At my job, we have a pretty decent mix of print and web design going on, although it seems like I have 5 web projects for every print project...But I often wonder where things are going to be in 10 years. We're in a big rebranding campaign right now and along with that is an ongoing discussion of how to reach our audience best. It surprised me to hear that kids today (these kids today, rrrr) have no attachment to print materials at all. My boss talks about market research showing that they'd rather look at words on a screen than have paper materials cluttering their desks and rooms. So I guess that means we'll be looking to electronic media to reach college students much more than print materials.
It's hard for me to accept this total change in the way people prefer to receive information. For me, if I get a card or a brochure in my hand, I have it and it's going to stay in my mind because I'll see it sitting around. On the other hand, if I get a newsletter in my email inbox, it disappears from my mind as soon as the next message comes in. But the generation that's now in high school just operates totally differently than me. For them, it's better to get text messages from a college admissions office than a big glossy viewbook...Or so the research says, anyway. Can't wrap my mind around that one.
I think most of us designers love print more than web, regardless of the possibilities new technology offers us...because we love to hold our work (and other people's) in our hands and feel the texture and all of that. Note how we all took great pleasure in sniffing Dave's DVD cover last week. So the move away from print is sad for us. Better for the trees, though. No doubt about that.
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