1. The History and Future of Print
Gail Nickel-Kailing
Managing Director
Business Strategies Etc
April 12, 2008
10:30 AM
2. What We’ll Talk About Today
• How we got to where we are today
• Some practical and - not so practical -
printing applications
• Printing without ink or paper
• Where graphic communications is going
2
3. Before Paper
• 200,000 BC - hand prints on cave walls
• 4,000 BC - cuneiform writing, Mesopotamia
• Papyrus - developed before 2,200 BC by the
Egyptians
• Parchment - a thin material made from calfskin,
sheepskin or goatskin - developed as a
substitute for papyrus, common use by 500 BC
• In ancient Rome, commercial publishers issued
editions of as many as 5000 copies works such
as the epigrams of the Roman poet Martial -
copied by literate slaves
3
4. Paper Invented
• 105 AD - paper as we know it invented by
Ts’ai Lun, a Chinese court official
• 200 AD - Earliest surviving printed texts
• 972 - Sacred Buddhist scriptures of more
than 130,000 pages printed from wood
blocks
• Late 900’s - playing cards invented
4
5. Movable Type
• 1453 - Gutenberg invented the movable
type printing press
• 17th Century - springs lifting the platen
added - up to 300 impressions per hour
5
6. Lithography to Laser
• End of 18th Century - offset lithography
• 1889-1900 - mass produced paper
• Modern Printing - multiple printing
methods: lithography, letterpress,
flexography, gravure and screen printing
• Since 1960 - photo-mechanical
composition, cathode ray tubes, and laser
technologies
6
7. Digital Print Technology
• 1970s - first digital press capable of handling
variable data, the Xerox 9700
• 1990s - Indigo introduces its first digital press,
the E-Print 1000
• 1990s - Xerox launches its DocuTech digital print
range, which can print variable data in black and
white or black and one color
• 2002 - HP buys Indigo, introduces the H-P Indigo
Press w3200, designed for high-volume, seven-
color digital print incorporating variable text and
images
• 2003 - Xerox debuts its DocuColor iGen3 digital
production press, geared for personalized direct
mail
7
8. What IS Printing anyway?
• Printing has changed.
• New processes that don’t fit the old
definitions.
• Not a squashed tree in sight!
8
10. Printing on Food
• A hand-held stamper or roller with changeable
letters and graphics to emboss images on hot or
cold food.
• The embosser can be “inked” with sauce, cocoa,
powdered sugar, or other foots to add color to
the image.
(www.gourmetimpression.com/Foods.html)
10
11. Printing on Food
• Using inkjet technology that
doesn’t touch the food
surface at all, edible coloring
is applied to an uneven
surface such as cookies,
breads, marshmallows,
frosted pastries, or other
food products.
• The resolution of the image
varies partly because of the
roughness of the surface,
but on smooth white frosting,
images can approach photo-
quality.
(www.dimatix.com)
11
12. Printing on Seeds
By using laser beams to
etch seeds with a simple
printed message, Miracle
Products has developed
the Amazing Message
Plant (www.message-
plant.com), a plant that
bears a permanent
message on its first leaves
after germination.
12
13. Printing on Flowers
Patented technology for printing images
and messages on flowers enables Speaking
Roses to print on flowers petals. Images
can include photos, logos, printed words or
handwritten messages.
(www.speakingroses.com)
13
14. Printing Fingernails
MeiYiMei, a company based
in Xhengshou, China, offers
a commercial inkjet printer
that applies high resolution
(4,800 dpi) images directly
onto salon press-on nails or
right on the real thing.
14
15. Printing Make-Up
Cartridges with “looks”
already programmed will
be downloaded to the
printer. You just choose the
template and colors you
want. Handheld and
portable it will spray a jet of
colors and makeup onto
your skin - achieving the
perfect makeup in seconds.
(Matsushita - owned by Panasonic)
15
17. Printing Organs and Tissue
A printing device is loaded with quot;bioinkquot;
consisting of spherical aggregates of
many thousands of cells. The printer
deposits the aggregates onto successive
layers of biodegradable gel and the
aggregates to grow together to form
complex structures while the gel
degrades.
Several types of chicken heart cells and
3D were printed into large sheets with
cell-friendly gel. The cells took over from
there, sorting themselves into working
order. Then they began beating, just as a
heart would.
(http://organprint.missouri.edu/www/forgacs.php)
17
18. Rapid Prototyping/3D Modeling
Stereolithography is one means by which it is possible to
print in three dimensions. A 3-D image (an object) can be
produced with a resolution of 328 x 328 x 606 dpi (xyz).
A model is produced by depositing very thin layers of plastic,
ceramic or other special liquid chemicals, which are
photochemical hardened, or fused, with lasers. The solid
form is built up one layer at a time, until the model is
completed.
(http://www.materialise-mgx.com)
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19. Print Me Something Yummy!
Using a type of 3-D
prototyping - printing in
three dimensions with
inkjet deposition
technology - you can print
any thing from candy
treats to sophisticated
sculptures out of sugar.
(www.candyfab.org)
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20. Printing Houses
A house or a colony of houses, each with possibly a
different design, may be automatically constructed in
a single run and all the conduits for electrical,
plumbing and air-conditioning will be embedded in
each house.
(www.contourcrafting.org)
20
22. Solar Cells
Nanorods, bar-shaped semiconducting inorganic
crystals measuring just seven nanometers by 60
nanometers make it possible to produce a cheap
and flexible material that could provide the same
kind of efficiency achieved with silicon solar cells.
The nanorod solar cells can be rolled out, ink-jet
printed, or even painted onto surfaces.
Power Plastic®, an inexpensive, lightweight, and
flexible light-activated photo-reactive material that
is printed using roll-to-roll printing processes.
(http://www.konarka.com/)
(http://www.nanosolar.com/processtech.htm)
22
23. Flexible Batteries
The energy cell is an open
battery and, unlike conventional
batteries, the power source
requires no casing to hold the
chemicals. It can be printed,
pasted, or laminated onto paper,
plastic, and other media.
Flexible printed batteries can
manufactured as an integral part
of a product or as a stand-alone
accessory and are ideal for
disposable products.
(http://www.primidi.com/2006/03/27.html#a1479)
23
24. Printing Medical Devices
Drug delivery patch
• Iontophoresis patches - a needle free, non-
invasive technology for delivering water soluble,
ionic drugs or other compounds through the skin
using a microprocessor controlled electrical
current.
• The current carries the compounds into
underlying tissue and into the blood stream,
making the delivery either site specific or
systemic.
• The microprocessor facilitates variable dose
control enabling programmable or patient
controlled dosing as well as rapid onset and
cessation of delivery, where desired.
www.soligie.com 24
25. Smart Labels
Smart active labels (SAL) are thin
flexible labels that contain an
integrated circuit and a power
source, similar to RFID. Smart labels
can provide a means of locating,
tracking, and tracing assets or
people, and are increasingly finding
applications in areas such as access
control, supply chain management,
security, transportation, ticketing and
a whole range of smart forms.
(www.fqsinternational.com)
(www.paksense.com)
25
27. Inkless Printing
By embedding dye crystals in a composite
substrate with a protective polymer
coating, anything that can be printed can
be “printed” ink-free. An application of heat
melts the dye crystals and - voilá - you have
a photo-quality print.
(www.zink.com)
27
28. Programmable-Ink Billboards
Large-scale, full-color digital ink display for the
outdoor advertising: the “digital ink” is an electronic
paste sandwiched between thin sheets of glass or
plastic. Electronic signals are transmitted to the back
panel of the display and manipulate the size and
angle of the molecules to change the appearance of
the colors on the surface of the inks.
(http://www.magink.com)
28
29. Smart Signs
A digital signage platform that integrates an
LCD HD display, media player, network
access, and a web-based control system
with cellular networks for wireless
networking.
(www.mediatile.com)
29
30. E-Paper/E-ink
E-paper is a thin, flexible polymer sheet
with the look of paper, but contains
microscopic electronic ink particles
sandwiched between two polymer sheets
that display as either white or black in
response to an electrical charge.
http://www.polymervision.com/ProductsApplications/Readius/Index.html
30
32. Touch Technology
A new touch screen - two-handed, front and back -
is being developed by a joint venture between
Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs and Microsoft
Research.
“See-through” technology called LucidTouch
combines touch screen with a touch pad on the
back.
32
33. Touch Technology á la Microsoft
The Surface - A 30-inch display in a table-
like form, that provides effortless
interaction with digital content through
natural hand gestures, touch, and physical
objects.
(www.microsoft.com/surface/)
33
34. Touch Technology 2.0
Jeff Han, Perceptive Pixel: Wall-sized touch
screen - 10, 20, or MORE fingers!
34
35. Touch Technology 3.0?
T-Mobile displayed this year at CeBIT in
Hanover Germany - trade show graphics
will never be the same!
35
38. Changing Culture
• Increasing amount of content
• Shrinking world
• Shorter attention spans
• Quicker delivery
38
39. Changing Technology
• Unified communication
• Device and media independent…
• Personalized AND automated…
• Wireless and mobile – phone, browser,
PDA?
39
40. I want it all …
I want it my way…
I want it now…!
41. Delivering It All
End game…information value chain
• Consistent
• Seamless
• Immediate
• Personal
• Unified, real-time, 2-way
41
42. Questions?
The greatest problem in
communication ...
the illusion that it has
taken place!
George Bernard Shaw
42
43. Gail Nickel-Kailing, Principal
business strategies etc.
Providing research, advice, and counsel to
enterprises and service providers to
enable effective internal and external
creation and distribution of
online and offline documents
since 1984.
www.business-strategies-etc.com
