This is not an altogether bogus hypothesis. The generation of young people who are just going through university now have grown up at a time when electronic media have dominated and print has declined. PrintWeek decided something needed to be done to demonstrate to these young designers how the future is one where print and digital work together, rather than one where digital works alone.
The Power of Print supplement, a publication aimed at showcasing print’s achievements and highlighting the way that print and electronic media work better together, seemed like the perfect vehicle. So we decided to run a competition with the students on one of the UK’s leading design courses, the graphic design undergraduate degree at the University of Brighton.
We challenged 37 second-year students to create covers for the supplement, which communicated how print and digital could work together. They had just three weeks.
Below, the winner and the shortlisted finalists talk about their designs, what inspired them and their views on print.
The winner
Jamie Rickett
What were your first thoughts on the brief?
My initial reaction when given the brief was that it was very tight, so I would need to think creatively in order to avoid obvious and clichéd solutions.
How did you settle on your final idea and how did you put it into action?
From a fairly early stage I started looking at different forms of QR codes, including HCCB (AKA Microsoft TAG) codes. I then experimented to see how aesthetically abstract I could make a HCCB while still ensuring it could be read as a code. After going down this route for some time, I still felt that the images I had made looked a bit boring and flat, so I decided to try and construct a physical 3D version and photograph it. I made the final HCCB using card and fishing wire hanging from the ceiling in my bedroom. Given that I live in a tiny flat, that was a bit of a logistical nightmare. For the final photograph, though, I transported the HCCB to university to photograph it in a photography studio.
How do you think the readers will look at your cover – what would you like them to think?
I’m not sure everyone will immediately see it’s a HCCB, which is why it needed to work as a visually interesting image. However, I think this adds a second layer of interest when the reader realises that it can be read by a smartphone.
How do you view print – do you like working in print?
Most of the work I admire is print-based, which I feel is reflected in my own work, as the majority of it so far has ended up with a print outcome. I seem to spend a lot of my life looking at screens, so it’s always a lot more satisfying to design something that will end up as a tangible product.
How does it feel to win?
I thought there were a few conceptually and aesthetically strong ideas, so I was really happy to hear mine had been chosen.
Do you think print needs to do more to attract young designers?
Obviously there has been a shift towards digital in the graphic design, advertising and publishing industries, but I think print still holds more allure and that there is still a large proportion of young designers who prefer to work in print. I think designers will continue to push the boundaries of print and come up with new and innovative ways of combining print and digital.
What would you like to do in your future career?
I’m not sure which area of graphic design I will end up working in, and I think it’s important not to specialise too early. Saying that, I’ve always loved branding and print, but would like to learn more about the digital side of design as that’s where there is increasing demand.
To scan Jamie’s design, download the free Microsoft TAG app from your smartmobile app store and scan the cover to be taken to an exclusive PrintWeek video
The runners up
Helen Dean
How did you settle on your final idea?
I wanted to focus on colours and how the screen is RGB, while print is CMYK. My first thought was to show them moulding in together, but then I decided upon collage. For this I ended up bringing in registration marks, as I think they are symbols of print, and putting this onto the iPad was a nice juxtaposition. Personally, I would have liked to have taken the design further as I thought I could have done a lot more with it. I wouldn’t have used the iPad; I would have replaced it with something a little more non-specific and done more with the registration marks.
How do you think the readers will look at your cover – what would you like them to think?
I hope they understand what I was trying to do with the design and that it was striking enough to make them want to pick up The Power of Print supplement. I also hope it showcases the issues of print and digital working together in partnership.
How do you view print – do you like working in print?
I am more print-based than digital -based: I love packaging, magazines and fashion lookbooks. I like having something to hold and something tactile. I’m not ruling out digital, but I do think print is where I really like to design at the moment.
Ryan Neil
How did you settle on your final idea?
I wanted to erase the history of print and digital. In my opinion, we have yet to find a way of really successfully combining print and digital – I don’t think things like QR codes or PURLS have been the answer – so I wanted to erase those past directions. I stripped out all the recognisable elements of PrintWeek branding, leaving just a blank black page, so we were starting from nothing. Then I chose a typeface by Wim Crouwel to spell out ‘The Power of Print’ – Crouwel’s work was created in response to new technologies, and not against them, to create something new. It was perfect for the cover of a supplement showcasing print’s traditionalism, working with the relatively new form of digital.
How do you think the readers will look at your cover – what would you like them to think?
I think people will be shocked when they see it and that is exactly what I wanted. I didn’t expect people to love it, I just wanted to draw people’s attention to the digital and print debate and hopefully incite people to think about it in new ways.
How do you view print – do you like working in print?
I don’t have a preference for either. It would be foolish to ignore digital, as it is not going to go away and to ignore it would be to put yourself in a difficult and isolated position. But specialising in print is still a nice thing to do, and I still prefer to read things in print than online.
Takashi Otsuka
How did you settle on your final idea?
I developed the idea by deciding to build a diagram of an old press using binary code, creating an image of the press through digital coding. By repeating and layering the image, I built up texture and the 3D element to the cover to really show what print could be capable of, but still through the filter of digital in the form of the binary code. I that think by combining elements from diagrams, binary code and historical printers, I represented printing's past, but also it future.
How do you think the readers will look at your cover – what would you like them to think?
With my image, I wanted to show appreciation for the history of printing, but also for the new technology. The abstract image represents the past of printing, but also the future, so I think that I have successfully realised this intention.
How do you view print – do you like working in print?
The print industry has been rapidly changing for a long time and I am excited about the possibilities offered by developments within print. I would really love to be involved in some way, either as an artist produced in print or as a highly-skilled printer myself.
Barney Stepney
How did you settle on your final idea?
I had photographs of specific bits of print kit and had the idea of incorporating some kind of electronic chip within the design. I eventually developed this idea into depicting an entire circuit board. I applied the circuit board to the surface of a print roller to suggest that print and digital were combining to form printed sheets that would eventually be something you could hold in your hand.
How do you think the readers will look at your cover – what would you like them to think?
The majority of print is now created through a digital medium, so I wanted to convey this idea of combining traditional and digital print. I also feel it suggests that industrial mass printing needs a digital side – ie a document sent from a computer – to create what comes out at the other end of the machine. I think that some people, and in particular those who work in the print industry, would instantly recognize the core aspects of the image.
How do you view print – do you like working in print?
I’m slightly leaning away from the print format and more towards digital. Great printing is a wonderful craft producing beautiful results, but digital is gradually taking over. There will, however, always be something about print that one can’t find in digital. I like the fact that you can touch it and that there isn’t a chance of it suddenly disappearing forever.
