Depending on what you read into the name, the Post Print Project could be a vulture’s-eye view of the ink-on-paper industry, or a pseudo-futuristic take on the post-Gutenburg era, with Mr. Jobs’ latest widget in the starring role. Instead, this site a place to air out the issues currently shaping the world of “new publishing.”
There are plenty of conflicting issues involved in this transition — with surprisingly few of them dealing with pure technology. In the coming years, as we move past the “swirling ball of gas” phase into something more solid, we’ll be wrestling with business models, workplace culture, publishing workflow, philosophical conflicts, emotional resistance, and everyday (yet undeniable) nostalgia for the world of ink-on-paper.
The PPP isn’t looking forward to a Great Paperless Society or an all-networked world — but rather storytelling possibilities in a post-print, post-browser environment.
The conventions and craft of print design and all other existing will shape how we work with the new mobile/tablet technologies.
I believe that the best way to see what will happen post-print is to adapt the craft, rigor and aesthetics of previous storytelling/teaching forms (print, photography, audio, animation) into compelling new world of portable, accessible rich media.
This piece of CONSUMER technology — and the changes that it represents — could redefine how we do a couple of very basic things: how we tell stories and how we learn.
Parts of the PP will translate iPad technology in plain terms for those who have never even considered touching an iPhone and others who have various kinds of skin in the game (independent publishers, veteran magazine editors, retired public school teachers and everybody’s mama).
But at its core, the project’s core can be summed up as this:
The power of print communication never was in its papery medium, but rather in the strategies and practices that designers and artists developed as the printed form evolved into modern-day books, glossy magazines and mass-market newspapers.
Now that we have a different kind of electronic distribution, the same rules apply, with new possibilities to boot.
Now as ever, it’s time to tell damn good stories with the tools we have at hand.
