There has been much debate on the future of “print”. As technology progresses and information is made available quicker and quicker, print will indeed have to change or die. But also, we need to look at how we define “print”.

To us, print can be defined as any presentation of words or content that the user can take the time to personally engage with. So, therefore, print can be almost anywhere. It’s how it’s executed and presented that make the difference as to whether it will be successful in communicating a message. Or being compelling enough that people will take the time to read, or experience it’s content. Much like any endeavor, it’s the consumer experience that make a difference.

There is some amazing technology being developed that will indeed change how we view, and interact with, print. The goal is still the same, to create a user experience that is both rewarding and fulfilling for the consumer and financially feasible for the producer. Magazine and newspaper publishers have been dealing with this for years. Hell, anyone who produces any type of content that they want consumers to notice have been dealing with this for years. The methods of delivery are changing and we’d better be ready to change with it.

The goals are still the same.

1. Take content, information or some type of message and make it compelling enough that people want to interact with it, or “consume” it if you will.
2. Provide such a unique message or experience that when they “consume” it that it provides a value to them to the extent that they are willing to either take some type of action based on this message, or be willing to pay some amount to be able to continue to have that experience.
3. Be able to “own” this particular space, content or experience for the furtherance of your “brand”.

If these goals sound like the goals of almost any good communications or advertising plan, you are correct. It will be the way that we use these new tools that will make or break the success of these efforts.

The next two often overlooked parts of this equation are design and interface. You may have all the right elements and content, but if they are not presented in the right way to create the best user or consumer experience, there’s a good chance that it may fail.

This is not to say that that things need to be “hyper-designy” or overly pretty. A great example of this concept is the SONY Walkman and Apple’s iPod. The iPod was able to take over the world because it made all of its bells, whistles and music available to the average consumer in a seemingly simple way. It wasn’t over designed with graphics or features, nor was it lacking. The SONY Walkman is actually a brilliant piece of technology. It was designed to do all of the things that the iPod was plus even more things that consumers said they “wanted”. So why is the Walkman not even really mentioned in the music device “wars” anymore?

The Walkman was designed by brilliant engineers and functions as a brilliant engineer thinks and interacts. Your average consumer is not a brilliant engineer (myself included) and just wants to simply access our music, or other digital files or games and be able to use them in a very simple way. iPod was able to create a delivery of a product(s) in a very simple, approachable way. Its design is beautiful in it’s simplicity and the user experience and interface is beautifully simple.

In essence, a lot of what people now use their iPods and iPhones (and any other “smart” device) to access can, by the definition above, be defined as “print”. Read it again and see if you agree. Don’t try to define it in literal, tangible terms, but what it’s trying to accomplish.

So let’s re-examine “print”, how we use it, and how it becomes a valuable asset in the future. We still need great writers, designers, photographers, illustrators and content. Now, with the technology we have coming available we will be able to even further tailor the user experience with the interface design and creating a unique experience with our content. It can be beautiful, inspiring, relevant and valuable just as people in yesteryears defined “traditional print”.

This is a great example of how the “print” experience is evolving and some of the opportunities and possibilities that will be emerging any day now, and it’s beautiful.

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

Mag+ (video prototype footage only) from Bonnier on Vimeo.

This post was written by Tim Scott, founder and creative director of THEM!. THEM! is a creative company founded to find new ways to help companies create marketing efforts that get results and create opportunities, through any technology or media possible. Contact THEM! at www.THEMdidit.com or call 541 306 6723 for more information.

All this talk about Google Chrome OS. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But what does it really mean? What’s the thought behind it? Here’s a video that explains Google’s next step towards world domination.

If you are complete nerds like us, you can read more on Mashable, here.

We just launched a new web site for Affect Strategies (www.affectstrategies.com), and we’re pretty darn proud of it.

Now to be clear here, let’s talk about what we didn’t do. When we first started discussing this assignment, the original wireframe, basic structure and starting look had already been established, so there wasn’t much here for us as a “creative” company, right? We honestly believe that’s where a lot of companies miss the boat. Instead, we looked at this as a great way to get to know a new partner/client AND to demonstrate that creativity and professionalism is not only based on how hot your designs are.

Our role in this project was to take the clients’ vision and execute it in a way that was functional and effective, both consumer facing and on the back end. If the back end is too complicated or difficult to use, it won’t be utilized properly and the content will get stale quickly. As Affect Strategies is a driven and growing company, they are extremely active both on the primary web site and on their blog (www.techaffect.com), we had to make sure that it was functional, accessible and intuitive.

From the consumer perspective the site is very content heavy. So, how did we execute the volume of information that is contained in a way that doesn’t appear daunting to viewers when exploring the site? We utilized very subtle ways. With careful choice of typeface and colours, to the way that the content is divided between the pages, to the tiny details of line spacing and distance between content, we were able to keep it simple looking while communicating a lot of content.

Working with a great client who has a clear vision and expectations is a wonderful thing. The President and founder, Sandra Fathi, and VP, Partner, Leslie Campisi, made themselves available for discussions and were always open to ideas and suggestions. This definitely allowed a great two-way conversation and helped make this project a success.

Take a few minutes and explore affectstrategies.com and meet a great group of people who are passionate about what they do. Explore the site and enjoy it for what it is, a communications portal that represents a professional company that offers their clients a myriad of services to help their business grow.

We at THEM! always strive to add that extra effort and creative thinking that help our clients be more successful. Regardless of how simple or complex your project might be we’ll help you take it to a great place. Visit us at www.themdidit.com.

So the iPhone is the global hit of massive proportions right now. I, Tim the nerd, have fallen deep within it’s seductive qualities. As the saying goes “I am special and unique, just like everybody else” (who also owns an iPhone). I truly believe that the reasons that Apple has succeeded where so may others haven’t is because they have made the complex, simple. The confusing is (more) intuitive. What this takes away is a fundamental inhibitor of human progress, and that is FEAR. We no longer have to fear failing to be able to operate our fancy-schmancy digital devices. It (almost) makes sense now. We have reached the pinnacle. Well, not by a long shot.

As professional communicators (that’s what it boils down to what we (THEM!) do) we have to find ways to actually communicate with our client’s consumers. The old model was simple. Tell consumers how to act or what to buy and they often times would. Now, we have talked AT consumers so much, in so many different ways, that we have actually conditioned them to tune us out. And it’s our own damn fault.

As Ogilvy said years ago “The consumer is not an idiot. She’s your wife.” and in the context of today’s connectivity and access “your wife” is way more often than not, smarter and better educated than you can ever imagine. So now what?

Now, more than ever, we have to learn from smart designers like Apple and others. We have to make information and truly desirable and innovative products accessible and simple. The foundation of the product or service can be as complicated as need be, but the end result has to be functional and useful to your consumers. And not only that, we ALL have to be willing to listen and evolve our products or services as needs change. And believe you me, they are a changin’.

So why the heck am I talking about this? In this market, it is incredibly easy to become obsolete quicker than you can say Government Bailout. How do we side-step this 10,000 lb gorilla? That is the magic bean my friends.

So now I am going to post a completely inner-nerd inducing video. I am going to ask you to watch this video twice. Once to even begin to understand what the possibilities are in the near future for incredible interface and interaction design on so many different levels. Second, watch it again and think about the beauty of the thinking of this technology which is letting people interact with your product or service the way is suits them. The more we create business solutions for our customers that follow this simple frame of thought, the more loyal our client’s consumers and therefore our clients will be. And that makes everybody happy.