide.” It should be required reading for anyone working with Pantone and specialized color systems. Frank the discusses brand colors in the context of the Pantone system.

Frank Is All Charged Up

Published November 18, 2022

Printed batteries are an important part of printed electronics. Until now, the density of the inks required screen printing. Now, a breakthrough allows three inkjet inks to print a battery. This will provide new opportunities for security printing, direct mail, and packaging that literally sings and dances.

Frank's Font of Knowledge Part 2

Published November 11, 2022

In this second part of Frank's interview with digital font pioneer Joe Treacy of https://treacyfaces.com, Frank and Joe talk about the current state of typefaces. With more than one million fonts and 20 programs for making digital fonts, there is no end in sight.

Frank's Font of Knowledge

Published November 4, 2022

In this first part of two videos, Frank talks with Joe Treacy of TreacyFaces, one of the pioneers in digital fonts. He began making fonts in 1984, before PostScript and “desktop publishing.” His library now includes 500 fonts.

Frank Reads the Classifieds

Published October 28, 2022

Frank found a 1975 article about the New York Times’ first entry into cold type (aka photocomposition). They initially used an MGD MetroSet CRT phototypesetter to set the classified section (what used to take three days was cut to 20 minutes). John Werner, then Director of Prepress Operations, was in charge of that transition and is quoted in the article.

Frank Toots His Horn (Books)

Published October 21, 2022

Frank shows his latest acquisition: an 1896 "History of the Horn Book." Horn books date back to the 1500s and were used to teach the alphabet. They were very common during the American Colonial period.

Frank Talks Paper

Published October 14, 2022

Frank comments on paper shortages affecting the book industry. As mills close down, book publishers have been hard-pressed (no pun intended) to find paper. They have been applying narrower margins and negative letterspacing to squeeze more lines on a page to cut paper use.

Frank Stops the Presses

Published October 7, 2022

Frank bemoans the “electronic-ification” of American newspapers and traces the evolution that went from hot-metal type, to flongs, to curved plate cylinders for high-speed rotary presses, to offset printing with negative film and aluminum plates, and to CTP (computer-to-plate). He predicts that circulation drops will move some newspapers to rollfed inkjet and the only thing that might be displayed might be a PDF file.

A Frank Conversation

Published September 30, 2022

Frank is intrigued by a book produced in 1983 by graphic designers Milton Glaser and Jean Michel Folon called "A Conversation." The book is all images; one of the designers began an image and the other finished it. Seemingly printed on one long continuous sheet of paper, it folds out to over 19 feet long. (Frank and his detectives figured out how it was actually produced.) It, perhaps literally, stretches the definition of book.

Frank’s E Books

Published September 23, 2022

Frank tells a tale of three books, each with 50,000 words and none of those words use the letter e. Ernest Wright’s book “Gadsby” in 1939 was the first, followed by Georges Perec’s 1969 “La Disparition” in French and its English translation “The Void” translated by Gilbert Adair. Try writing a sentence without the letter e. It’s not easy. (Obviously the authors’ names didn’t count.)

Frank Gets Marked Up

Published September 16, 2022

Frank discusses mark up for typesetting. Once upon a time, typesetting began with a typewritten manuscript. Typographic format was communicated with marked-up instructions. The typesetting person then followed these instructions to provide the specified font, size, etc. He shows off the special copyfitting rulers and tools that were used to determine copy depth and page count.

Frank Remembers Bookbuilders of Boston

Published September 9, 2022

Formed in 1937, the Bookbuilders of Boston was an acclaimed organization that supported the book publishing industry. Sadly, it just closed down. Through its workshops, meetings, and annual events, it educated generations of book professionals. Frank has saved most of the annual catalogs from their annual book awards.

Frank is Powerpointless

Published September 2, 2022

Frank takes us back to a time before electronic presentations. He shows us an overhead transparency projector and a Kodak Ektamatic 35mm slide projector. These are from the time before Aldus Persuasion, MS Powerpoint, and Apple Keynote.

Frank Under the X-Ray

Published August 26, 2022

Frank discusses a project to X-ray pages from a Gutenberg Bible, Caxton’s Canterbury Tales, and a Korean Buddhist page from 1100 AD. The goal is to see if there is any relationship—in terms of ink, paper, or other properties—between European printing and earlier Asian printing. Maybe they will find Gutenberg’s DNA.

Frank On Paper

Published August 19, 2022

Frank discovers a study that says offices still run on paper, and harkens back to the predictions of a paperless office. Copiers and printers increased paper use just as personal computers and the Internet decreased the need for paper.

Invitation to Frank

Published August 12, 2022

Frank found two books of engraved invitations that graced the counters of small printers throughout America from the 1960s through the 1980s. For weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, confirmations, and other memorable events, you went to the printer down the street and ordered them from these books. Today, much of the printed engraved invitation world is ordered online. Unless you use Evite.

Frank: The Man in Black[letter]

Published August 5, 2022

Not since "Quark On Broadway"... The world may not be ready for this. Frank channels his inner Johnny Cash in a rendition of "I've Been Every Place Man" re-imagined as "I've Set Every Face Man." Rob Romano did the editing and his counseling bills have been paid.

Frank Zappar

Published July 29, 2022

Frank talks about the integration of print and augmented reality (AR) using your phone. A free app called Zappar lets museum visitors perform audio and video self tours of the exhibits by scanning printed codes. And a printed book reproduces those codes and gives visitors a virtual and portable museum.

Frank Looks at Dave Seat's US Linotype Tour

Published July 22, 2022

Master mechanic Dave Seat is one of the few specialists who keep Linotype and Ludlow type casters running. His recent visit to the Museum of Printing lasted three days, and was part of an extended tour where he will visit more than 20 locations in 11 states that still have this vintage equipment.

Frank Ad Nauseam

Published July 15, 2022

Frank opines about how advertising is following eyeballs from print to digital media. Within a year, digital media will exceed print media in terms of advertising revenue. Magazines and newspapers are moving to digital subscribers to keep their advertising base, as Facebook and Google monopolize advertising.

In Memoriam: Keith Davidson, 1936–2022

Published July 11, 2022

Frank Romano remembers Keith Davidson, founder and former president of Xplor International, who passed away on June 28.

Frank Is on the Alert

Published July 1, 2022

Frank talks about clipping services and Google Alerts—two methods that are used to find information that appears in print or digital media. He shows the alerts that he receives to keep up with industry news.

Frank Talks to Letterpress Printer Dan Wood

Published June 24, 2022

Frank interviews Dan Wood of DWRI Letterpress in Providence, R.I. Dan is one of the growing number of printers who use wood and metal type to print. Although he specializes in wedding invitations, the company produces a wide variety of letterpress-printed products.

Frank Goes Beyond Paper

Published June 17, 2022

Frank bemoans the digital displacement of print and describes new markets based on substrates other than paper. As the volume of printing on paper declines, printers must find new opportunities in new markets.

Frank Speaks in Tongues

Published June 10, 2022

Frank looks at the typesetting and printing of languages other than English. As usual, he takes us on a little trip through the evolution of type, with the history of Linotype, Monotype, and phototypesetting. He ends with the publication of the Unicode standard. He is the only WTT presenter to ever mention King Farouk.

Frank Rants

Published June 3, 2022

Frank goes off on two rants. First, he reports that some newspapers will not have sports scores from afternoon or evening games. Their front pages will contain commentary and little news. Then, he saw that printers were blamed for errors in ballots and asks who signed off on the proofs.

Frank's Slugfest

Published May 27, 2022

Frank talks about the Ludlow Typograph and the book he wrote about it. Introduced at the beginning of the 20th century, the active production lifespan of the Ludlow lasted just over 80 years, but its impact has continued. As typography evolved from metal, to film to digital, many of the fonts in use were based on hot-metal libraries, especially the Ludlow Typograph. He also demonstrates how to cast a type slug on it.

Frank's Paper Route

Published May 20, 2022

Frank found some official Boston Globe newsboy badges from the 1930s. With the transition from print to digital newspapers, especially weeklies, these “newsies” are now out of work.

Et Tu, Frank?

Published May 13, 2022

Frank bemoans the loss of local bookstores—and takes responsibility for some of it. He shows two books he bought online and one produced via on-demand printing. The changes in the way book buyers—like Frank—buy books has had a profound effect on the local bookstore.

Frank Goes Small

Published May 6, 2022

Frank bemoans the steady decline in the number of small printers—those firms having fewer than 10 and 20 employees. They have largely been replaced with web-based services, office supply services, FedEx Office (Kinkos), and even home printers. He presents a short history of the so-called quick printer.

Frank Gets Evocative

Published April 29, 2022

Frank discusses how typefaces evoke feelings. He shows a few examples and discusses how movies—especially on streaming platforms—TV shows, documentaries, and books use evocative typography to appeal to potential viewers. Each uses type and imagery and there are a multitude of choices. That is why we need a million typefaces.

Frank Kerns Over a New Leaf

Published April 22, 2022

Frank talks about kerning and how it evolved as we moved from wood type up through phototypesetting. A piece of rectangular wood type would be cut to allow tighter spacing with its adjacent character. Fast forward to the 1960s and the advent of the Visual Graphics Corp. PhotoTypositor which introduced the concept of tight spacing to typography.

Frank's Radio Days

Published April 8, 2022

Frank notes that WhatTheyThink now offers audio versions of its many articles. He harkens back to his early years and radio and how it competed with print advertising. It was television in the early 50s that took advertising away from print and the Internet that took even more.

Frank Reads Ben’s Mail

Published March 25, 2022

Frank uses a new book called “Poor Richard's Women” as a launching point for a discussion on how authors and others often saved their written correspondence, which could then be used as references and sources for historians and biographers. For example, most of Ben Franklin's correspondence is available in 47 volumes from Yale. But what of his emails? (Author Nancy Ruben Stuart will be at the Museum of Printing in Haverhill, Mass., on May 21 to give a talk about “Poor Richard's Women” and sign books. If you’re in the area, be sure to attend!)

Frank and Chris Obert on Self-Publishing

Published March 18, 2022

Frank talks with Chris Obert, who works with budding authors to publish their own books. Through his consulting and trade shows, Chris helps them navigate the world of publishing. On-demand printing and Microsoft Word have provided opportunities for anyone to be a book author.

Frank Looks Out

Published March 11, 2022

Frank finds a stash of old research reports on the printing industry and segues into the new WhatTheyThink PRINTING OUTLOOK 2022 report. Printing and communications executives were surveyed to ascertain the industry's print and service offerings. The results are always enlightening.

Frankly Speaking

Published March 4, 2022

Frank talks about Ben Franklin's 1789 codicil to his will, where he left money to the cities of Boston and Philadelphia. He focuses on Boston and the Franklin Institute, a vocational college, which does not teach printing. The tale takes 200 years to tell. (Don't worry, the video is not that long.)

All Frank's Almanacs

Published February 25, 2022

Frank talks about almanacs (or almanacks) and shows a collection of them from the 1800s to the 2000s. Almanacs became popular in England in the 1700s and were published in the Colonies by the likes of James Franklin and his brother, Ben. These were well-thumbed publications and few have survived fully intact.

Frank Makes Book

Published February 18, 2022

Frank talks to Adi Chinai, president of King Printing in Lowell, Mass., about the current state of book printing. This was apropos, as he delivered the second edition of Frank’s “History of the Phototypesetting Era.” The book industry is doing well and print books are outselling ebooks by a mile.

Frank Waxes Nostalgic

Published February 11, 2022

Frank takes a quick tour of the world of paste-up artwork in the days of offset printing. Using wax and rubber cement, we used to assemble type and line art on boards called mechanicals. These were shot in graphic arts cameras to film. It is now a forgotten world in the age of electronic page preparation on computer screens.

Frank Has Many Issues

Published February 4, 2022

Frank takes a trip down memory lane when he finds a stack of old printing industry trade magazines. At one time there were more than 20 monthly magazines for every aspect of the printing trade. Today there are only a handful.

Frank’s World of Colors

Published January 28, 2022

Frank acquired a recent reprint of a 1682 book showing color swatches. However, only one 300-page book was ever produced. It reminded him of how the Herbert brothers created the Pantone swatch book and how color is used for branding.

Frank's Ship Comes In

Published January 21, 2022

Frank was on Cunard's Queen Mary II recently, and what does he talk about—printing! Cruise ships run on paper. From the daily program, to daily newspapers, to menus, to promotional and informational material, passengers are bombarded with paper.

Ironmark Makes Its Mark

Published January 14, 2022

Frank was near Annapolis, Md., visiting Smithsonian warehouses (because of course he was) and stopped by Annapolis Junction to visit Ironmark, a local printer. He interviews president Jeff Ostenso, who has built his 150-employee company into a Top 500 printer through organic growth, mergers, and innovative thinking.

Edifice Rex

Published January 7, 2022

Frank found a number of articles about former newspaper and printing buildings being re-purposed for other uses. Print-related structures were sturdy in order to handle the weight of presses, Linotypes, and metal type. Now they are condos, apartments, or even new businesses.

Frank’s Time Bandits: 80 Years of Printing’s Past, Present, and Future

Published December 17, 2021

As the calendar brings us to the start of another year, Frank Romano reflects on the past in terms of printing achievements...as well as how science fiction predicted the future.

Frank’s Fake News

Published December 17, 2021

Frank read an article that said there was less fake news in printed newspapers and he disagrees. Hearst and Pulitzer built their empires on “yellow journalism” and many newspapers were founded specifically to be partisan and, to this day, have the word “Democrat” or “Republican” in the names.

The Apples of Frank's Eye

Published December 10, 2021

Frank celebrates the 45th anniversary of the founding of Apple Computer in a California garage. Frank received his first Macintosh in 1984 and shows a collection of almost every Apple product, including the handheld Newton.

Frank and a Tribute to Women in Print

Published December 3, 2021

Frank starts by reading the famous “Pause Stranger: You Stand in a Composing Room” poster by Beatrice Warde and segues into a book review for “Baseline Shift: Untold Stories of Women in Graphic Design History” by Briar Leavitt, Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Portland State University. She and others tell the tales of women who have advanced graphic design.

Inside Frank’s Type Vault

Published November 19, 2021

Frank takes us into one of the hidden treasures of the Museum of Printing: the type vault. Here you will find the drawings for every glyph in every typeface done by Linotype, plus type art from Photon, Intertype, and others.

Frank Goes Back to the Futura

Published November 12, 2021

Frank saw the latest James Bond movie and—naturally—all he could think of was the typeface used on the promotional materials. Futura Black came out in 1929 and had a stencil look to it. It was part of the Futura geometric sans serif family, the hottest typeface of its day.

Frank’s Tale of How the Pilgrims Pressed On

Published November 5, 2021

Frank tells the tale of how a printing press saved the Pilgrams and Thanksgiving. It involves an old Gutenbergian press, a less-than-seaworthy ship called the Mayflower, and Squanto, the one Native American who spoke English.

Tripping the Light Fontastic: We Just Hit the One-Millionth Digital Font

Published October 29, 2021

In this article and accompanying video, Frank celebrates the release of the one-millionth digital font, looks back at the evolution of typeface design and distribution, and provides a comprehensive list of sources of digital fonts.

Tripping the Light Fontastic: We Just Hit the One-Millionth Digital Font

Published October 29, 2021

Frank talks type in this video and accompanying article, as he calculates that we have reached the one millionth font in the 36 years since the advent of the digital type age. Beginning with PostScript in 1985, graphic designers have had access to a steady stream of fonts of all kinds from designers around the world.

Leveraging EFI Technology to Enter New Markets

Published October 22, 2021

Frank talks Ken Hanulec, VP of WW Marketing for EFI, at their recent “Ignite” press event. EFI inkjet printers print on plastics, ceramics, corrugated board, fabric, and other materials. These print systems—some of which are the size of a small house—allow commercial printers to enter new markets.

Frank Buys Textbooks

Published October 15, 2021

Frank talks about student preferences for printed textbooks and then segues into a mini history of textbooks for teaching printing. As the printing industry grew in size and technology adoption, its textbooks became bigger…and more expensive.

Frank's News Caravan

Published October 8, 2021

Frank found a number of news items that were too short for a full video and combined them into a faux newscast. He channels 1950s newscaster John Cameron Swayze as he reports on pricey antiquarian books and ephemera as well as technological developments. He especially likes the news that they can print brain cells, which leads to his latest mantra, “Print makes you smarter.”

Articles by Frank Romano