By Jonathan McGrew, EDP
This is the time of year when we all make our resolutions, right? Go back to the gym. Eat healthier. Procrastinate less. But what about your print resolutions this year?
At this juncture it would be easy to jump to the green initiatives. Print double-sided, print less or perhaps use FSC certified papers. From a business perspective, this not only saves money, it also lessens an organizations carbon footprint. However, I was thinking of something a little more personal.
For example, thank you cards. Did you know that there are services like Send Thank You Card, Postable and SmileBox that will let you design, print and then mail your cards? Sure there is a small fee, but when was the last time you received a thank you card from someone in real live actually PRINT!
I remember the last in print card I received. On return from our honeymoon this past July, family friends sent us a bouquet of flowers with a note welcoming us back home. And, one of our fellow print industry professionals was notorious for leaving thank you cards after her trips into the office.
The point is, this New Year, make your resolution to find the cool, the wild, the weird and wonderful print and share it with the world. Share a little more and make it personal the way something tangible can only do. Make a resolution to send thank you cards, have customer calendars printed or like my Husband Brandon did for my father, a customer printed photograph—on canvas.
From a business aspect, maybe you are looking take a closer look at your operations—automate, optimize or adding new capability. Like your personal print resolutions, make your business ones just as touching and tangible. This year think about adding accessibility to your documents. I remember at PRINT 13 seeing an example of dimensional printing where they were able to add braille to direct mail pieces so they would relate to all. Or imagine being able to connect print to the digital world.
Connecting print to the digital world is not a new topic and the possibilities with software technology are endless. Consider augmented reality. I will never forget the Jingle greeting card I bought that when you put it in front of your webcam with a specific app, the little dog would come to life and run around the face of the card. If you have a more B2B application, consider using augmented reality to illustrate how to do something or perhaps display something too large to bring along in your pocket.
One of the examples I love is how HP has postcards that they can put their iPad over and show their T-series Inkjet presses in 3D. Now that is cool and true connection from print to digital. And if that doesn’t get your imagination fired up, I am not sure what will. The bottom line is that print and the art of printing are still integrated in our lives—and in some ways it is the only medium that create such a rich and tangible experience.
So what will your print resolution be?
Drop us a comment here with your print resolution for 2015 or join the conversation in the Print Production Professionals LinkedIn Group.
Jonathan McGrew
spent his formative years being exposed to Xplor and the Enterprise Output Management & Customer Communications Management (CCM) industries (read high-volume transactional printing). Today, Jonathan is Marketing Communications Manager at Crawford Technologies and responsible for Worldwide marketing. His experience spans data management, branding, print (hardware, software & design), graphic design and marketing communications with specialization in Business to Business (B2B). Jonathan completed his MS in Marketing from the University of Colorado at Denver in December 2013 and was awarded his EDP certification at the Xplor Conference 2013.
