There is some strange “love” between graphic designers and the paper.
It seems to be like a special “gene” that we are carrying through generations - a gene that prohibits us to detach from the charm of paper.
The texture, consistency, colour, weight, folding, cutting, embossing, makes the paper special and non easily replaceable.
My grandpa used to be a compositor of letters at "Pobjeda" largest Montenegrin daily newspaper, while
my grandma worked on the printing machine at the same company and that's how they met. This year they are going to celebrate their 50th anniversary.
Consequently, my love for printed stuff naturally had to be enormous. (this is to back-up my "gene" theory :).
This is the era of new technology when everything is digitalized - you get your newspapers online, articles of any type, books, and lately even the blog phenomenon is there, manuals, libraries, wikipedia and other encyclopedias, tabs for your guitar…
Even cards have become e-cards that we send electronically since we
can’t be bothered to buy a paper one, lick a good old stamp and chuck it in the mailbox while choosing between CITY and ALL OTHER DESTINATIONS.
Destination has become WORLD and ANYWHERE and many think that this is slowly the end of paper and printed stuff.
I believe that this is a pure nonsense - paper has been around since ancient Egypt, and has dominated for centuries, and will dominate for a long time yet to come…
What is happening in the digital era is actually good, since we are re-discovering the beauty of paper and how special and particular it can
be (obviously there is always a greater cost involved than the digital, but still it is irresistible).
Then there is recycled paper which I always try use for my works and I try to explain to my clients the importance of being green.
Now paper needs major effort to prove its significance, and we get to see many beautiful printed projects that are always more sophisticated - from packaging to all other printed matter that has some effort and passion put in it.