Gift Wrap

Remember being a kid on your birthday and seeing your present all wrapped up with a big bow on top?

Or all the presents under the Christmas Tree with the ribbons and bows?

Or, maybe more recently in your life, all of your wedding gifts or baby-shower gifts wrapped in the cute papers with the matching bows and matching cards?

The mystery of what is inside that box that rattles so tantalizingly? The wish that you could see through that wrapping paper to try and glean what the box underneath says?

What would you do without gift paper? What would you do without wrapping paper? How much fun would it be if everyone just handed you the box and said Happy Birthday and denied you the excitement of tearing through that gift wrap to see what gift awaited underneath?

Paper has presence.

Paper has meaning.

Paper matters.


Thank you to Hammer, Stitch, Burn for the great image.

Get it? Presence... Presents.... I should probably get out more.

Paper Ephemera

A gentleman by the name of Chuck Whiting runs a blog called Paper Matters where he discusses rare ephemera and out-of-print books. Its a nice blog, you should check it out when you have a minute or two...

The reason I am point out Mr Whiting's blog is specifically because of this image:

A ticket from a 1968 football game at Houston's Astrodome.

With the push to have more of your life 'in the cloud' or otherwise represented by bits and bytes I have to wonder.... what are you going to pin to your bulletin board to remember the things from your past? What are you going to tape into your scrapbook to remind you of the things you forgot?

Having your concert tickets represented as a bar code on your smart phone is neat and being able to check in to your flight the same way can be more than a little handy.

But is it better?

The Paper Trail

Sometimes, there’s just no substitute for paper.

Really!

Another article from Paper Because that I enjoyed and think you will too....

Two points specifically from the article:

...Indeed, financial institutions have been promoting this service [Paperless Options] not only for its convenience to customers but also as a way for them to help “save trees” and protect the environment by reducing paper use. The latter may be a great selling point, but is it true?

Well, it might be saving tree's but that isn't really their goal. It is saving the company money. But how much of that savings is being passed along to you as the end user/consumer?

And the second point:

...a strategically placed “honey-do list” is a constant and persistent reminder, improving the odds that items will get checked off. In fact, a survey conducted by lifehack.org showed thatnot only do most people use a paper to do list, but that paper is more than twice as popular as any other method listed."

I know my wife uses the 'strategically placed to-do list' all the time. And it is always on paper.

See the Forrest for the Trees

I keep hearing "Print Kills Trees!"

I say No, it doesn't.

And Oce was kind enough to write this press release backing me up....

Customers Benefit As Océ Eco Start Program Accelerates

... funded the planting of over 350,000 trees in 2011...to help offset CO2 emissions attributable to the energy usage from production equipment during the first year of operation. 

Well, OK, they didn't write the article for me. They did, however, plant 350,000 trees in 2011 to help offset the carbon footprint of the company.

Print may kill trees, but the companies that make print happen are doing a whole lot more than you think to put trees back in the ground.

Good Design

Good design still matters

Paper Because has an interesting article about the benefits of paper using 'Good Design.' The best line from the article, in my opinion at least:

...Design really does still matter, whether your ultimate goal is to open people’s minds to new experiences, generate profits, raise funds or increase awareness of an important social issue. And a quality printed piece can speak loudly on your behalf – and get you the response you are looking for.

Quality design, quality product, quality response. There seems to be a theme involved.....

The end of money?

Found an interesting idea that Canada is working on called MintChip. No, not an ice cream flavor... an attempt at making the future of money digital.

There are lots of reasons to make money not actually be physical money, and probably as many or more not to. And one of the reasons that is probably only obvious to printers like myself....what happens to all the printers who print the money? What happens to all the specialized printing equipment that now isn't needed? There is considerably more at stake than just making money be on your smart-phone.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Jason and the Paperless Office

Fun little two-minute video I thought you might enjoy.

Wait for the end....

http://www.paperbecause.com/media/jason-and-the-paperless-workplace

Ha!