The Big Picture - October 2013 - (Page 4)

insight by Gregory Sharpless www.bigpicture.net EDITORIAL Gregory Sharpless Editor-in-Chief gregory.sharpless@stmediagroup.com Adrienne Palmer Assistant Editor adrienne.palmer@stmediagroup.com Printing’s Value Two things that are seemingly unrelated, but in fact have a connection. One: At the just-completed Print13 exhibition, I was surprised at a press conference by one of the questions a fellow journalist asked the event’s panel: To better reﬂect all that goes on at the show, shouldn’t the event name be changed? And if so, to what? Well, let’s consider the questioner’s basic premise here. Yes, of course, many jobs entail a variety of actions prior to and following the actual output to turn it into a saleable product. And, yes, many print providers are taking on tasks and adding proﬁt centers that are not purely print (design, online sales, fulﬁllment, etc.). But I’ve rarely seen anyone in our industry get paid for turning out a blank banner, sign, vehicle wrap, mural, wallcovering, or anything else. And I think it’s safe to say that when all is said and done, the customer is more likely to comment on the quality of the print versus the quality of the prepress or ﬁnishing (not that every process isn’t important). Now, I know the question was aimed at the event, not the process or our industry at large. But it seems like the “question behind the question” was: “Gosh, we can’t only talk about printing, that’s so yesterday.” Two: I was disappointed to see that a couple of the schools we typically have referenced in our annual Training & Education report (see pg 14) have dropped their tracks that focus on printing. I have to assume that the interest from prospective students was simply not there. But I hope it’s not because some faculty member or higher-up decided that “print is dead and the vocation is no longer a viable career track.” As HP showed in its “World Without Print” experiment, which took place in a couple of towns last year, printing is a bigger part of consumers’ lives than many realize. The company deleted all print from products: Hence, no printed labels on spice jars or perfume bottles; no pajamas with cool superhero graphics for children; lifeless, blank picture frames on oﬃce and home walls, and so on. As you might guess, the consumers who took part in the experiment wanted their printing back. As an industry, we have allowed the marketers and the mass media to turn “print” into a four-letter word. We need to do a better job of promoting our work and what it accomplishes. Kathleen DeZarn Art Director kathy.dezarn@stmediagroup.com Marty McGhie, Craig Miller, Jared Smith Columnists Rick Bachelder, Kathy Boydstun, Terry Corman, Scott Crosby, Brandon Gabriel, Michael Garcia, Kirk Green, Robert Kissel, Tina McLaughlin, Craig Miller, Carmen Rad, Greg Root, Jared Smith, Mark Taylor Editorial Advisory Board SALES Murray Kasmenn Senior VP/Group Publisher 770/578-2577 murray.kasmenn@stmediagroup.com Lou Arneberg Business Development Manager East and Midwest US, E Canada 800/654-5169 lou.arneberg@stmediagroup.com Ben Stauss Business Development Manager West and South US, W Canada, Europe, Asia 513/263-9363 ben.stauss@stmediagroup.com Linda Volz Production Supervisor linda.volz@stmediagroup.com Tedd Swormstedt President Steve Duccilli Senior VP of Content Christine Baloga Audience Development Director Kari Freudenberger Director, Online Media Subscription Services/ Copies/Back Issues (847) 763-4938 tbp@halldata.com bigpicture.net/subscribe bigpicture.net/renew THE BIG PICTURE (ISSN 1082-9660) is published 9 times annually (Jan/Feb, March, April, May, June/July, August, September, October, Nov/Dec) by ST Media Group International Inc., 11262 Cornell Park Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45242-1812. Telephone: (513) 421-2050, Fax: (513) 362-0317. No charge for subscriptions to qualiﬁed individuals. Annual rate for subscriptions to non-qualiﬁed individuals in the U.S.A.: $42 USD. Annual rate for subscriptions in Canada: $70 USD (includes GST & postage); all other countries: $92 (Int’l mail) payable in U.S. funds. Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright 2013, by ST Media Group International Inc. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for product claims and representations. Periodicals Postage Paid at Cincinnati, OH and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Big Picture, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. Change of address: Send old address label along with new address to The Big Picture, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. 4 THE BIG PICTURE OCTOBER 2013 11262 Cornell Park Drive Cincinnati, OH 45242 tel (513) 421-2050 fax (513) 421-5144 http://www.bigpicture.net http://www.bigpicture.net/subscribe http://www.bigpicture.net/renew

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Big Picture - October 2013

The Big Picture - October 2013
Contents
InSight
Wide Angle
Up Front
Dynamic Signage
Accelerate Your Training Efforts
Wrap-n-Roll
Previewing SGIA Expo 2013
Hardcore Print
R+D
Explorer

The Big Picture - October 2013