How fitting that during preparation for our green issue one of my lectures at Ryerson was a review of colour psychology. In class we talked about the significance of the colour green in North America. Some of the initial sentiments included talking about growth, springtime, and new beginnings. However, other words began to come up as we ran out of the obvious—jealousy, greed, envy and greenwashing. These present a very different sentiment than the initial offering; an important point because one thing we often forget is that there is always two (if not more) sides to every story.
Our lead article this month is paper positive. So often we see the paperless office proclamations on the bottoms of emails. Electronics companies upsell merchandise on the premise that less paper is wasted. As a result, e-readers, digital picture frames, electronic organizers, etc. are becoming more and more common. But is saving paper the sustainable story? This month Diana Brown discusses some of the myths surrounding paper and its sustainability. You may be surprised at some of what you learn.
Generally, graphic arts professionals understand that paper is not only a sustainable choice, but can also have the most impact from a marketing perspective. This month I had the opportunity to speak with Daniela Liggio, Project Manager at Kyp Canada, about a new and exciting way that paper is merging with the digital world. Marketers call this phenomenon “phygital marketing”—physical printing with a digital component, explains Liggio. Examples of phygital marketing include many initiatives from relatively simple, such as QR codes on documents to slightly more complex, like a detachable paper USB key that can load the document onto a computer. This is an exciting area of print that I hope our industry will embrace.
Perhaps in a few years our green issue will no longer be discussing the positive sustainable characteristics of paper or the negative characteristics of attempting to recycle electronics. Perhaps we will be saying cheers over a pint of green St. Pat’s beer to how wonderfully capable and recyclable our paper electronics have become.
