Printing Industry Commentary & Analysis

Frank: Buy the Book

Published December 20, 2024

Frank talks about how we acquire books and consume information. Barnes & Noble changed the bookstore business and Amazon changed everything else. Frank hopes everyone got at least one book as a gift this holiday season.

Color Frank Quizzical

Published December 13, 2024

Frank learned that the color of chocolate was once red. This took him down a rabbit hole of "Color of the Year" by over 20 painters, inkmakers, decorators, and others. He thinks the American printing industry should compile data on ink purchases and produce a real color of the year.

Frank's Belief in Providence

Published December 6, 2024

What’s black and white and printed all over? Frank bemoans the closing of the Providence Journal printing plant. It was the last and only plant that used flexography for printing. This esteemed Rhode Island newspaper will now be printed in New Jersey. Many papers are no longer printed in their own state.

3D Printing—Dumb, Dumb, and Dumber

Published November 22, 2024

Frank goes on a rant about the term “3D Printing.” Call it Additive Manufacturing or even just Jetting. Frank believes it is not printing. Gutenberg is rolling over in his grave.

Frank’s Radio Daze

Published November 15, 2024

Frank tracks the movement of advertising dollars from radio to television to cable and now to email and the Web. Ads in publications as well as direct mail are migrating to the digital world. We need to rejuvenate print advertising.

Frank Finds the Right Words

Published November 8, 2024

Frank reviews a book about the evolution of the dictionary—“Hardly Harmless Drudgery: A 500-Year Pictorial History of the Lexicographic Geniuses, Sciolists, Plagiarists, and Obsessives Who Defined the English Language" by Bryan A. Garner and Jack Lynch.

Frank's All About the Benjamin

Published November 1, 2024

Frank talks about Ben Franklin. His collection of books and other items about this famous printer is voluminous, and the collection of Franklin statues is unique. He also shows a few of the many statues he photographed as he crisscrossed America. We need more Ben Franklins.

Frank's Got a List

Published October 25, 2024

Frank talks about the sources of mailing lists of printing companies for promotion and research—from industrial directories to the phone book to proprietary supplier lists.

Frank On Demand

Published October 18, 2024

Frank reflects on the evolution of “on-demand” book printing technology, beginning with the Xerox 914 plain paper copier and culminating in the Docutech digital printing system.

The Plate Conundrum

Published October 11, 2024

Frank talks about the recent tariffs on aluminum printing plates from China and Japan. He feels that it will adversely affect small printers and especially many newspapers.

Frank's Thanks

Published October 4, 2024

Frank thanks Chris Curran for the PRINTING United show directories, Warren Werbitt for his new book, and Gary Field for his TAGA history. All are now part of the history of the printing industry.

Frank Remembers Strippers

Published September 27, 2024

Remember film—and film strippers? The switch from letterpress to offset litho brought us into the world of graphic arts cameras, darkrooms, and chemical processing. Workers were hunched over light tables cutting goldenrod and rubylith sheets. Ah, memories.

Frank Shows His Papers

Published September 20, 2024

Frank bemoans the changes in the paper industry. He shows some vintage paper samples. We went from 80 companies making paper for printing to less than 20. Remember paper distributor showrooms with paper samples and especially paper sample books?

Remembering PRINT 01 and September 11

Published September 13, 2024

It was toward the end of the PRINT 01 trade show when the tragedy of the Twin Towers occurred. It was destined to be the largest print show ever.

Requiem for the Typesetting Service

Published September 6, 2024

Frank talks about the typesetting service, a category of the printing industry that is virtually gone. Graphic designers now produce their own type with desktop publishing.

Don't Gamble on your Future

Published August 30, 2024

Frank suggests that you visit the upcoming Printing United Expo in Las Vegas, September 10-12. As usual, he waxes nostalgic about past trade shows.

Frank and Mystery Lovers Ink

Published August 23, 2024

Frank bemoans the loss of the independent bookstore. Some lost to the large discounters and others to the online services.

Eric—Hail and Farewell

Published August 16, 2024

Frank talks about WhatTheyThink’s coverage of drupa and wishes Eric Vessels a fond farewell.

The future of newspapers

Published August 9, 2024

Rupert Murdoch says that printed newspapers have 15 years max. Of course, Frank has something to say about this.

Frank Talks Type

Published August 2, 2024

Frank discusses the 1764 Manuel Typographique by Pierre Simon Fournier. It was the first book to document the making of type.

What Do Printers Print?

Published July 26, 2024

Frank wants to know what printers are actually printing. Certain categories of print like “Financial” went electronic with the EDGAR and “Catalogs” are mostly online. So what are we printing and where are the growth areas for printing companies?

Too Much Type?

Published July 19, 2024

Gutenberg had one font. By 1900, there were 480 handset type fonts. Linecasting had 410. Phototypestting had over 1,000. Today, there are over 1 million digital fonts. Frank thinks we need a better classification system for them.

Frank and Ukrainian Textbooks

Published July 12, 2024

Frank talks about textbooks and Ukraine. One of the major plants that printed them was destroyed and our government is funding Ukrainian printers to produce them.

Frank Fakes It

Published June 28, 2024

Frank is fascinated by the way movies and TV shows portray counterfeiting. He uses two movies and one TV episode to demonstrate. He is happy that they do not quite get it right.

Frank's Dead Tree

Published June 21, 2024

Frank uses the book “Dead Tree Media” by Michael Stamm to discuss the grim state of mass media newspaper publishing. Pretty soon, you may have to start a fire by burning your iPhone.

Frank's drupa Chronicles

Published June 14, 2024

Frank places drupa 2024 in historical perspective. He tracks and compares attendance and number of exhibitors over the last 24 years. Although the number of exhibitors has remained over 1,600, the number of attendees has dropped from 450,000 to 170,000. It is still a substantial and significant audience.

Frank Hails the WhatTheyThink Team

Published June 7, 2024

Frank inflates our editorial team's egos by talking about how well-documented drupa 2024 was.

Frank Bets on Benny

Published May 31, 2024

After Benny Landa invented digital color printing in 1993 with the Indigo press, he went on to up the ante with Landa Nanographic Printing. Landa Nanographic ink is a magic elixir and Frank expects more about this unique technology at drupa.

Frank's drupa Advice

Published May 24, 2024

Frank offers some advice on what to look for at drupa. He suggests you seek out systems that advance automation, integration, and embellishment. He also has some suggestion about food.

Frank Gets Acrobatic

Published May 17, 2024

What was the most important development in the printing industry? Frank says: PDF. It became the way we deliver print jobs as well as being a publication and document format.

The Notorious DOV

Published May 10, 2024

Frank had a visit from Dr. Dov Isaacs, a 30-year veteran of Adobe and a frequent participant in international standards groups. He is probably the world expert on PostScript.

Frank Makes Book

Published May 3, 2024

Frank waxes nostalgic about books and the future of books.

Frank's Times

Published April 26, 2024

Frank waxes nostalgic about newspapers. He shows the last NY Times issue produced by hot metal and the actual metal page lockup that produced the front page. He also shows the first Times issue done by phototypesetting and the first issue of USA Today.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like drupa

Published April 19, 2024

Frank has been to every drupa event since 1972. A visit to drupa is an investment in the future of your company. It is a peek into the future of the printing industry. Some introductions will not be ready for prime time, but they will eventually make a difference. It is worth the trip.

Frank's Book of the Month

Published April 12, 2024

Frank reviews “As If By Chance” by Kevin Reed Donley, a wonderful book about transformative technology from Gutenberg to Steve Jobs. Each short chapter is a gem that describes the people who changed print forever. Many you know; some you do not.

Remembering Don Goldman

Published April 10, 2024

Frank Romano remembers Don Goldman, who passed away recently.

Artificially Frank

Published April 5, 2024

Frank goes on a rant about artificial intelligence. He found a program called Moveabletype.ai that can write a book for you. As usual Frank projects this capability into the world of graphic design and even type design. Soon you may be reporting to your printing press.

Frank Gets Steamed

Published March 29, 2024

Frank begins by talking about the early steam-driven newspaper presses and the giant printing presses at the Los Angeles Times and segues into the decline of printed newspapers. They could be inkjet-printed but delivery to home or business could be the challenge.

Frank Gets Tested

Published March 22, 2024

Frank comments on the move of the SATs to electronic form. High school students will now take this test paperless and pencil-less. The SATs have been around since 1926 and are used for college admissions although some colleges no longer require them.

Frank Fontificates

Published March 15, 2024

Frank quotes a NY Times article about Microsoft’s new default font called Aptos, which sends Frank down a rabbit hole involving the beginning of PostScript type and the Arial/Helvetica situation.

Frank's Season in Hell

Published March 8, 2024

Frank is sitting at a gigantic Hell color scanner from the 1960s. It primarily scanned color slides and chromes. As photography went digital, flatbed scanners became smaller and smaller and were eventually integrated into digital printers.

Flongging Frank

Published March 1, 2024

Frank discusses one of the enabling technologies of the printing industry: stereotyping. It gave us faster reprints of books and allowed presses to print at high speeds from rolls of paper. Stereotype molds were called flongs. The modern print enabler is PDF.

Frank Moonlights as a Mime(ograph)

Published February 23, 2024

Frank has his mind on the Mimeograph. This stencil duplicator was once the primary reproduction device for schools, churches, and other organizations. It was replaced by the copier, the duplicator offset press, and now the printer/scanner. Most of office communication is now electronic.

Frank's Circular Thinking

Published February 16, 2024

Frank talks about ad circulars, also known as free standing inserts (FSIs), once inserted in Sunday newspaper editions but now mailed vis USPS. Increasingly, we go online to find items on sale by supermarkets and other retail stores.

Frank Makes Some Key Points

Published February 9, 2024

Frank talks about taking notes via computer rather than handwriting. He describes a book project called “Shift Happens” on the history of the keyboard. Lastly, he identifies several studies that say that taking notes by hand results in better retention of information.

The Revelation of Frank

Published February 2, 2024

Frank describes Bible translations for populations with no written language. Through such translations, missionaries helped to save many societies and cultures from extinction. Eskimo, Burmese, Hawaiian, Cherokee, and Navajo are a few. It was printing that made all this possible.

Frank's Fuzzy Logic

Published January 26, 2024

Frank is having second thoughts about the 2024 Pantone Color of the Year. It is “peach fuzz,” a yellow-orange. Graphic designers must balance the worlds of CMYK and Pantone and it may be time to seek new ideas about how we handle color for print. Come up with your own color for 2024 in the Comments.

Offset Sets Off

Published January 19, 2024

Frank talks about offset lithography in front of an AB Dick 360 offset duplicator. He holds up a 1904 math book, the first book printed by offset litho. From its invention just after 1900, offset took 50 years to become the dominant printing process. It is now being challenged by toner and inkjet printing.

All the News That Gives Frank Fits

Published January 12, 2024

Frank has a fit about news. He opines that once it was not what was fit to print but what fit in print. Now there is no limit and articles go on forever to provide more places to insert ads, popups, and more.

Frank's Comic

Published December 15, 2023

Frank talks about typeface jokes. Before there was Comic Sans, there was Souvenir, a typeface that Frank ridiculed for years. All of his Souvenir jokes are in “Types Best Remembered/Types Best Forgotten” (1993) by British typographer Robert Norton. Norton was the typographic advisor to Microsoft.

Frank's Little Piggie

Published December 8, 2023

Frank describes a 1919 book called “Piggie,” which was the first book typeset with a typewriter. Appleton Publishing was dealing with a typesetters’ strike and used a Hammond typewriter with proportional spacing.

Frank Remembers the Future

Published December 1, 2023

Frank fires up his Waiback Machine. He looks both back and forward in time to discuss how we predict the future of print. He looks at the evolution of technology and its effect on print volumes.

Frank Enters the Twilight Zone

Published November 17, 2023

Frank harkens back to 1963 and an episode of "The Twilight Zone" that deals with the devil and a Linotype machine. Anything typed on this “infernal machine” comes true. Frank combines nostalgia and trivia in one video.

Frank to the Power of Three

Published November 10, 2023

Frank has three pieces of good news. 1. From exhibitor feedback, it was a great PRINTING United exhibition in Atlanta. 2. Deborah Corn’s Printing Across America day was a great success. 3. Joanne Gore’s book “Thriving in Chaos” should be required reading for all printing companies.

Frank Finds Meaning

Published November 3, 2023

Frank recommends “The Dictionary People” by Sarah Ogilvie. It chronicles the literal army of people who contributed to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). It took over 30 years to produce the first volume (A-B).

Remembering Jill Roth

Published October 31, 2023

Frank Romano remembers “American Printer” editor Jill Roth, who passed away suddenly last weekend.

Frank Has a Point

Published October 27, 2023

Frank rants about the small print. He attributes the problem to poor knowledge about typographic x-height. The number used to express point size does not truly describe the actual size of the type being printed.

Frank's Show Must Go On

Published October 20, 2023

The major printing trade show of 2023 just took place in Atlanta. Frank harkens back to a time when there were 14 trade shows every year and has the show directories and badges to prove it. He hopes that the future of the trade show will not be in a museum.

Frank on Trading Spaces

Published October 13, 2023

Frank comments on the announcement that Xerox has withdrawn from drupa by tracing the company’s interesting history with trade shows and product introductions.

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.

Articles by Frank Romano