newspapers and magazines ain’t dead yet…

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

This conceptual video is a corporate collaborative research project
initiated by Bonnier R&D into the experience of reading magazines on
handheld digital devices. It illustrates one possible vision for
digital magazines in the near future. The concept uses the power of digital media to create a rich and meaningful experience, while maintaining the relaxed and curated
features of printed magazines.

Terminix "Roach"

All it takes is a small crack for a cockroach to enter your home.

Index Livingmall "Model Room Bags"

The Agust '08 catalogue for Index Livingmall, the furniture store, is introducing the index condo set. Instead of the typical catalogue, it's designed like a shopping bag. The different bag sizes represent the room spaces. With these "bags" the consumer can see the furniture and decor items fit in the condo space printed inside. The detachable items gives the consumer the experience of designing their own space. No doubt will these catalogue bags be the hottest items for Index.

Sundown Solar Protection

Sundown Solar Protection: an ad that reacts under the sun just as your skin would. Magazine insert that invites the reader to discover an image that shows who uses and who doesn't use Sundown. When exposing the insert to the light (UVB rays), the man, that apparently doesn't use the product, becomes very red, while the woman, with Sundown in her purse and on her body, maintains a sun tan. The redness ceases once the image is taken away from the light.

Super Print

The first ever Superman comic which was bought for a meagre amount of some 35 cent has fetched $317,200 at an online auction. London: The first ever Superman comic which was bought for a meagre amount of some 35 cent has fetched $317,200 (around Rs1.6 crore) at an online auction.

Rocker John Dolmayan, drummer for the Armenian-American alternative metal band System of a Down, paid the huge amount to possess the rare book.

The untouched ‘Action Comic No. 1’ —which shows the Man of Steel lifting a car on the cover—went on sale on 27 February, After a two-week auction, Dolmayan entered the bid on Friday.Only around 100 copies of the publication are left. It is credited with being the first appearance of any cartoon superhero. the Holy Grail of comic books" . . . It's the single most important event in comic-book history."

Before the auction began there was speculation that bidders could include Samuel L. Jackson, Quentin Tarantino and Eminem, who all collect comics, and even President Obama, who is a Superman fan.

Funny...I don't think you would see people paying that much for a screen capture of a website.

Lego my ad!

Bricks build things. Lego builds bricks. Ads build Lego. Lego is awesome.

Rock and Roll all night!

For Carnaval. MTV Brazil is inserting Kiss masks in magazines. At this time of the year, people often wear masks and only listen to samba. But not on MTV, which goes on playing rock 'n roll.

NOAH "Sample"

Test now! Crème Vôle. Animates and refreshes dry and stressed skin. Still thousands of animals are killed by experiments by the cosmetics industry. Donate now... If you pull out the product sample, a photo of a crying chimpanzee with his face wreathing in pain will appear. By pulling off the sample it seems that you just caused a gash by your own hand.

Greenpeace: Tree

Deforestation continues with the turn of a page. The global degradation and disappearance of the world’s forests has many causes including agricultural expansion, mining, plantation construction, infrastructure construction and forest fires. Greenpeace believes that global deforestation is primarily due to large-scale industrial logging. Industrial logging has become the greatest danger to forests, threatening more than 70% of the world’s endangered forests. We are experiencing an unprecedented rate of destruction of the world’s forest resources. We are utilizing journal pages and deforestation’s direct relevance to the rate of the destruction of the world’s forests to display the terrible result. The two pages’ varied lengths provide for an interesting magazine advertisement.

LG Laptop magazine insert

Here's a cool magazine insert with holographic bar simulating a computer loading.

Esquire opens its covers to embedded ads

Esquire opened up its February cover to advertising for the Discovery Channel series One Way Out, featuring escape artist Jonathan Goodwin. The magazine is the first to include a flap that allows advertising material to be placed inside a mini-cover attached to the front cover. When readers open the cover-within-a-cover, they encounter both the ad and various quotes from the articles inside.

The idea, created by Esquire's editor-in-chief David Granger, could lead to further covers of the sort in the coming months, and showcase one way that traditional print media are working harder to generate profits.

The ad cost Discovery Channel $250,000, including production and placement.

Esquire has a circulation of 700,000.

Hmmm. Where to put this under the tree...

Print may be on the way out, but hey, at least it's going out in style. Haute style.

Presenting the Visionaire Goyard Trunk. The $150,000 US way to store your collection of those unbelievably cool design/art/culture/style/marketing magazines. Go ahead, spoil yourself. You deserve it.

The environmental cost of E-ink

By now many of us have heard about the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) whose mandate is to promote and certify sustainable forestry, harvest and management. But what about non-traditional paper products? E-ink for instance.

Esquire magazine recently tried to get ahead of the pack and become first to market with an e-ink cover. And while they were first to market, the general reaction to the cover and the attendant publicity has been quite underwhelming. There's still a ways to go before we're designing for e-ink paper and speccing out jobs on a dynamic format. There was also an environmental cost to this stunt, which has been very well researched and makes for some interesting reading...

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/anya-kamenetz/green-friday/real-cost-e-ink

Printing Friendly

Our environment should always be taken into consideration in both our personal and professional lives. Something that is constantly overlooked by businesses is the materials they use for printing. The paper and ink they’re using might be hurting the environment.Using post-consumer waste paper (PCW) is so much more environmentally friendly - it uses only recycled products in production. This prevents the unnecessary destruction of virgin tree fiber and helps preserve forestland and biodiversity. In the United States, currently 90% of our paper comes from virgin tree fiber, meaning that 90% of our paper is destroyed forest. Using PCW paper can help decrease the number of trees being cut down. The paper that most people are using is bleached with chlorine or chlorine derivatives. These chemicals can cause toxins and pollutants in several conditions, instead try to use paper that is Process Chlorine Free.

The ink you use can also be hurting the environment. Petroleum-based ink has VOCs, harmful toxins that can cause cancer and birth defects. VOCs are released when the ink dries on printed paper can even filter into the soil when printed paper is disposed of in a landfill. A healthier choice would be to use soy ink. It contains much less VOCs than petroleum-based inks and many people are already using it for magazines and other companies. Using eco-friendly printing is good for the environment and good for business. Customers will take preference in your business when they know you are putting an effort into helping the environment.

E-ink - too big for the mailbox.

Here's a link to some images of the current issue of Esquire, you know, the one with the e-ink cover. Someone has taken it apart and given us a good look at what makes e-ink run. Have a look behind the curtain - it would seem that e-ink is going to be a while in approaching practical applications...or mailboxes are going to have to start getting a lot bigger.

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/09/esquire_eink_cover_hackin.html

links about e-ink

A couple of links about electronic ink for your reading pleasure. Is it the wave of the future? Not quite yet. Will it one day supersede ink on pulverized vegetation? Possibly - in fact probably - but we've got a while to wait, so sit yourself down and get a good paperback...

Hmmm. Wonder what those will be called in a paperless future?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/technology/08ink.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/09/08/esquire-eink-cover-a.html

Printing Prices

It is typical for there to be quite a range of prices on any given print job. There are a lot of legitimate reasons for this variation in prices. Some of these reasons are technical and predictable, others are not.

This wide variation in prices is why many print buyers get two to four competitive bids on every job they handle. Competitive bidding among qualified printers is a best practice for buying print and widely used throughout the industry. You should not feel shy about asking a couple of suppliers to quote prices for jobs you are working on.

I noted that bidding among "Qualified" suppliers is typical. Pre-qualifying your suppliers is very important. Price is only part of the decision making process, service and quality are also important. Only suppliers that you believe can meet your quality and service expectations should be invited to quote on a job. That avoids wasting your time and the suppliers’ time too.

The reasons that Printing prices vary are many, but here's my top 10 list:

10 - Equipment configurations (press and bindery equipment dimensions)

9 - Hourly rate structures (how different processes are priced)

8 - Paper cost, brand, markup, etc. (n.b. specify paper brand clearly otherwise you get apples and oranges)

7 - Estimating competence/creativity

6 - Sales Rep Skill

5 - Quality considerations in estimating (e.g. adding ghosting blocks)

4 - Printer’s experience with client (press checks, quality expectations, changes, artwork quality, volume, work flow)

3 - Your quality/service/schedule expectations

2 - THE BIG ONE, Printer’s workload: Short-term only 40-60% of cost is variable, the rest is fixed. So there is great pricing latitude.

BUT the #1 most important factor, which by the way you have control of, is:

1 - Consistent, accurate, comprehensive specifications

3D Print Simulation Software

A 3D print simulation package designed to speed up initial design and approval stages has been launched by FFEI. RealVue 3D is a print approval tool that creates 3D visual simulations of print jobs, which let users turn pages, rotate viewing angles and zoom in on detail. It can also alter job characteristics on screen such as stock weight, finish and texture. The software is a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat and is available in two versions: RealVue 3D Standard and Professional. RealVue 3D Standard provides traditional viewing capabilities. However, Professional has a host of features that include varnish, binding, paper thickness and branding options.The system works by converting received PDF documents into 3D files, which are aimed to provide an accurate representation of the finished job. The PDF is converted quickly and the firm claims it can be sent back to clients within minutes of receiving the original file.“RealVue 3D takes the idea of page turning software to a new level. Agencies’ clients can almost feel the finished job, which will encourage them to commit to print. In a printing environment where added value is the current buzz term, this software may help to create a competitive edge.In addition to 3D print simulation, the pro­gramme allows users to view multiple 3D jobs at once. This means that a whole campaign, which may include brochures, letters and direct mail, can be viewed in 3D simultaneously helping clients to better visualise how a job will work. For more information please go to http://www.newtecsystems.ca/index1.html