Dissertation - Ashley Cox by Ashley Cox

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Ashley Cox 10283523

Ashley Cox Plymouth University Graphic Communication with Typography DISSERTATION GCOM 320 TITLE ‘To establish what effect the growth of digital formats is having on the printed word’ 10283523

This essay has been composed entirly by myself, and is my own original work.

CONTENTS Glossary of Terms 04 Prelude 06 Introduction 07 Chapter One | Print 09 Chapter Two | Digital 15 Chapter Three | Graphic Design / Photography 28 Conclusion 31 Further Reading 34 Bibliography 35 Appendix 39

GLOSSARY OF TERMS All terms definitions are correct with the online oxford dictionary.

DIGITAL Involving or relating to the use of computer technology: the digital revolution. EBOOK An electronic version of a printed book which can be read on a computer or a specifically designed handheld device. WWW Abbreviation of World Wide Web. WORLD WIDE WEB An information system on the Internet which allows documents to be connected to other documents by hypertext links, enabling the user to search for information by moving from one document to another. PDF Abbreviation of Portable Document Format; A file format for capturing and sending electronic documents in exactly the intended format. HTML Abbreviation of Hypertext Markup Language; a standardised system for tagging text files to achieve font, colour, graphic and hyperlink effects on World Wide Web pages.

INTERNET A global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardised communication protocols. LITHOGRAPHY The process of printing from a flat surface treated so as to repel the ink except where it is required for printing. APPS / APPLICATIONS A self-contained program or piece of software designed to fulfil a particular purpose; an application, especially as downloaded by a user to a mobile device. UI Abbreviation of User Interface; the means by which the user and a computer system interact, in particular the use of input devices and software. SKEUOMORPHISM Computing an element of a graphical user interface which mimics a physical object: note-taking apps offer skeuomorphs of yellow legal pads, squared paper, ring binders etc. When you first download the app, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be presented with a skeuomorph of a photo album.

All the above.1

http://oxforddictionaries.com/ 4

PRELUDE I remember receiving my first mobile telephone as an eager fourteen year old from my father and finally feeling like I fitted in at school. Everyone had to have one. This could be any form of mobile device as long as it worked, and texted of course. This was the case for an extensive period of time, we as humans have become increasingly dependant on communicating in this way. Thinking back, obviously I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t comprehend the possibilities of what this new form of communication would bring to my life, let alone to the entire world.

INTRODUCTION That was seven years ago and digital technology in the mobile device sector has come along with strides to the present day, an essential part of daily life, we are almost nonfunctional without digital elements and it’s difficult to find a place in the modern world where this isn’t the case. By mobile device I don’t just mean a calling object, because now this term groups numerous technological devices. To name a few would be the iPad and iPhone, both being the most owned piece of equipment for the modern man/woman. During my time at university I’ve been constantly drawn to the digital world and what it can bring to the world to improve peoples’ experiences and ultimately their enjoyment of life. I have a love of new technology and a passion to make people interact with such things. From these experiences I’ve decided to research what this evolution is having on what started the civilised world, the printed word.

By researching into this I intend to determine if there

is a stand out opinion on whether digital is affecting the printed word, and furthermore I hope to clarify if this is a positive or negative effect. Along with this vital question, I will be looking to answer some of my own personal questions within this area, for example, if there is actually a decline in print is there a collective of people who believe print based elements will become unique and seen as rare collectors’ items? This is one of many questions I wish to find an answer to for my own personal interest. I believe I will get conflicting opinions on this topic however, by comparing these opinions to each other I may be 6

able to make a more specific observation. If I were to prejudge one observation now Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d say that I believe that younger people may be more adapted to the modern media as they would have been brought up with these technologies I make this observation purely based on myself and my fellow graduates.

I intend to speak to printers who have worked with

print their entire career and know nothing or very little of digital. Then to create a balance I will also talk to a designer that has rarely worked with print and has been focused on working with digital on websites, iPads and iPhones etc. However, apart from the two opposing careers there will be many interviewees that will fit into both parties and its these people who I think will give the most honest and revealing results as they will provide insight into both, allowing them to have an impartial view. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The future lies ahead of us, but behind us there is also a great accumulation of history - a resource for imagination and creativity.â&#x20AC;?2

Hara K, (Helen Armstrong ed.) Designing Design, China, Princeton Architectural Press, 2007 7

CHAPTER ONE Print To really gauge the journey the printed word has been on we need to step back to the early years of print on paper. By doing this we should be able to completely understand what has become of this ancient form of communication. Around the middle of the 15th century the invention of the printing press started to take shape and, although a range of individuals were said to have been working on a similar design, Gutenberg is often regarded as the founder of movable type. However, this is not the result of a single effort on his part, he combined three techniques that had been known for some years. This continued to be developed for many years and was constantly being refined and improved, but Gutenberg in 1452 is the milestone for the printed word. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Many authors and historians believe that it was the single most important invention in the Middle Ages and it single handedly brought about changes in the Protestant reformation, scientific theories, European literary class and the artistic Renaissance way of thinking.â&#x20AC;?3 (Fig.1)

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/history-of-the-printing-press.html, Bantwal, N. 8

Fig. 1 A 15th century printing press similar to one Gutenberg invented.4

No one will argue that since then print has been a history altering invention, on a par with the light bulb and has had plenty of time to shine. More recently however, in this current transition of flux between the physical book and digital publications the printed word is said to be in trouble, “Newspaper readership has been in decline for years, magazines are also in trouble and trade publishing has not seen any substantial growth in years”5. This is evident when looking at the key figures in terms of the book and printing houses. “But in reality the decline hasn’t hit yet. And when it does, it comes in big drops, not gradual tapers – that’s what we learned from music and DVD, both of which tapered down until they hit big drops and shelf-space disappeared rapidly. The same will happen in books, probably by late this year and certainly in 2013.”6 We couldn’t be better placed in this transitional period, “We are living through a revolution of sorts, and one of the few things you can say for certain about a revolution is that when you're in the middle of one, you have no idea where and when it will end.”7 It has become clear when listening to the opinions of academic people on the World Wide Web that many fall under the same category in their opinions. That print is on a slow, but noticeable and definite decline. This is backed up by figures of printing houses’ falling revenue, “The book publishing industry 4

Philips J L - http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall04/phillips/index.html

Gomez, J - Print is Dead, Books in Our Digital Age, China, Macmillan, 2008 6

James L. McQuivey, Ph.D., http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/ analyst-publishers-seeing-steady-print-declines-should-ready-forsteep-drop/ 7

John B. Thompson, Sociology Professor, 5/9/2012, http:// www.huffingtonpost.com/john-b-thompson/future-ofbooks_b_1501182.html 9

experienced extraordinary growth after 1963, when annual book sales were $1.68 billion. According to the Book Industry Study Group, book sales totalled $40.3 billion in 2008.”8 This shows an astonishing rise, which may be due to the amount of time between each date, however it is still a substantial increase in the amount of people buying physical books. If we were to compare that to findings on the eBook the trend would undoubtedly be the same, i.e eBooks would start with small user quantities and would have begun to increase within the last two years to the present day, where we now know they are here and here to stay, “The success is undeniable and it looks as though this time ebooks are here to stay. Last month Amazon announced that ebook sales from its US site had overtaken sales of all printed books for the first time. In the UK ebook sales have overtaken hardback sales. It took two and a half years to reach that milestone in the US - in the UK it has taken nine months.”9 In an attempt to fight this takeover from the main giant in the digital book sector, Amazon, two of the biggest names in publishing have confirmed that they will merge and form one company. Random House and Penguin, ‘The merger will create the largest consumer book publisher in the world, with a global market share of more than 25 percent.’10 ‘The deal, analysts said, would give the new company, to be called Penguin Random House, greater scale to deal with the challenges arising from the growth of electronic

http://business.highbeam.com/industry-reports/wood/bookspublishing-publishing-printing 9

Richmond, S. Head of Technology - The Telegraph, Is The Ebooks Boom Finally Here? Jun 2011, Online - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/ amazon/8589624/Is-the-ebooks-boom-finally-here.html 10

New York Times, Eric Pfanner and Amy Chozick, 2009, http:// www.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/business/global/random-house-andpenguin-to-be-combined.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 10

books and the power of Internet retailers. Publishers are increasingly worried about the leverage wielded by Internet giants like Google, Apple and, especially, Amazon. These companies have vast resources to invest in new technology, like digital sales platforms, and the size to let them negotiate better terms on prices.’11 This merger shows the length that publishers feel they need to go to combat the threat from the ‘internet giants’ and they are not the only ones who believe it would be beneficial, the internet is littered with stories on this topic stating how many publishing houses are in merger conversations, “HarperCollins has already signaled its interest in consolidation.”12 This banding together of some of the biggest names in publishing is telling its own story of what is happening to the printed word; what they fear would happen if they were to take on the likes of Amazon alone, for the avid book reader this would not be a pleasant thought. As well as printing houses there are other players in the history of the printed word, such as lithography. Lithography is used for large quantities of a single print, fine art prints would be printed this way for example. From the information gathered thus far it would be sensible to assume that there would also be a decline in lithography prints. ‘According to NAPL’s (National Association for Printing Leadership) most recent Capital Investment Study, offset’s share of printing industry sales have been declining steadily for more than 10 years. “No turnaround in the economy—no

New York Times, Eric Pfanner and Amy Chozick, 2009 http:// www.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/business/global/random-house-andpenguin-to-be-combined.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 12

New York Times, Eric Pfanner and Amy Chozick, 2009 http:// www.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/business/global/random-house-andpenguin-to-be-combined.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 11

matter how robust—is going to change that. Nevertheless, lithography is still a $40 to $50 billion market.”’ 13 In some way this was expected having learnt what we have, especially as we all know how the printer has evolved in merely our own individual lives. I’m sure many would have started with over sized cubes of beige machinery but now find yourselves with a slick charcoal looking printing device, to make the judgement of the large format non-digital printers are going to find themselves obsolete would be a believable one. The surprise however is the still substantial amount of market share lithography has nurtured. Being a keen photographer I see this much like the transition cameras went through from analogue film to digital, there will always be a nostalgic group of people who won’t let the old ways, to be argued - the better ways, go so easily. This could be the fate of lithography, so the $40 billion market is good news for the historic form of printing and gives hope to the printed words’ longevity. To make a fair comparison we can look at employment statistics regarding the same realm. If the market share numbers are any indication it should show us a similar trend of there still being a larger than estimated amount of people under current employment for roles within lithography. ‘Employment in the printing industry underwent a decline in the mid-2000s. According to Graphic Arts Monthly, printing employment fell by 5,100 jobs in the first three months of 2004, with 3,100 of those in commercial lithographic printing and 1,000 in quick printing. One of the major factors causing the decline in employment was the

Bob Hall, April 13 2011, http://www.myprintresource.com/article/ 10254475/offset-is-down-but-not-out 12

increase in Internet publishing.’14 A similar outcome has fallen on lithography in terms of employment with both publishing houses and printers that use dated formats being diminished by a slow decline in print and purchase. We have established there are general declines in the areas where print used to rule, but thus far we are only aware that the introduction of the eBook married with the overwhelming virtual library that internet powerhouses like Amazon possesses has pushed the smaller book retailers to whimper and fold, and the larger printing houses like Penguin and Random House to join forces in order to combat such powerhouses. It is easy to point the virtual finger at these giants and say they are profit based and are ruining a historic form of communication, but they are only able to move forward with such presence if we as consumers aid them. Are we embracing digital or being forced upon it? In 2011 Bowker did a survey titled ‘Reading the Future’ and gave these findings, taken straight out of their report, ‘we polled respondents on their likely e-book purchases over the next 12 months. If one is pro or anti e-book, there are reasons to cheer the findings. First and foremost, some will be happy that, for the moment at least, books are still a print medium, with a majority (56%) of respondents choosing: “I do not like to buy e-books and this will not change”. There is cheer for digitalists. A sizeable chunk (26%) of our respondents had bought e-books: this data indicates that,

http://business.highbeam.com/industry-reports/wood/commercialprinting-lithographic 13

within the next 12 months, this may increase to 44% of all book buyers.’15 Jeff Gomez in his 2008 book, ‘Print is Dead, Books in Our Digital Age’ makes an intriguing estimate of what will become of books, ‘While the relevance and popularity of printed media (such as books, magazines and newspapers) will get smaller and smaller over the next few decades due to digital reading, books themselves will never entirely go away. Instead, they will be sought out by collectors, those who want to hold and touch pages, covers and dust jackets. And books will always have a place in millions of homes across the country, but they will become rare as printers go out of business and warehouses gather dust.’16 A bold statement to make back in 2008 when the rule of print was still very much alive and reading digitally was still in the early stages. ‘Although we need not try to decide whether the printed book will in fact disappear in 10, 20, or 50 years, we can try to understand the current relationship between print and digital media, which may show us why the future of the printed book seems so uncertain and the future of digital media so bright.’17

Reading the Future, The Book Seller, 2011, PDF - http://libsrvr9.lib.plymouth.ac.uk:8080/tal_xmlui/bitstream/handle/10026.2/1411/ Reading%20the%20future.pdf?sequence=1 16

Gomez, J - Print is Dead, Books in Our Digital Age, China, Macmillan, 2008 17

Bolter, J D - Writing Space, Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print, Second Edition, United States, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates 2001 14

CHAPTER TWO Digital The dictionary definition for technology is ‘the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry’18, this encapsulates hundreds of inventions that have aided in our understanding of modern day life over numerous decades but doesn’t really point to any particular format regarding the present day. Hence the term digital, this is a term perfectly suited for such modern day applications, one that people can recognise the format they are referring to. The definition of digital, ‘involving or relating to the use of computer technology’19 has the key word technology, accompanied by ‘computer’ and this is the very heart of the digital era. Computers are digital, this is fact, they work on a series of signals and digits, computers are where the digital era began. Without going into detail into how computers and digital devices have progressed, it’s clear that since the first space bar was pressed that we haven’t looked back since. The computer and its’ extended family of smart phones, eBooks, iPads and Kindles has increasing amounts of follows each with their own personal benefits to make everyday easier for the developed world. Thinking about books alone, the publishers are pushing their products straight onto digital formats, ‘15 percent to 25 percent of book sales shifting to digital format by 2015’.20 It’s understood that companies know where the world is heading and has been heading for several years. Now we begin to see

18 19 20

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/technology http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/technology

Patrick Béhar, Laurent Colombani and Sophie Krishnan, Bain & Company, 2012 15

the main sales of their products being digital. The shift to digital needs to be verified, does it make our lives easier? Simone Zhang, of Havas Worldwide, has his own personal opinion on this topic which may begin to explain why digital may have such a positive influence, ‘The pace of modern life is fast—and only getting faster. In previous eras, we had fewer choices and more time in which to make them. Today, we need all the assistance we can get to make our choices easier and faster, and digital technology helps with that.’21 However, to argue the point that information is easier on screen Gary J Brown talks about a study carried out in 2000 on students whereby they would see which group could remember information better on the two opposing formats, screen and paper, ‘Murphy et al. note “that students who read the traditional paper text found it significantly easier to understand than the computer only group...it is likely that the students have more difficulty understanding what they read from a computer screen”’22 So there are the possible disadvantages of digital reading, however this study was carried out in 2000 when screens wouldn’t have been to the standard of resolution we have come to expect, retina displays currently being the norm. These opinions are two strong opposing ends of the spectrum. In many instances most people would fit in between these on this scale. It would also be assumed that the average person is becoming more inclined to viewing things on digital platforms, this seems to offer the reader more benefits and therefore make for an easier read, depending on screen resolution of course, a technicality that is only going to improve over time. 21

Simone Zhang, The Digital Life, May 4 2012, http://www.prosumerreport.com/blog/2012/05/04/why-digital-technologies-are-making-lifeon-planet-earth-better/ 22

Gary J. Brown, Beyond print: reading digitally, 2001 16

Let us look beyond the retina displays and auto-sleep functions to the future of these devices, the iPads and eBooks etc, to what is in store for them and ultimately us. First, concerning the technology, we know the formats will improve, ‘Tablets will be lighter and have longer battery life than today’s models. They will remain attractive options for people wanting to read eBooks but will not take the place of dedicated eReaders.’23 Second, in regard to what will remain printed physically, ‘Demand for certain types of books will remain strong. These include religious books such as the Bible and Koran, children’s books, and books for gifts and special occasions.’24 These observations were made by Werner Ballhaus as part of a 100 person study across the United States, Germany, United Kingdom and Netherlands. This thought could be extended further to delve deeper into how the ebooks and digital devices are being designed to determine if the technology itself will hold boundaries of what the future could hold. ‘Jason Pontin, Editor and Publisher of MIT’s Technology Review, ... recently did an interview on Beet.tv. Pontin said during the interview that the web-based HTML5 platform will be the “future” of digital publishing.’25 HTML, HyperText Markup Language, is the digital language used to create documents on the World Wide Web, HTML5 is now the fifth version of the HTML language ‘The use of HTML5 allows Web designers to pull images, audio and video directly into a Web page.’26 He continued to state that publishers should consider HTML5 (HyperText

Werner Ballhaus, Turning the Page The Future of eBooks, 2010

Michael Kozlowski, The Future of Digital Publishing Will Be HTML5, 21 Feb 2013 26

http://www.technewsdaily.com/16388-what-is-html5.html 17

Markup Language) over things such as apps because of the versatility the ‘script’ can offer over apps, versatility being how the script can be adapted to multiple platforms such as websites, phones, and iPads. All these formats would use the same code making life easier for the publishers. “I think this is going to be the future of publishing, a publisher can do almost everything they want to do on the web for multiple platforms with the same code. Why make your life harder.”27 So this seems the logical next step for digital in the current transition of digital reading devices. Although it may seem that way, there will always be the collection of companies that will continue to push the bar and strive for something better, something revolutionary. But looking into the future from the present day no one can estimate what that might be, a newer HTML file maybe? Or to jog our imagination further still, something like this? (Fig 2.)

Fig 2. Futuristic Business Woman Reading Digital Newspaper.

The facts suggest that internet files will always be improved, currently on the fifth version but for how long? It begs a 27

Jason Pontin, Film - Interview, http://www.beet.tv, Feb 2013 18

question to when we will truly embrace the typical sci-fi devices of 2087 when all is a glow in cyan neon lights and reading devices are translucent panels of glass. If this is our future it would seem to point to dull aesthetics and a purely information based display serving only one purpose, information. Jonah Lehrer can relate to this suggestion, ‘before long, we’ll become so used to the mindless clarity of e-ink – to these screens that keep on getting better – that the technology will feedback onto the content, making us less willing to endure harder texts. We’ll forget what it’s like to flex those dorsal muscles, to consciously decipher a literate clause. And that would be a shame, because not every sentence should be easy to read.’28 Jonah, of Wired magazine, suggests in his article that as the screen clarity and technology of reading devices will evolve to become clearer and therefore easier to read, that the text will ‘feedback’ into the content, he believes text will become easier to read because it will be written with less quality thus not allowing the reader the need to ‘decipher’ the literature as we once did, implying the quality of well know book authors. The information we would read would become simplified to the bare essentials of what we need to know and not what we perhaps want to know. Without the sale of eBooks the transformation the physical printed word is going through seems unnecessary, therefore is the eBook now a preferred media? With such advances with screen clarity finally reaching levels whereby people could be happy to make the switch from physical to digital, now could be a telling time for the preferred media of the historic bound book.

Jonah Lehrer, The Future of Reading, www.wired.com, Aug 2010 http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/the-future-of-reading-2/ 19

Fig 3. “Do you prefer to read eBooks or print books?”29

The graph above is one of many from a recent survey from an online blog ‘SurveyMonkey’ regarding the exact topic. They asked over three-hundred American readers a series of questions relating to their own preferred media. Although many of the results are what they expected to find there were some stand out results, the graph above for example. It shows an extremely small amount of people asked read via eReaders only and therefore meant the majority still preferred the physical book. The majority vote was for both formats with responses for this question providing an insight why the eBook got such a small vote, ‘Many people wrote in their comments and had clear reasons for avoiding the screen like, “There’s something about curling up with a good book in one’s hands that can’t be beat” and “I spend enough time on computers at work, need a break” to “I like the feel of the pages.” Nostalgia, comfort and convenience seem to be big reasons in favour for keeping the physical book alive.’30 Obviously this is a minuscule amount of the total American population and a smaller still percentage of the developed world who we can assume are also in a decision 29

Taken from a survey done by online blog - http:// www.surveymonkey.com/ 30

Print Books vs. E-books: What’s the Future of Reading? Kayte K, Mar 25 2013 20

making period of deciding which format they will buy their future books on. Something that came up from this survey is the body of people asked, regular American readers, all of which were over the age of 35. Therefore this is slightly bias as this age bracket would have grown up reading a physical book thus having a bond which the eBook would not break. To balance this survey out and give the eBook a fighting chance there is another study which in many ways is the opposite to the above. Online eBook library ebrary did a global study in 2011. The survey they devised covered numerous subjects within the eBook popularity debate. The section with fascinating facts is the UK section, more specifically students within the UK. More than 6,300 students in the UK answered this survey, which could cover many of the varying opinions due to this vast array of answers. The stand out result from the survey also doubled as the title for the article that introduces the survey online, ‘UK students lead the world in digital reading’31. From the survey what is clear is that students in the UK have truly embraced reading digitally, this could be down to several reasons. Age, younger people are brought up with technology and therefore are more adaptive to new advances in technology when such things are released. More awareness, the survey showed that more students in the UK were aware of the presence of eBooks than the rest of the world, and finally ease of use, the reasons students gave for not using a physical book pointed towards not wanting to carry around the equivalent in paperbased resources. ‘the format’s environmental friendliness (72%), followed by anytime anywhere access (64%). Both of these reasons suggest that students are increasingly turned

Author Unknown, May 14 2012, Publishing Technology, http:// blog.publishingtechnology.com/online/ebrary-e-book-reading-research/ 21

off by the idea of having to handle large amounts of paperbased material during their studies.’32 What makes students in the UK a driving force for the eBook? Numerous responses from the eBook survey do point to this conclusion. Only 10% of the 6,300 asked had never read an eBook33 . When compared to students globally, 46% of them would eschew the eBook sticking to the historic printing method34. To reinforce students in the UK leading the digital push, 58% of those asked said they would rather read an eBook than the printed version if offered the choice35, and once they’d chosen said eBook they would then go on to spend an average of at least ten hours a week reading on such devices36 . This is yet another leap ahead for UK students. It seems as though there is a preferred media, but this is dependant upon several key variables. Age factors in as it’s proven that the more mature generation would generally avoid digital platforms for such reasons as they use computers enough at work and/or they still prefer having something tactile to hold and pages to turn themselves. Profession, students seem to trump most occupations as most useful to have an eBook as it is preferable to carry a single device than a handful of text books. These devices also

Author Unknown, May 14 2012, Publishing Technology, http:// blog.publishingtechnology.com/online/ebrary-e-book-reading-research/ 33

Dr. Allen Mckiel, 2011 Global Student 2011 E-Book Survey, ebrary, Jan 2012 - http://site.ebrary.com/lib/surveys/docDetail.action? docID=80076107 34

Dr. Allen Mckiel, 2011 Global Student 2011 E-Book Survey, ebrary, Jan 2012 - http://site.ebrary.com/lib/surveys/docDetail.action? docID=80076107 35

Dr. Allen Mckiel, 2011 Global Student 2011 E-Book Survey, ebrary, Jan 2012 - http://site.ebrary.com/lib/surveys/docDetail.action? docID=80076107 36

Dr. Allen Mckiel, 2011 Global Student 2011 E-Book Survey, ebrary, Jan 2012 - http://site.ebrary.com/lib/surveys/docDetail.action? docID=80076107 22

offer some new age research techniques that appeal to the typical student, searching for information, for example, is made simple on a digital device if you simply enter key words you wish to find and the devices will find and highlight these texts for you, something that is far from the time consuming index - page number - paragraph search that was the norm merely a decade before. On a tangent to this subject. I undertook a small experiment whilst in the research stages of this topic that can add to the notion as to why students may be more digital thinking when it comes to studying. I would use the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s library system to look for relevant books on my chosen subject and what I would find more than 50% of the time is that the text I am looking for is available, but only available to be viewed online as a digital document. For example; I searched â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;printed wordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and found that the amount of digital online sources were almost double that of the printed resources available (Fig 4).

Fig 4. A screen shot of a university search showing only online sources.

This was the case for numerous books that I would look for, making it very difficult to actually get hold of a physical book even though I wanted to. A case where I did in fact find the physical book I intended was then shot back by digital again. I 23

enquired via the internet what typeface the book was using and from doing so I was able to download the entire book in PDF format totally free of charge. So what need is there for that particular book on the shelf I ask? To put the preferred format theory to bed, there is no binary decision. Attempting to determine a definitive answer would prove endless, each survey would argue the last, dependant on the body of individuals asked. Although it does seem to be able to state that age is the overruling criteria, the current generation have grown with the current digital formats and so see no such battle between print and digital, only perhaps, that newer is better. ‘E-books, in other words, may turn out to be just another format—an even lighter-weight, more disposable paperback. That would fit with the discovery that once people start buying digital books, they don't necessarily stop buying printed ones. In fact, according to Pew, nearly 90% of e-book readers continue to read physical volumes. The two forms seem to serve different purposes.’37 Steven Heller backs up the reign of digital in his book The Education of an E-Designer, “Digital versions of many things are better than their low-tech equivalents because they are cheaper, easier to use, more readily available, more shareable, more sustainable ecologically, or they do more than the old stuff they supersede...”38 When talk of the older generation and technology arises in the same sentence it’s common place to assume 37

Nicholas Carr, Don't Burn Your Books—Print Is Here to Stay, U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2013, page C2 38

Heller, S - The Education of an E-Designer, Canada, Allworth Press, 2001 24

that they tend to have issues in that department. In particular, switching from the physical object such as calendar to its’ digital counterpart. ‘In 1984, Apple introduced a graphical UI (user interface) that presented information in overlapping windows stacked behind one another — essentially, a set of book pages. The user was given the ability to go back and forth between pages, as well as to scroll through individual pages. In this way the traditional page was redefined as a virtual page...’39 When computers were starting to become common place in the everyday home designers created digital graphics called skeuomorphs to ease the transition onto the screen. A skeuomorph; ‘A design feature that is carried forth from the original version of a product in order to make people feel comfortable with the new device. For example, the click sound that is heard when taking a picture with a digital camera comes from an audio clip; however, the sound originally came from the actual shutter opening and closing.’40 In the early days of the digital UI these played a big part in helping the public catch on to what each component did, however there is mixed opinions on the use of them in the present day. Apple have been the leaders in the use of skeuomorphs with almost 70% of their interface being based on the real object, along with its sounds and how it animates. This was mainly due to Apple founder Steve Jobs’ personal love for them, hence why they have become such an important component within Apple’s UI designs. ‘When you turn a page in an Apple e-book, the “paper” curls as you flip it over, ... Apple's Contacts app looks like a physical address book, ... And, perhaps most 39

Manovich, L - The Language of New Media, United States of America, The MIT Press (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) 2001 40

http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/ 0,1233,t=skeuomorph&i=60154,00.asp 25

superfluous of all, torn-off paper scraps adorn the top of the Calendar program's “binding,” as though previous months' pages have been torn away.’41 (Fig 5.)

Fig 5. Apples iCalender app, looking much like a physical calendar.

David Pogue, the technology columnist for the New York Times believes they are not doing the job they originally set out to do, ‘These design features, critics argue, no longer help novices make a transition. You don't need unsightly paper remnants to understand that you are using a calendar. A curling-page animation just slows the reader down for the sake of showing off. Meanwhile slavish dependence on realworld visual metaphors could be holding back more creative, space-efficient or self-explanatory designs.’ So he continues to state that Windows, Apple’s main competitor has accepted that it is 2013 and digital interfaces should embrace that. ‘Microsoft's latest operating systems—Windows Phone, for example—run full bore the opposite direction. Their interfaces are all digital, with no references to the physical world. (Fig 6.)

David Pogue, Apple Shouldn’t Make Software Look Like Real Objects, 20 Feb 13 26

Fig 6. Example of Apple’s skeuomorphic design (Left) and the Windows phone equivalent (Right).

The designers are clearly saying, “It's 2013, people. We don't need fake wood grain and green felt to convey software functions.”42 The counter argument to this that there is a need for skeuomorphs if they are done properly, Tobias Ahlin points out ‘when it’s used appropriately, skeuomorphic design can give users a quick sense of what an app does. This is especially true for non-experts. How do you convey to someone that Notes is where you jot down a grocery list but Pages is where you type up a book report? If both apps showed you nothing but a blank screen, a novice wouldn’t know what to do. But since it looks like a notebook, Notes doesn’t even need a help screen.’43 To look back at the printed word again, there are mixed opinions, that is if you ask an avid reader. Mark 42

David Pogue, Apple Shouldn’t Make Software Look Like Real Objects, 20 Feb 13 43

Tobias Ahlin, Skeuomorphism & Storytelling, 20 April 13 - http:// tobiasahlin.com/blog/skeuomorphism-and-storytelling/ 27

Rossiter sees beyond the design and layout of eBooks and focus’ on the text itself, after all isn’t this all that matters when reading a text? “When you ask me if I’ve read, say, Pride and Prejudice, you don’t usually mean a particular edition or format (paperback or hardcover). Strange as it may seem at first glance, you don’t necessarily even mean any particular language. You’re talking about something beyond the concrete: the eternal text, ethereal, almost outside of language. It’s up there, in the sky, free from the caprices of nature, of water, wind or fire, free even from time.”44 Hugh McGuire on a 2012 TED talk has an interesting opinion on the appearance of the digital book. He states foremost that eBooks are here to stay and goes on to say that eBooks are more like the internet than physical printed books due to the internet language (HTML) that they are written in. “...and that really, I think, is a problem, and it’s a problem because in order to get this similarity with the past we’ve ended up constraining eBooks and making them look a lot more like print books and a lot less like the internet.”45 It could be said that digital has kept a certain respect for the printed book by the way it is viewed on electronic formats, it can’t just be forgotten about and so continues to be visually pleasing, or displeasing, within the eBook. However, this does seem to be more disliked than liked, especially when it comes to Apple’s design future, ‘Apple's famous chief of hardware design, Jony Ive, is now in charge of software design as well, and he's not a fan of skeuomorphism in software. The days of iPhone apps that have fake wood grain, fake brushed metal and fake 44

Mark Rossiter, Ebooks needn’t look like print books (a metaphysical view), July 12 2012 - http://momentumbooks.com.au/blog/blog/ebooksneednt-look-like-print-books-an-metaphysical-view/ 45

Hugh McGuire - The Blurring Line Between Books and the Internet, Video, TEDxMontreal, 2012 - http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/ TEDxMontreal-Hugh-McGuire-The-B 28

stitching in fake leather are probably numbered.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;46 So we could see a visual switch from the skeuomorphic designs to the modern flat, bold, straight edged designs that Windows are currently at the forefront of.

David Pogue, Apple Shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Make Software Look Like Real Objects, 20 Feb 13 29

CHAPTER 3 Graphic Design / Photography

Leading on from the design elements that have been discussed, uses of skeuomorphic to the modern flat designs can take us to the people creating such visual identities for the eBooks designers. Where do they stand on the field of digital and print, further still, photographers? It’s widely considered that photography has already been through a digital transition, although there is very little that points towards the decline of analogue there are tremendous resources telling us that digital photography has become the norm. For example, almost every individual that owns a mobile phone in the present day also owns a digital camera, along with several other devices all combined on the mobile. It isn’t seen as unique anymore and so the want for such items like the analogue camera has diminished. ‘What has become clear over the past decade is that any sufficiently cheap technology will become compulsory. Cheap, almost free, digital photography and cheap, almost free, publishing through the likes of Flickr and MySpace and YouTube: these have led to the paradigm of human activity as being something which is verified by being first recorded, then published.’47 There is still a niche market for the analogue camera, much like there is for the physical book, but perhaps photography is further along the timeline, with analogues dip in use and digitals constant rise. So the same could be still to come for the physical book. “The important thing to 47

Micheal Bywater, 11 Feb 2009, The Independent Newspaper - Digital photography: Has it become an obsession? - http:// www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/digitalphotography-has-it-become-an-obsession-1606148.html 30

remember is that film doesn’t mean digital is bad, and digital doesn’t mean film is bad,”48 Designers may not continue to design eBooks to look like physical books, especially now Apple’s chief designer doesn’t have much niceties for that type of visual, and the likes of the Amazon Kindle has gone its own way in displaying text as a body of information instead of the traditional text on a page that then animates and turns over much like a book. The graphic designers now play a key role for each format within this debate, and have as individuals, personal opinions about the varying path print is on. When taking out primary research on the subject, specifically talking to designers, I have found irrelevant the style of work that each person exercises, they have all noticed an increase in digital. Whether this is an outcome of their own work or just a general acknowledgement it is still apparent that digital elements within design has also risen. During the primary research I undertook I found these results. 100% of those asked answered that digital formats were having an influence on the physical page, with 50% of those then answering negative when asked if this was a positive or negative effect (25% answered positive and the other 25% answered neither). When asked about their own careers within design, ‘When you started in the design industry how much design was digitally influenced? Approx.’ 75% said between 0-20% of the then current industry was digital, which is the smallest opinion they were given as an answer. These are all current designers who when they started out believe that there was no digital formats or influence. Compare these answers to 48

Stacey Hedman, Freelance Photography: Digital vs. Film Case Study, 15 Feb 2012 - http://freelanceswitch.com/freelance-news/case-studies/ photography-digital-vs-film/ 31

the next question which was of a similar form however this was aimed at the present day, ‘How much of design as a whole do you believe is digitally influenced in the present day? Approx.’, This gave a more varied response due to the nature of jobs each person has had a career in, two opposing examples of this; a letterpress printer for the physical designers compared then to an app designer for digital. Having such a wide scope enabled me to get more accurate and realistic answers. All the responses for this question were above the 50% mark but fell under several percentage groups, with the majority believing 80-100% of design output is currently in some way digital. This has increased dramatically in approximately thirty years, backing up previous evidence that digital has been on the increase in the last few decades. To draw conclusion to the questionnaire each participant was asked the simple ‘Is print dead?’, a popular phrase that has been running around the internet since the eBook was launched. The response was unanimous in adoration of print, 100% of people asked said they believe print to not be ‘dead’. ‘It’s not that print is dead’49 seems to be the common theory among the avid reader and designer alike. Both photographers and graphic designers are now in constant use of digital devices and formats for their day to day practices. However this doesn’t necessarily point them in favour of one or the other. So what isn’t clear is which side they would fall into, or even if they need to fall onto a side? Both careers began with analogue formats, the camera with film, and graphic design with handmade physical type and posters. It just so happens they are both in transition periods 49

David Smart, Graphic Communications lecturer, Plymouth University, 2012 32

which can be argued is losing the history of the practice but it can also be said, as I found in my questionnaire, that even though this is a very real movement to digital that it isn't influencing the way people think of print. It is very much alive.

CONCLUSION I have to admit, I started this research topic because I did have a predefined opinion that digital had taken over and that the printed words’ days were numbered, a severely naive opinion to have had in the first place. The truth is I have been on this earth for just over twenty years which in hindsight is a relatively small amount of time given the lifespan of the book. I believe my previous opinion had been based on those twenty years. I’ve always been fascinated by technology, how it all works, why each component does what it does, and so because of this I’ve constantly surrounded myself with the digital formats I’ve been lucky enough to grow up with. Starting with a mobile phone and leading up to the present day with iPhones and iPads. So I think although it is my own downfall to have been blinded by digital and only digital I also think it was inevitable for my path to plan out like it has. The printed word is on a decline, all sources point to this outcome. Even though this is the case, large amounts of people still prefer the physicality of a page by page format. Regardless of this printing houses are under pressure to keep printing books, I’ve found that many of the smaller publishers have now gone due to poor sales and the publishing giants like Penguin and Random House forced to merge to keep themselves afloat. When you think about this it would need to be a major concern for these types of houses for them to want to join instead of compete. I see it as a joint battle against the digital wave they have found themselves in. Above all, I’ve found it to be age that defines if you read your text on a screen or a page. It almost became a twosided battle of the older reader vs the digital student, it became almost as clear as that. The younger generation, 34

students, the commuters, including myself, are brought up with digital, televisions, phones, the internet. We find ourselves wanting new technologies and becoming so programmed in to how they function that we have no issue with each new device that is released. However this is not the case for the older generation. If you were brought up with the book naturally you’ll want to stick with what you know and would find a transition to digital devices more difficult. As a student I find that if I can carry all my work and copies of books on one device then this is going to benefit me, which is a shared opinion with hundreds of students worldwide, especially those in the United Kingdom as we as a country are leading in terms of using the eBooks. Not a surprising statistic as getting your hands on physical books is becoming more difficult and time consuming when you could view the text you want online seconds after you search for it. As for the printed word, that isn’t going anywhere. Has ‘video killed the radio star’50 ? No, radio is still very much a key part of listening to music. I see this as how the physical book and eBooks will continue co-existing and almost complementing each other. I’ve found that no one wants or believes that print is dead, which is a positive thought for the book. It is merely in a state of transition, transition of finding out what is in stall for it next. But I can confidently say that we won’t be seeing our beloved book shelves emptying any time soon. The fact remains that digital formats and their housing devices are here and will continue to grow in terms of memory, allowing you to store more content, and in quality, making you want to read more text on a screen than off it. I’m 50

Video Killed the Radio Star, The Buggles, The Age of Plastic, 7 Sept 1979 - Geoff Downes, Trevor Horn and Bruce Woolley. 35

already curious how this text would look on a digital iPad screen and I think that is how people using such devices will move forward, curiosity. Curiosity of how each book will appear on screen. As a graphic designer this has been an eye opening topic for me. I originally set out to determine what effect digital is having on the printed word. Not expecting my opinion to be changed in any way, but having found my estimation to be true it has in a way disheartened me. I have a new found respect for the printed word which will stay with me throughout my design career, happily knowing print is not dead.

Ashley Cox

Plymouth University 2013