A magazine like ours has the opportunity to contribute to the industry in a variety of interesting ways by serving multiple purposes. The most intuitive of them is that we make sure you know what is happening in the industry. Our readers play an important part in this process. You let us know when something important to you is going to happen, and we happily share it with a broader net of your friends and colleagues. Another objective is to educate. I hope that as you’ve been reading the new columns in GAM, you have been picking up little fun snippets of information. This month, for example, you can discover (or re-discover) the folding strength of paper. We also provide you with resources to continue to learn. Every month columnist Diana Brown, offers up a great list of reads on the topic at hand—this month’s topic being design. My most favourite of all the purposes of our magazine, however, is the opportunity to share with you what is new and exciting.
Innovation in the printing industry is one of the most positive and uplifting topics there is. I have done a lot of thinking about innovation during my Masters studies, and there is nothing scientifically (or unscientifically) easy about coming up with new ideas. To understand why I have innovation on the brain you can begin by reading Diana’s article about electronic ink. The concept of a printer reproducing electronics that I can put in my pocket and throw away when I’m done with them is incredible. Generally, what we have seen in our industry is an improvement in the purpose of print. Like many media, print is meant to inform, but it no longer does this in static and predictable ways. We can print electronics, transport people into augmented realities, and much more.
In my opinion, no other sector of our industry has repurposed print with as much vigor as the packaging industry—the topic of our lead story this month. Stephanie Stroh, a past visiting professor at Ryerson University, discusses everything from the basic purpose of packaging to what is new and exciting. You do not have to be a packaging expert to appreciate the intricacies of this growing sector. After all, as consumers we interact with packaging daily.
So this month’s issue has me thinking that innovation is often hiding in a change of purpose. Brainstorming the future purpose of the magazine as we speak! I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Are you really interested in innovation? I think not. Innovation that does not fit a preconceived notion of how things are, does not go over well in the printing industry.
I have suggested in the past to the publishers of this magazine, that some interesting innovative ideas could be demonstrated and make for an interesting series of articles if there was an interest. The result was not even one question.
As a magazine, you are not interested in innovation but in products that are being offered.
This is understandable but it is not innovative in nature. There is no shaking of the tree of established knowledge going on.
Thanks for your comment Erik.
Personally, I have been interested in innovation for some time. It is a core part of my studies and teaching practice. There are certainly different ways to think about the topic.
Innovation is not all one concept–there are incremental innovations and radical innovations and many other types in between. I think in some ways you are right in saying that publishing and printing has a tendency toward smaller incremental innovations. This typically occurs with industries that experience a long, undisrupted period of success.
Would love to hear about your ideas. Feel free to shoot me an email.