SUBJECTIVE AESTHETIC

IT’S NOT ENDING, IT’S EVOLVING,

Print is not dying, it is not ending. It is evolving. It is fighting. Adapting. Changing.

When the film was first taken from the big screen and made available to the public in the comfort of their own homes the cinema did not die. Casualties occurred. Smaller privately owned ‘picture houses’ shut, or were brought out by larger companies, however the big fellas continued to attracted the masses. Technology has brought us the video tape, the DVD, Blue-ray discs and 3-D vision, each new advancement in personal viewing making the last seem obsolete. Yet the Cinema lives on. 

Its evolved, there can be no question of that. Black and white films gave way to colour, special effects moved on from miniature models on strings to CGI, a children’s movie may as well now go straight to DVD if it’s not in 3-D. Epic landmarks in the filmmaking industry such as Lord of the Rings, Avatar and Inception have blown previous viewing experiences out of the water. Though many of us will own these films on DVD its that first viewing we remember. Popcorn in hand we sat, gradually loosing all feeling in our behinds, wondering if the kids in the front row were ever going to shut the hell up, but it was worth it. To experience something made to be seen big, BIG. Only by viewing such films in the manner in which they were meant to be viewed can we fully appreciate them.

The noise, the colours, the intensity, the angles. They are all right there, stretched out wide in front of our eyes, and our attention is focused solely on that film, that piece of art.

The life of print is comparable. A book, a newspaper, an album cover, a designers portfolio, these things can all be viewed on screen. Digitally. Yes that word, the dreaded word. Digital. The supposed enemy of print. In my naivety I once would have agreed with those who thought this. Who predicted the impending doom of print due to this ‘heinous’ evolution in the world of design. The ‘Photoshop handsome’ generation has been born, not only can anyone now take a photograph and circulate it in an instant, they can alter and adapt it with a few clicks and commands. A designer need never pick up a pencil or commit anything to paper. 

Sites such as the behance network, debutart, Cargo Collective, tumblr and twitter mean that getting your work noticed no longer needs to involve a large black portfolio case or vast poster campaign. The i-phone and i-pad enable designers to present a show-reel to prospective clients in an  easier manner than ever before. Simply touch play and hand the slim screen over. One swish of a finger and you can cycle through a back catalogue of work. Jobs advertised across design sites such as Form Fifty Five require web designers, digital thinkers, programmers and technical wizards rather than print specialists. The digital age has allowed for designers to not only produce viable work quickly and easily, but to do so from anywhere with an electrical outlet, and to then send this work in an instant for critical appraisal to clients or colleagues.

The average western consumer spends nearly all of their waking hours in the presence of a digital screen. The television, computer, phone, the electrical billboards on the underground, even the displays in shop windows. Therefore it makes perfect sense that design has integrated these areas into its production process and eventual resolution. The pace of life has quickened. Consumers not only expect more for their money but they expect it NOW.

Take the newspaper. A prime example of print and an example of a medium in which the benefits of digital technologies outweigh those of our traditional paper and ink broadsheets. News is instantaneous. It is continuously changing and updating. Why would a person wait to gain new information until the morning press, when they can log onto a 24/7 news website and be immediately updated on international affairs? Furthermore why would any individual choose to pay to dirty their fingers on ink laden pages, rifling through adverts and stories they have no interest in, when a search engine can provide them with the exact information they require, and go so far as to suggest further stories of interest based on previous choices of viewing.

To put it simply, the newspaper as we know it seems to be outdated. The Nokia 3210 in an i-phone / android world. Many discussions are taking place regularly on the uncertainty of the continuing life of the newspaper and wider ‘scare mongering’ about the death of printed design as a whole continues. However, as stated, my opinion is that print, like the cinema, has it’s place.

Running your fingers over a perfect paper stock, tracing the grooves of an embossed name or signature, studying the glint of a foil blocked shape, all experiences not encountered when viewing something on screen. The versatility of print gives the designer room to play, to explore, to enhance designs through substrate choice and materials. Without question in some cases digital media is the correct choice for designers, however in many instances I fear that it is simply used in order to reduce financial costs and the length of projects. 

Certainly though there are particular briefs which I believe demand print over digital to be used. Those briefs concerning packaging fall true of this more often than not. They way an item is packaged can raise or lower its value in the extreme. 

This can be easily applied to typically purchased objects, clothes, perfumes, food, drink, books. The average consumer will respond in a far more positive manner to a well designed branded bag or shoe box over a thin plain plastic bag. Luxury brands invest vast sums of money into how their products are shipped and sold, presented I suppose, to the customer. Even those items brought online, that is, via a digital means, arrive concealed in a branded package. Maybe an Amazon brown cardboard box, an TopShop illustrated parcel or an Apple glossed, white cube with Perspex innards. This experience is not one you can achieve digitally. 

Certain products lend themselves to a digital market. The slow but sure replacement of the CD and even DVD by the download, for example, eliminating the need for any sort of physical packaging. Therefore placing digital design as superior to that of print. However bands still release CD’s, even Vinyl has made a major comeback. Why? Because as humans we like to engage with our possessions. We like to feel and smell as well as see and hear. Though products such as the Kindle and i-books have introduced an entirely new form of reading, I don’t suppose that the book will die out anytime soon. Cosying up in an armchair, opening a new book and hearing the crack of the spine cannot be replaced by a screen which tires the eyes after a half hour. Revising for an 4 hour exam without the power of a textbook and highlighter is unthinkable and, personally, I wouldn’t want to place my trust in a doctor that didn’t refer to his vast numbers of volumes when troubled, but simply looked my symptoms up on a vast database. Digital technology has this side effect you see, laziness. 

Lazy? Digital? Yeah lazy. Being able to find a piece of information at the touch of a button is brilliant sure, but could we be breeding generations of individuals who hold nothing in their minds but the web addresses of search engines? Of course it’s not as literal as that. Technology allows for great advancements across cultures, in science, in literature, in design, but is does encourage the easy option.

A designer is given a brief. A brand creation maybe. The time frame given is likely to be much smaller than it once was, technology has allowed for a faster turn around, but the knock on effect is less room for experimentation. Creating a logo by combining shapes and adapting fonts in illustrator is easier and less consuming of precious hours than experimenting with printing techniques. How would this look if it were screen printed? If I laser cut the design and shined light through it? If I made it out of plasticine or potato printed the damned thing? 

Print is not dying. It’s just being put under pressure. Just as the cinema adapted, so is print. 

Advancements in print are being made daily. Thermochromic, Phosphorescent, hyper-reflective, even electrically charged inks are now available. Environmentally friendly resources are now used, more precise printers, new methods, and integration with the ‘dreaded’ digital, leading to some fantastic design work. Letter press studios are experiencing a revival, they continuously produce some amazing design, gorgeous pieces, enhanced by progress in ink technology. Bespoke screen printers are popping up all over the place, allowing designers to order small quantities of quality analogue prints. In some ways printing facilities are more readily accessible to the average designer now than they were previously.

The issue here is not the death of print. It’s the knowledge of print. So long as every designer is aware of their options when it comes to print there is no reason to expect its demise. Its true of course that certain printed media such as the newspaper, even the magazine will probably begin to disappear from our shelves, but printed design is not dead and shall not die, it will merely EVOLVE.

To be the name uttered, but not to have the burden to be
To be the name said, but not heard
To not breathe anymore, to be the thing
To be the thing being breathed
To not be about to die, to be already dead
To not have to disappoint
To not have the burden of being late
Or punctual
To not eat, to not have to eat
To not feel anything
To not be the one whose affect is criticized
To not pick up the fallen over boxes
To be everywhere but the boxes or plates
To not break the plates
To be beyond breaking
To have been broken
To not bear the burden of not being present
To not have to feel the pain of being hurt
To have transferred that pain over
So that hurt is only part of the imagination
And the imagination is everywhere, is every color
To not contain color, to be color
To not make sound, to be sound
To not have language, to echo, to plan language
To be the stream of words
To not be sad for
To not have those to be sad for
To not eat alone
To not fuck those who do not find your corpse attractive
To not fuck
Or stuff
To be ashes and non-placed
Not displaced, but to not be in any place
To enter the ocean on not a whim, but a physical force
Where there is no center
Where there is no safety
There never was
There was never any anger
There was never anything to look at
I never looked at anything
I just went and walked
I tried to love
But love is hopeless
And I have lost all hope, so bleak I am beyond
I am beyond what might be considered low
There is low nor high, space or time, I have
Gone away from that which is uttered
I have not burdened to be spoken of or spoken for
To croak everyday to the livelong bog
I do not speak a thing
I exist
No, no I don’t
I never did
And you may have
But I never did
And you may have called out for me
But I was already gone
And I am already there
That which you speak of
I am already spoken for
In a world of light and ashes
They all call my name
They have waited for me
And now I know
I was always
Already there
With them

Diem Chau