A Musing: Bruce Colthart's Bloggraphic designer | A Musing: Bruce Colthart’s Blog http://blog.colthart.com What Bruce thinks you should know Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:19:38 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Print versus online media: if Nelson says it’s true… http://blog.colthart.com/2008/04/print-versus-online-media-if-nelson-says-its-true/ http://blog.colthart.com/2008/04/print-versus-online-media-if-nelson-says-its-true/#comments Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:24:10 +0000 bruce colthart http://blog.colthart.com/?p=41 I’m not a journalist (no, I’m not fishing for compliments), but there’s a shared seismic shift that the publications world shares with the print design world. As a graphic designer and a producer of B2B printed literature, publications and other marketing collateral, I see and hear constant reminders of the ground that the print medium continues to lose to the web. Online information has many obvious benefits, namely flexibility and a certain cost savings. But as in print, there’s a lot of garbage being generated each day. And instead of wasting a print reader’s time, leaving him little choice but to toss another ill-conceived brochure into the trash (or preferably, the recycling bin), similarly, the online reader grunts an inaudible curse as she clicks away from boring or irrelevant brochure text, having wasted valuable time and mouse clicks.

I realize that I’m stretching the premise here – print’s dominance has not eroded because the content was found wanting. But remember that the newer medium will be no better for marketers whose content remains inadequate.

For many publishers, Nelson is right (you can track the trend here). For B2B marketers, don’t dump all your eggs into the online basket. Embrace the differences – and the mutually beneficial relationship – between print and online media.

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