I’ve never been one to underestimate the importance of feedback, keeping in touch with leaders in our industry, and listening carefully to what they have to say. In April I had the privilege of meeting with our new 2017 board members in Toronto. These included: Ray Fagan of Heidelberg Canada; Evan Cambray of Fastsigns of Markham and Richmond Hill, Ontario; Steve Klaric of KBR Graphics, Marg Macleod, Digital Imaging Association Manager; Scott Morgan, Master of Digital Media; Gillian Mothersill, Associate Professor at Ryerson University’s School of Graphic Communications Management (GCM); Paul Tasker of Spicers; Marc Raad of Esko; and Serge Trajkovich of RRGR Inc.
At this semi-annual meeting, we received some very timely advice on how to improve Graphic Arts Magazine, both in print and online. For example, one suggestion was a bold new look for our printed magazine that was more interesting and much more compelling, both in the writing and the design. Our editor Tony Curcio is already working on writing variations, and we hope to have design changes by the November issue.
If anyone reading this has any ideas, I’d love to hear them. I would like to personally thank everyone on our board for taking time out of their very busy schedules to attend this board meeting. I’d also like to thank our Associate Editor Natalia Lumby and our Digital Marketing Manager Greg Turner for participating.
Speaking of Natalia, her live report from Interpack in Düsseldorf, Germany, the equivalent of drupa for packagers and converters, is a fascinating must-read – as is our story on Ashraf Jaffer’s journey from the Republic of Congo to the owner of Scan Copy Print and Budget Printing in Edmonton, Alberta. This month’s futuristic lead article by Scott Morgan on bridging the gap between print and digital through Near Field Communication (NFC) is especially timely and very compelling as well.
I’d also like to thank the numerous people who’ve recently submitted guest columns covering a host of topics. While we can’t accommodate all of you in our printed magazine immediately due to space limitations, we’ll do our best to get your columns posted in the future – either in print or online.
With the warmer weather upon us, I hope you can get some well-deserved R&R over the next few months with your families and loved ones. Sometimes we forget that they are the real reasons why we work as hard as we do.
As always, stay positive and stay focused.