The History and Future of Print

Gail Nickel-KailingManaging Director

Business Strategies Etc

April 12, 2008

10:30 AM

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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

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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

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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

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Movable Type

• 1453 - Gutenberg invented the movable

type printing press

• 17th Century - springs lifting the platen

added - up to 300 impressions per hour

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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

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Digital Print Technology

• 1970s - first digital press capable of handlingvariable data, the Xerox 9700

• 1990s - Indigo introduces its first digital press,the E-Print 1000

• 1990s - Xerox launches its DocuTech digital printrange, which can print variable data in black andwhite or black and one color

• 2002 - HP buys Indigo, introduces the H-P IndigoPress w3200, designed for high-volume, seven-color digital print incorporating variable text andimages

• 2003 - Xerox debuts its DocuColor iGen3 digitalproduction press, geared for personalized directmail

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What IS Printing anyway?

• Printing has changed.

• New processes that don’t fit the old

definitions.

• Not a squashed tree in sight!

Printing on New Things

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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)

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Printing on Food

• Using inkjet technology thatdoesn’t touch the foodsurface at all, edible coloringis applied to an unevensurface such as cookies,breads, marshmallows,frosted pastries, or otherfood products.

• The resolution of the imagevaries partly because of theroughness of the surface,but on smooth white frosting,images can approach photo-quality.

(www.dimatix.com)

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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.

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Printing on Flowers

Patented technology for printing imagesand messages on flowers enables SpeakingRoses to print on flowers petals. Imagescan include photos, logos, printed words orhandwritten messages.

(www.speakingroses.com)

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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.

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Printing Make-Up

Cartridges with “looks”already programmed willbe downloaded to theprinter. You just choose thetemplate and colors youwant. Handheld andportable it will spray a jet ofcolors and makeup ontoyour skin - achieving theperfect makeup in seconds.

(Matsushita - owned by Panasonic)

Using Print Processes to

MAKE New Things

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Printing Organs and Tissue

A printing device is loaded with "bioink"

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)

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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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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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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)

Printed Electronics

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Solar Cells

Nanorods, bar-shaped semiconducting inorganiccrystals measuring just seven nanometers by 60nanometers make it possible to produce a cheapand flexible material that could provide the samekind of efficiency achieved with silicon solar cells.The nanorod solar cells can be rolled out, ink-jetprinted, or even painted onto surfaces.

Power Plastic®, an inexpensive, lightweight, andflexible light-activated photo-reactive material thatis printed using roll-to-roll printing processes.

(http://www.konarka.com/)

(http://www.nanosolar.com/processtech.htm)

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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)

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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 skinusing a microprocessor controlled electricalcurrent.

• The current carries the compounds intounderlying tissue and into the blood stream,making the delivery either site specific orsystemic.

• The microprocessor facilitates variable dosecontrol enabling programmable or patientcontrolled dosing as well as rapid onset andcessation of delivery, where desired.

www.soligie.com

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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)

Printing Without Ink/Paper

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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

The Future … is Here

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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.

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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/)

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Touch Technology 2.0

Jeff Han, Perceptive Pixel: Wall-sized touch

screen - 10, 20, or MORE fingers!

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Touch Technology 3.0?

T-Mobile displayed this year at CeBIT in

Hanover Germany - trade show graphics

will never be the same!

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Touchless Technology!

From White Electronics, a touchless system

- wave, dance, whistle - no need to touch!

Change is Good ...

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Changing Culture

• Increasing amount of content

• Shrinking world

• Shorter attention spans

• Quicker delivery

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Changing Technology

• Unified communication

• Device and media independent…

• Personalized AND automated…

• Wireless and mobile – phone, browser,

PDA?

I want it all …

I want it my way…

I want it now…!

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Delivering It All

End game…information value chain

• Consistent

• Seamless

• Immediate

• Personal

• Unified, real-time, 2-way

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Questions?

The greatest problem inThe greatest problem in

communication ...communication ...

the illusion that it hasthe illusion that it has

taken place!taken place!George Bernard Shaw

Gail Nickel-Kailing, Principal

www.business-strategies-etc.com

ProvidingProviding research, advice, and counsel toresearch, advice, and counsel to

enterprises and service providers toenterprises and service providers to

enable effective internal and external enable effective internal and external

creation and distribution ofcreation and distribution of

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since 1984.since 1984.

business strategies etc.