Duluth, GA – CANVAS Magazine, the only magazine dedicated to print sales and marketing executives, is distributing the first electro-chromatic cover in the industry.  The February edition will showcase a cover that incorporates interactive printed electronics.  Readers will be prompted to interact with the cover, engaging the readership in a manner never done before.
 
Sponsored by Ricoh, and developed at California Polytechnic State University- San Luis Obispo, the cover was a remarkable collaboration of industry leaders.  According to CANVAS publisher Mark Potter, “The industry is rich with thoughtful and passionate people.  The rumors of the print industry’s demise have been grossly exaggerated.  Our inventive nature combined with ambitious minds demonstrates the fact that our industry is not only alive—but thriving.  Our February cover is just a reminder of the cool things you can do with print, and it drives home the idea that print, if done right, can captivate us.”
 
The electro-chromatic cover on this issue of CANVAS is simple—the printed materials change color when an electronic current is applied via a printed battery.  “We’ve seen some very interesting things related to the use of conductive and functional inks in recent years.  I believe this will open a whole new frontier of creative print applications,” affirms Dr. Malcolm Keif, the Graphic Communication professor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, who spearheaded the six-month cover project.
 
CANVAS embraces companies that print, and educates the industry on future possibilities.  With dynamic covers and content that is dedicated to sales and marketing, CANVAS is committed to leading one of the country’s largest industry’s transition to the future.  Potter states, “Printers have an amazing opportunity in front of them.  The products and solutions that are available from our industry are not only really cool; they have remarkable impact and staying power.  This magazine interacts with readers and will remain on their desks or in their briefcases for a long time.  How about that for ROI?”
 
The cover of this magazine reinforces the idea that the print industry is much more than what the public generally perceives. Keif is more than happy to be a catalyst to educate marketers on what is to come.  According to Keif, “The idea of motion on paper was a dream only a few years ago. But we are very close to producing addressable displays on a flexible media. It may be a while before these are massed produced but they are coming. When movement comes to printing, the pieces become much more engaging. While this magazine’s cover may seem novel or simplistic, it really is the beginning of a whole new breed of printing.”
 
CANVAS would like to thank the following contributors to the cover:  Ricoh; Professor Keif and his students at Cal Poly; NTERA, providers of the Electro-Chromic displays; SI-CAL, who printed the covers; Fuji Sericol, providers of the black and grey graphic inks;  and DuPont Teijin Films™, providers of  the heat-stable polyester. Spraylat provided the conductive silver ink, and Web industries, Baril Corporation and Adhesives Research brought in their expertise with slitting, laminating and die-cutting, and conductive tapes respectively.  Also, David Hollstien, a Templeton, California, consultant, provided circuit design consulting and Brent Cashman designed the CANVAS cover to interact with the electro-chromatic cover.