The Joy of Print

We all know that print is supposedly going extinct. We’ve been told this from all sides. e-content and e-readers are supposed to take over books and magazines, and soon. I for one, don’t believe it. I remember when we were all told that offices would soon go paperless. With email and internet, the reasoning went, nobody would bother to print anything out, write anything down or send paper memos anymore. I’m currently on break at my office desk. It is positively adrift in paper. legal pads with phone records, catalogs from publishers, to do lists, notepads and business cards. Maybe I’m odd, but I don’t think so. Every desk in the building looks like mine.

My point is, paper is not going anywhere. Why would it? I don’t care how slick your e-reader is (and I like e-readers fine), it’s just not as sexy as a new magazine, or a newspaper that smells of fresh ink.

This debate is particularly interesting to me as I gear up to launch a print only zine. I’m suddenly particularly sensitive and attentive to news of print and print only media. I thought I’d share three of these with you.

This the Little Printer. It’s a very interesting concept. You use an app to subscribe to content from foursquare to news or images, and set a time for it’s “delivery”. Then you can push the button on the Little Printer, and it will print out a recipe size slip with all your desired news and updates in a tiny, customized newspaper of sorts.

This is Atlas Quarterly. It’s an upcoming magazine about small designers in America. It’s print only. Tucked between the pages, subscribers will receive a bit of something tangible, maybe some old ephemera, or a bit of vintage lace. I’ve found it next to impossible to get any information on them from the web, aside from the Etsy article that introduced them to me. It’s somehow fitting that their website is useless for anything other than ordering a copy. Makes me want to get one, just because it contains stuff I can’t see unless I order it.

This should be familiar to just about everyone. This is the New Yorker’s subscription page. Looks like your options are print plus digital. No “or.” There seems to be a way to subscribe on a reader app, but I actually had a hard time finding it on the site. Bold move. I love it.

Long live print!

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