Discussion

By Joe Treacy on Dec 01, 2023

Frank, thanks for a really great, highly informative overview of how print and paper usage has morphed over the decades and is still changing.

Only you could write it!

I especially enjoyed your slide about how many times since the 1800s, that the so-called experts misread the tea leaves and got the future wrong.

Every time that happens, it creates new opportunities for the entrepreneurial visionaries who really do have their finger on the pulse of what people need and want, and aren’t getting.

And, for the entrepreneurs who are unafraid to zigzag around even the most established giants to gain share that was actually hiding in plain sight waiting to be identified and snatched right out from the grip of the leaders.

For example, what Jeff Bezos saw and delivered with Amazon.com is one of the world’s greatest examples of seeing and then proceeding fearlessly to actually deliver total satisfaction.

I’ll add my own example:

Seeing the future more clearly of how people needed fonts to actually perform and weren’t getting from the established “majors” (based on data you were presenting at the time) led directly to how and why I started Treacyfaces.com to deliver superior fonts to the legions of art directors and creative and graphic arts people worldwide who weren’t getting what they needed.

It’s worth noting Treacyfaces’ own direct profitability contribution to publishers of all kinds who order Treacyfaces fonts, through cutting their paper need.

Right from launch, Treacyfaces fonts have been designed to deliver much more robust page results while generally saving publishers about 15% less galley depth. That directly leads to around 15% less paper needed and 15% more profitability in real, tangible current dollars.

Countless publishers worldwide since 1984 have gotten that +/-15% profitability simply as a result of choosing Treacyfaces fonts.

Yet, “the establishment” experts actually derided me in industry discussion panels when we launched in 1984, and that I attended.

But despite all that, font users themselves immediately came out for us, saying “where has Treacyfaces and its fonts been all my life??!”

So, independently, we’ve gone on to sell many millions of dollars in Treacyfaces.com fonts worldwide, and become revered for our top quality and reliability.

As you intimate with your presentation, paying sober, rapt attention to the future and then carefully and deliberately taking action can be very profitable when you get it right.

Frank, I thank you for your decades of relentlessly keeping your finger on the pulse, and an eye on the future. I couldn’t have accomplished all the above without your research and reporting.

Joe Treacy
President and Director of Typography
Treacyfaces.com

By Eddy Hagen on Dec 05, 2023

This is so important! Looking back to put predictions about the (or better: a possible) future in perspective. Too many people just follow what some loud voices declare the future will look like. Without even thinking two seconds if that prediction would makes sense (nuclear powered vacuum cleaners???), without checking how that person came to those conclusions/predictions, whether that person has the background to make such conclusions/predictions.

(and, of course, it's also so much fun to look at this video ;-) )

By Raymond Sielski on Dec 05, 2023

Frank,

I am in my 50th year in this print industry, and you are correct sir!
The future of print is print.

Thank you,