The paper guitar, printed and refined by IST Metz, was awarded the Special Mention at the German Design Award 2019 in the category ‘Integrated Campaigns and Advertising’ The nominations were judged by an international jury of the German Design Council. The guitar was specially UV-printed and refined by IST Metz. The German Design Award is a restricted competition and therefore not an open one.
The paper guitar was distributed as a print gimmick by IST Metz during an in-house exhibition. In keeping with the event motto ‘UV rocks!’, the cardboard guitar was printed and finished live on IST Metz’s own sheet-fed offset printing machine. It consists of two parts, the neck and the body, which are folded into a three-dimensional body. For the curing of the inks, energy-efficient UV systems from IST Metz were used as intermediate dryers and as final dryers.
In addition, the paper guitar impresses with an integrated product concept: any standard smartphone can be inserted into the folded head of the guitar. An app developed especially for the occasion contains a game in which – similar to guitar playing – the right strings have to be hit with the fingers. So the paper guitar can be played digitally with the app or as a loudspeaker when set up on edge. On the front of the body, a pattern has been lasered out so that it functions as a sound body.
By winning the German Design Award, the paper guitar joins the ranks of IST Metz’s award-winning print products. The print products are developed and presented by the UV specialist at its in-house UV Days exhibition, which takes place every two years. IST Metz will be hosting the next UV Days from 13 to 16 May 2019.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
– Naresh Khanna
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