Letterboxes are as stuffed as the Christmas turkey, shopping aisles are beset with beautiful displays, publishers roll out their big guns for an assault on the bestseller chart and the annual search for that treasured Christmas card with the immortal ‘printed in the UK’ stamped on the back reaches fever pitch.

And all this happens while the doom-mongers predict the demise of print.

Fortunately, this is something that the design students featured in our roundtable discussion on the role of print in today’s media mix, simply don’t agree with. In fact, they agree with the printer panellists that print has a vital role to play today and will continue to do so long after tomorrow.

However, both groups also said that key to print maintaining its effectiveness is designers, printers and brand owners teaming up to ensure that innovation isn’t stifled by squeezed budgets.

For print to continue to evolve, discussions need to move beyond budget and focus on ROI, where the medium’s effectiveness is beyond reproach. We need to stop thinking that print is under threat from other forms of communication and instead continue to develop ways to turn these perceived threats into powerful allies.

Because if we take that collaborative approach to the next level then all of print’s Christmases, and those of its clients, might just come at once.