Print is not dead! ✊

In the era of digital design, print is often seen as taking the backseat to the clean nature of digital work, which can be displayed on all manner of different platforms. However, print design will always play an important role, even if it is currently underutilised and overlooked by many companies; big and small alike.

There are some larger companies who take advantage of both methods; combining print and digital design to have their message reach a larger audience. Print used in conjunction with digital design typically gives the right impression and reaches a larger audience.

Print takes many of us back to our roots and gives somewhat of a nostalgic feeling. Most of us will remember being read children’s books when we were younger, in fact most of us will remember these books even till this day now! That’s because print has a longer lasting impact on humans than digital. The children’s book industry is one of the biggest print design industries that continues to grow year after year to this very day.

Print design just stands out more than its digital counterpart, plain and simple.

Because of the shear amount of digital information that is presented to us, people often glance over it. Whilst digital work may be able to reach a much larger audience, the amount of people that will take in the message is considerably less than that of print.

With digital design everything must be relevant to the audience or they will lose interest and move onto something else. With print you can target topics more broadly; a great example of this is with magazines where there is a lot of information and not all of it will be of interest to everyone, but through the use of an index page, readers can easily find something that is suited to them.

Print design gives a more professional and established look to a company. Having a printed piece shows that the company has the money to invest in printed design as many people disregard the cost related to digital design as it isn’t a physical thing. A printed piece gives a longer lasting impression on its audience than that of digital. Printed media is also easier to look through, a person will think of a company as more professional if they have a printed design it shows that they have gone to the time and effort of having it printed rather than just having a design on screen. It gives a more personal and direct feel.

Print design also occupies a physical space. This means that the audience is less likely to immediately disregard it because it’s less common that digital. People are less likely to come back to a piece of digital design as there’s so much of it and a webpage can be easily lost whereas print holds a physical space and will be a constant reminder. People come across much less physical work and so more attention is given to it because of this it leaves a much longer lasting impact on the audience.

Some people may not constantly be on social media where digital design is displayed. This means targeting such people such as the elderly is much better done through use of print media. For example, if you’re trying to sell smart phones to the elderly advertising them on social media wouldn’t be the most effective method.

Print media is still an important part of design currently. It leaves a longer lasting impression and means that the audience pays more attention to the information being presented. While digital design is on the rise print is still an important part of modern advertising that should be utilised more.