Fernando Dias
Why print still matters
1
2
Fernando Dias
Why print still matters
3
“Digital is the best thing that ever happened to print.�
4
ANDREW LOSOWSKY
5
PRINT IS DEAD. BOOKS WILL SOON DISAPPEAR.
6
In the digital era we are living, this
fact, digital is pushing
two phrases above might already
the boundaries of print
have been said thousands of times by
design and making
countless people, including journalists
the market reinvent
and experts. But are they true? It is
itself, seeking new
undeniable that the internet plays an
solutions and rethinking
essential role these days. People spend
strategies. “The true
more and more time online everyday
golden age of print? It’s
and everywhere and e-readers are
right now”, says Andrew
an important part of that so-called
Losowsky, editor of The
revolution of costumes. Researches
Huffington Post. As
keep showing the growth of the market
much as e-readers can
of e-books, with sales beating records
make some eyes shine
every year, and even topping up print
with its own high-tech
sales. It might sound like the end of the
virtues, there is still
world for those who love ink on paper,
something special about
but there are many reasons to believe
books, some fundamental
digital and print can live together.
qualities that no other
Even though the web is an exceptional
new technology has been
tool, it is not a substitute to print. In
able to overcome.
7
TELL ME ABOUT IT.
8
Books tell stories as much as they are
bookshelf with that big library stamp
part of the story of their readers. Each
on it. Or you can just feel nostalgic as
book is an object with which someone
you read a message someone wrote in
can build their own plot. You can, for
the first page before giving the book
example, have borrowed a book from
to you - or to your grandmother, and
a library and have forgotten to return
now you are reading this message and
it, and there lies the book in your
learning a little about her story. We
9
can use stuff we have
itself. The type of paper,
around as bookmarkers
the choice of printing
and this also tells about
techniques, the binding.
the relationship we have
It’s all there to be
with the book or even
touched. The illustrations
about ourselves: photos,
the book might have can
postcards, old analogic
determine the way we
camera film strips, a
imagine characters. The
metro ticket, advertising
cover and the layout of
flyers, anything can go.
the pages can set the
Books evoke the
mood the story is read
past because all of our
- and this also tells us
experience leaves marks
about the importance of
on it. The stamp, the
good and appropriate
written message, the
design, as it can’t
bookmarks, the notes
misrepresent what the
on the side of the page,
author has to say.
the earmarks. E-readers
For all of this,
are a lot less personal
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in
because they don’t have
Wonderland is a good
any of that. You can turn
example. Countless
them on or off at any
editions of this book are
time, while books are
in stores and people’s
still there sitting on the
shelfs, each with one
shelf or on the bedside
interpretation translated
table. Pixels vanish
into images, formats
whislt pages last.
and layouts. Alice
Furthermore, there
can be more colorful
is also, of course, the
and uplifting or more
relationship with the
dark and gloomy, more
story the book tells.
childish or more adult.
Although this also exists
Yet, all these editions tell
on e-readers, on physical
the same story with the
books it takes a lot of
same words, but through
influence from the object
different points of view.
10
11
12
CAN YOU SEE IT? Books are beautiful. And that’s not a
marketing signifiers.”,
random opinion, this have a reason to
says Craig Mod in his
be. Book covers are marketing tools.
essay Hacking the
They compete to grab the attention of
Cover. Also, the cover
people in bookshops, so they have to
in physical books have
have some kind of appeal. Therefore,
protection purposes,
editors and designers work hard to
which is obviously not
make books as attractive as they can
needed for digital books.
be so that buyers choose them. And
It’s not that e-books
the results are alluring a lot of times.
won’t have a cover, it
Of course, this care and effort of
will just be a different
embellishment is often extended to the
one, smaller and limited
internal layout, which leads to really
to a number of pixels.
precious pieces of design.
And it’s not that it can’t
For e-books it’s different. “The
be beautiful, but they are
cover image may help quickly ground
still being shaped whilst
us, but our eyes are drawn by habit
the design of physical
to number and quality of reviews.
books is being developed
We’re looking for metrics other than
for long enough now to
images — real metrics — not artificial
be in its full potential.
13
When it comes to designing books, there is a large range of possibilities.
14
15
The tangibility of books is an important resource designers can work with whilst designing books. With that, comes the possibility to choose between countless types of paper, several printing techniques, formats, bindings and special finishes such as metallic or pastel inks, die-cutting, emboss and deboss, and many others.
Each project is planned taking in consideration the message the book wants to give to the reader and the choice of processes and materials is supposed to add to the message or at least not interfere with it. For his book Tree of Codes, Jonathan Safran
the message - an e-book
Foer explored the die-cut
wouldn’t be so effective
technique when he took
in that case. It also goes
Bruno Schulz’s The Street
against the idea that
of Crocodiles and cut
print is dead, showing
out the majority of the
that new concepts can
words. His idea was so
still be explored using
innovative that he almost
ink on paper.
couldn’t find a printer
16
a fundamental part of
The reader is the one
willing to do that, most
who benefits from it the
of them claiming it was
most, as he keeps having
impossible. However,
the possibility of being
the final product shows
delighfully surprised
us how print can be
by unexpected design
used in favor of the story
twists as he turns the
being told and even be
pages of his new book.
17
18
Books are portable in a different way from e-readers, due to a simple factor: they don’t have a battery to be recharged. You can take them anywhere and read them in the park, in a queue, in the underground, anywhere you’d like, without having to worry about how long it will still be on.
19
KEEP IT REAL.
20
If, as said before, a book can tell about
one’s hobbies, occupation, interests,
the person who owns it, what to say
personal goals, fears and much more
about a whole collection of them?
just by having a quick look at his
Personal libraries might throw open
bookshelves. It’s like going through
people’s personalities much more
that person’s mind. What you read
than anything, even a short face-
certainly defines you, and maybe that
to-face conversation. You can tell
is why we collect books.
21
Books are collectible because they are produced to a limited number, making each volume unique on some level, whereas e-books are made of data accessible by anyone who pays for it. This characteristic turns printed books into
disappear as they will be
some kind of precious
released only in digital
artifacts. Having a
versions, but there will
physical copy of a
certainly be space for
publication is somewhere
preciously designed
near having a painting
high-quality books for a
of your favourite artist
long time yet to come.
on the wall rather
A personal library
than a calendar with
is absolutely a safe
a reproduction of it.
investiment, even in
Exaggerations aside,
times of apocalyptic
we do want to have
profecies about the
something to keep when
future of print. “There
we really like a book.
are times when I think
Owning a hardcover
22
publications might
that the ideal library
feels more real than
is composed solely of
having an e-book you
reference books. They
can lose amidst all other
are like understanding
data, and this is again
friends; always ready to
about tangibility. Maybe
meet your mood, always
printed books are the
ready to change the
new vynils, and will soon
subject when you have
become some kind of
had enough of this or
indie object valued by
that.�, said J. Donald
those who seek quality.
Adams on the New York
Cheaply produced
Times back in 1956.
23
TURNING PAGES
24
E-readers came to stay and there are
them. There are many qualities of ink
certaily a large number of qualities in
on paper that cannot be replaced and
them we could list that would make
that can be used in favor of a market
anyone who likes to read want to go
that needs to reinvent itself. And of
and buy one right now. The point here
course this is not only about books,
is that they didn’t come to substitute
but magazines, newspapers and any
printed books, but to join forces with
kind of print media.
25
text, photos and design by Fernando Dias, 2013
26
27
a work by Fernando Dias Anglia Ruskin University, 2013
28