Latest Printing Industry and Economic Analysis

By all accounts, the economy is humming along. GDP growth has been positive, with unemployment being at historic lows-and even the labor force participation rate is getting closer to its pre-recession level. As for the printing industry, shipments have been good and bad throughout 2018, but the overall trend is that the industry is losing whatever seasonality it once had.

April Printing Shipments—A New Season?

Printing shipments for April were up from March, happily disrupting what has become the usual seasonal pattern. Even better, April 2019 shipments came in above April 2018 shipments.

Frank Talks Type with Paul Shaw

Paul Shaw is a noted designer and design historian. For three decades, he has researched and written about the history of graphic design with a focus on typography, lettering, and calligraphy. He recently gave a talk at the Museum of Printing in Haverhill, Mass. He talks with Frank about type and type trends.

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Data nerds rejoice: Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report is out. The Japanese art of kirie. Robotaxies to take flight. Barnes & Noble sold to a hedge fund. Fujifilm resumes making black-and-white film. Light up your brain, ostensibly. “The queen of eating shellfish online.” A Stephen Hawking-esque voice synthesizer performs “Ice Ice Baby.” All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.

Tracking Shifts in the Customer Communications Market

As part of its coverage of the customer communications market, Keypoint Intelligence – InfoTrends conducts annual research of enterprises and consumers. This article provides a brief overview of recent survey findings and also highlights the data points that will be uncovered in upcoming research.

Data Analysis

April Printing Shipments—A New Season?

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Printing shipments for April were up from March, happily disrupting what has become the usual seasonal pattern. Even better, April 2019 shipments came in above April 2018 shipments. More info

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