Margie Dana

A few times a month I blog for PIworld.com, and today’s tip is an updated version of one such blog post.

I often wonder what laypeople think about print. Most of them associate “printer” with a personal desktop printer. That’s not likely to change.

But recent efforts by the print industry to champion print tend to focus on the obvious, like how print is a tactile and lasting medium. Pretty much everyone knows that – don’t they?

What’s making the news – and a much bigger impression – are things like 3D printing, and even 4D printing, which was recently demonstrated by those smart people just down the road a bit, at MIT. (Don’t ask me to explain it; I’m still stuck at 3D.)

I don’t totally accept the notion that these new technologies are “printing,” except for the fact that inkjet printers are used, but the word “printing” is attached to them as sure as jelly is to peanut butter. My Google news section on printing is 99.9% all about 3D printing. It has been for months.

Another cool technology is the QR code. More and more consumers know what these codes are and how they work. And then there are AR codes. (If there’s anything cooler in this industry right now then augmented reality inside of a magazine or on other printed matter, I’d like to know about it.)

To me, these are the attention-getting examples about print today. I want to throw printed electronics in there, but I haven’t read much about it in the trade lately.

I spoke to an audience of high schoolers last week at a career day event and asked if anyone had a relative or friend in the print industry. No one in the group of about 80 students raised a hand.

So I told them about how this industry is dying for youthful employees. I mentioned 3D printing (they’d heard of it) and QR codes (ditto). I talked about opportunities for anyone in love with visual arts, graphic design, paper, typography, and being part of a unique manufacturing industry that thrives on teamwork. I held up a ton of samples, including magazines and menus, boxes of Band Aids and packaged rice dishes, books and posters. I tried to make the point that print is everywhere, and that people just don’t give a thought to where it comes from.

I hope I planted a seed in a young mind or two that there are opportunities in printing for them. If nothing else, they learned something about this industry and how print has touched their lives from day one.