What is the role of print media in the digital age?
Introduction
With the introduction of modern day smart phones and tablets, the role of print media has been in question. For me, print media plays such an important role in everyday life, as it sees that you can’t walk down a high street without seeing posters and billboards for the latest toy. This in itself, in my opinion, has greater effects on the everyday consumer as it’s something they see on a daily basis and they get to interact with it more than most digital media. There’s just a certain aspect of print that has more feeling within it weather it a surface gleam from a billboard to the feel of the type of paper in your hand from a brochure, each one leaves a lasting impact on the consumer.
Over the last 10 years print media has lost ground in this digital media boom, facing competition from the latest technology, internet, social media and many other forms of digital media. The recent announcements of daily newspapers cutting back to less than daily frequency with its prints while boosting digital efforts, is yet another of many examples. While print media has undoubtedly declined, the need for print media in terms of advertising and marketing is still needed. Print media has much more of a feeling and interacts with the consumers more with the likes of the textures and smells of magazines having an effect on why they are bought. This is evidenced in The Guardian’s newspaper article ‘Digital magazines: how popular are they?’ (19 august 2013) in which Ami Sedghi gathered the sales of major magazines brands which showed that digital editions of the printed journals had significantly lower sales figures than that of the printed editions.
One way print media is keeping relevant is by having a link to its digital media counterpart. For instance the use of QR codes on the likes of posters can drive traffic to websites in a quick and effective way. Statistics have shown that campaigns that combine printed resources with internet advertising yield up to a 25% higher response rate than using internet alone, according to the Direct Marketing Association. Typefaces within Print mediums have much more credibility with the consumer while the internet seem to be lacking this, it just seems that with print has a sense of being more trustworthy than that of digital content. In fact many studies have shown that print is still considered more credible with the vast majority of the public than online material. This is down to the fact print is more permanent, it has to be made to last, while the web is fluid, it changes constantly, information can be rewritten very easily or even deleted by anyone.
Forms of print media
Newspapers:
There is a wide range of different types of newspapers that are around, including local, regional or national titles published in daily, evening, weekly or Sunday editions. Each newspaper target different audiences with a mix of content, often including sports, entertainment, business, fashion and politics. Each paper Advertisers can buy different sizes of advertising space within newspapers, from to ads featuring text, photographs, illustrations and graphics in sizes up to a full page or even a double-page spread to grab the reader’s attention. This is one of the cheaper options for companies to advertise themselves to the public, as it can just require a onetime payment while they while have to pay a continuous fee to use certain online advertisement sites.
Magazines:
Magazines come in a have many different styles which can be elegant and modern like vogue to the cheap and busy like OK! These offer advertisers extensive choices of readership and frequency. Consumer magazines cover a wide range of interests, including sport, hobbies, fashion, health, current affairs and local topics. Many business and trade magazines provide coverage of specific industries, such as finance or electronics. Others cover cross-industry topics, such as communications or human resources, while still others focus on job-specific areas, such as publications for executives, marketing professionals or engineers. Publishing frequency is typically weekly, monthly or quarterly. As with newspapers, advertisers can take advertising spaces from classified ads to full page ads in black and white or colour.
Billboards:
Advertising on billboards and posters gives advertisers the opportunity to reach consumers on the move. Putting posters in retail malls, for example, helps advertisers reach consumers close to the point of purchase. Posters or billboards in train stations, airports or busy town centres have the potential to reach large groups of consumers. Advertisers can change the messages on billboards and posters at a frequency of their choice.
Post (flyers, mail ect):
Advertisers use direct mail to reach smaller target audiences or selected prospects. Direct mail often take the form of a letter, brochure or flyer sent via the postal service. Advertisers can compile their own list of prospects and customers for the mailing, or rent a mailing list from a specialist firm.
Made you look documentry write up
Recently, I attended a screening of a graphic design documentary at one of the country's oldest cinemas in Leeds, Hyde Park Picture House. The documentary was entitled 'Made You Look' and it focused on the UK's ‘Do It Yourself’ graphics art scene and interviewed some well-known artists and creative businesses including:. Throughout the film, everyone interviewed expressed their views and thoughts on how the impact of the digital age has affected both Illustration and Graphic Design by making creatives dependent on using computers now more than ever in the 21st century. It's made me think if I have become too reliant on using computers to create work. Looking back, I have never actually created a Screen-print or used a letter press and that's made me realise I haven't explored what graphic design has to offer and the diverse ways of creating art just by using back to basic techniques.
I think a part of this is due to how I've acquired my knowledge of graphic design throughout the course of my education prior to studying at LCA. In view of this I want to gain an understanding about the more hands on approaches of creating work and experiment with them while at Leeds College of Art. This excited me more after the Q&A with the director of the film and a few independent artists, who spoke highly of the various techniques whilst still acknowledging the power of working on a computer. Anthony Peters said something that stuck with me after the event. He said "Work that's been made with a computer will always look nice but work created with screen prints and techniques like it have more character to them, there may be some little mistakes or smudges on it and it might even have finger prints of the artist who made it all over the back, but that's what makes the work special. Its a one of a kind. You don't get that with computer printed work."
I think a part of this is due to how I've acquired my knowledge of graphic design throughout the course of my education prior to studying at LCA. In view of this I want to gain an understanding about the more hands on approaches of creating work and experiment with them while at Leeds College of Art. This excited me more after the Q&A with the director of the film and a few independent artists, who spoke highly of the various techniques whilst still acknowledging the power of working on a computer. Anthony Peters said something that stuck with me after the event. He said "Work that's been made with a computer will always look nice but work created with screen prints and techniques like it have more character to them, there may be some little mistakes or smudges on it and it might even have finger prints of the artist who made it all over the back, but that's what makes the work special. Its a one of a kind. You don't get that with computer printed work."
Research:
- Sedghi,A.(19 August 2013) Digital Magazines: how popular are they? TheGuardian [http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/aug/19/digital-magazines-popular-circulation-figures]
- Linton, I. () Small Business Chron [http://smallbusiness.chron.com/online-advertising-vs-print-advertisements-41549.html]
- Kippham, H. () Handbook of print media Technologies and production method [https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=VrdqBRgSKasC&oi=fnd&pg=PA4&dq=role+of+print+media+in+the+digital+age&ots=c7vXGT3MQq&sig=2N2Ul_zOscAhzOtdB4r38YLDH6w#v=onepage&q&f=false]
- Jurgenson, N. (9 July 2012) We Need a Word for That Thing Where a Digital Thing Appears in the Physical World The Atlantic [http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/07/we-need-a-word-for-that-thing-where-a-digital-thing-appears-in-the-physical-world/259570/]
- Lukovitz, K. (5 November) Perception Vs. Reality: Print's Power in a Digital Age MPA The Association of Magazine Media [http://www.magazine.org/node/25206]
- Made you look documentry
