Editor's Note

Welcome to a new WhatTheyThink publication, the Quarterly Journal, a compendium of articles that take an in-depth look at the various aspects of a single topic. This publication will comprise a standalone module within the WhatTheyThink content universe. The vast majority of the content was written specifically for the journal and was not—and will not be—repurposed for WhatTheyThink’s regular site. That said, one or two relevant articles have been “reprinted” from WhatTheyThink, and we have called out those specific articles. 

In our debut edition, we look at everyone’s favorite topic, so-called “artificial intelligence”—aka AI. There has been a lot of hype about AI, and even those who have been initially skeptical about its applicability to the print industry have come round to seeing the vast number of use cases it can have. There is no doubt that it has become  a highly transformative technology—more than any we have seen since, arguably, the advent of digital printing. What are those use cases? What is it good for? And what is it not good for?

We start with an overview of AI in general. In “AI: Pondering the Big Picture,” contributing editor Don Carli talks with Caleb Briggs, co-author of the bestselling book The AI Conundrum about the advantages—and dangers—of AI as it currently stands.

Contributor Kelly Lawrence looks at “The Potential of AI In The Printing Industry: Real or Hype?” and explains how AI can be leveraged to enhance efficiency, decision-making, and creativity across nearly every function.

Regular WhatTheyThink contributors Pat McGrew and Ryan McAbee take a deep dive into “AI in Print Production: Navigating Fact & Fiction,” offering a reality check for AI’s use specifically in print production, looking at current tasks, processes, and data to understand the current state of technology as it is being used—and how it can be used.

Smithers’ Adam Page looks at “The Impact of AI on Printing and Packaging,” looking at the drivers and trends in the use of AI in the print and packaging industries, based the latest Smithers research, including the new report “Post-drupa Technology Forecast for Print and Printed Packaging to 2034.”

In “Today’s AI: So Good You Don’t Need Humans (Except You Do),” one of our earliest AI evangelists/critics, Heidi Tolliver-Walker, explains how some of the downsides of AI fundamentally change how we think about and use the technology.

This issue’s infographic comes from our partners at Keypoint Intelligence and looks at how direct marketing is going through a major shakeup—largely due to increased use of AI.

Speaking of direct mail, the direct mail marketing industry is redefining its value proposition for 2025, shifting from traditional volume-based metrics to a new value equation centered on data-driven personalization, omnichannel integration, process automation, multi-touch attribution…and the judicious application of AI. In “Direct Mail’s $37.3B Resurgence: Selling Value over Volume in 2025,” Don Carli takes a closer look at how direct mail is evolving.

Display graphics and signage is another area that AI is starting to have an impact. In this issue’s Sign Connection, Richard Romano looks at some use cases for AI in signage applications, including a FASTSIGNS initiative called JumpStart that helps franchises use AI for signage design, among other uses.

There are of course other things happening in the industry than AI, and every edition of the Quarterly will feature “Cool Tools with Mary Schilling,” which will highlight unique hardware, software, and/or other materials that are a bit off the beaten track. In this issue, Mary looks at “Printing Ink’s Secret Agent”—special additives for inkjet inks such as biomarkers and specialty pigments that let your output communicate in a secretive and/or colorful way.

Each issue will also offer a feature about sustainability. In this issue, Cary Sherburne offers a 2025 sustainability outlook.

Finally, each issue of the Quarterly will also feature a special Quarterly edition of our “Around the Web” online miscellany of items that caught our editors attentions. In this issue, a collection of “AI-Yi-Yi” moments from…around the Web.