Unit 1 A Brief Look at Why and How the Industry Developed

Why the Graphic Communications Industry Developed

People have always needed to communicate with other people. By learning to write and communicate graphically, our ancestors overcame a major limitation in spoken communication—the need for direct contact between people.

However, there were important problems to overcome before our ancestors could make maximum use of the graphic communication process. For example, materials for writing and printing had to be invented and developed. Then ways had to be found to reproduce many copies of a message. Because of their need to communicate efficiently, our ancestors learned how to solve each problem. As they did, the graphic communications industry grew.

How Printing Developed

Our ancestors developed a variety of techniques for reproducing many copies of a graphic message. Printing is the term that describes these techniques.

In its earliest form, printing was done from hand-carved wooden blocks. The complete message was cut in reverse into the block. Then the block was inked and pressed against the material to be printed. This is called relief printing.

A major limitation of wood block printing is that each new message requires carving a new block of wood, and carving is a slow and tedious process. This limitation was overcome with the invention of movable type.

Movable type consists of individual letters of the alphabet that can be assembled to produce a printed message, disassembled and then assembled again to form a new message.

Movable type characters made from hardened clay were used in China as early as 1041 A.D. By the middle of the thirteenth century, Koreans were casting type in bronze.

In 1439 Johann Gutenberg became the first European to print from movable type. It is not known whether he invented the process on his own or if he was aware of the developments that had occurred in the Orient. Not only did Gutenberg print from movable type, but, even more important,he developed a practical means of casting type.The famous Gutenberg Bible is one of the earliest books printed from movable type in the West.

Early printing was done on hand-operated wooden presses, Figure 1-1. The printing of 250 sheets of paper in Gutenberg's time was considered a full day's work. By the middle of the seventeenth century, 2000 sheets a day could be printed. Today high-speed presses can print more than ten thousands of sheets in a single hour.

The first printing press in America was set up in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1639. Steven Daye, the first American printer, operated this press. His first book, the Whole Booke of Psalmes was printed in 1640.Typesetting, printing, and binding of the 1700 copies of this 300'page book took almost a full year to complete.

The most famous American printer was Benjamin Franklin. Franklin established his own printing business in Philadelphia in 1728.His most notable publications included thePennsylvania Gazeete,a leading colonial newspaper,andpoor Richard's Almanack,issued in 1732.

Developments in the last 100 years have revolutionized the printing industry. Printing has changed from an art to a science, from a craft to a technology. But the development of printing is not over yet. New materials, machines, and methods are constantly being invented in order to satisfy man's need to communicate.

How Paper Developed

Ts'ai Lun, a Chinese court official, is credited with the invention of paper. He did this nearly 1900 years ago in the year 105 A.D.

Before the invention of paper, people wrote on a variety of materials. For example, animal skins called parchment and vellum were used by the ancient Greeks. And papyrus, a writing surface made by pounding a woven mat of papyrus reed into a thin, hard sheet was used by the ancient Egyptians. The word paper, in fact, is derived from the word papyrus.

In the tenth century A.D. techniques for making paper by hand were introduced to the Western world. North African Moors discovered papermaking while trading with the East. In conquering Spain, the Moors brought papermaking to the West. The first paper mill in America was established in 1690 by William Rittenhouse. It was located near Philadelphia. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, hundreds of paper mills had sprung up throughout the country. However, it was not until the middle of the nineteenth century, when papermaking machines were put into general use, that the urgent demand for inexpensive paper could be met. Today, an average of well over 400 pounds of paper per man, woman, and child is used each year in the industrial developed countries.

How Ink Developed

Printing ink was also invented in China. Wei Dan is credited with developing an ink for block printing about 400 A.D. He made ink from plant substances mixed with colored earth and soot.

By the time of Gutenberg, inks were being made by mixing varnish with lampblack. The varnish was made by boiling linseed oil. These inks were used, with little modification, until the end of the eighteenth century.

During the nineteenth century, advances were made in the use of driers to speed the drying of ink. Various new pigments for producing colored inks were also developed.

It was in the twentieth century, however, that major developments in ink making came about. Rapid technological advances in printing during the past fifty years brought about changes in the composition and manufacture of printing ink. Today, thousands of chemists are constantly working to improve old inks and develop new ones.

Key Technical Terms

printing 印刷

graphiccommunicationsindustry 印刷工業

Johann Gutenberg 約翰·谷登堡

high-speed press 高速印刷機

Steven Daye 斯蒂文·達伊

binding 裝訂

papermaking 造紙

Wei Dan 韋誕

relief printing 凸版印刷

movable type 活字

type 活字

wooden press 木制印刷機

typesetting 排字

Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富蘭克林

paper mill 造紙廠

Supplementary Reading

Move Beyond Ink on Paper

Everything changes when we recognize that we are in the communications business, not the ink-on-paper business. Lithography is a mature industry, communications isn't. All communications are mutually reinforcing, not mutually exclusive—we communicate this way and that way, not this way or that way. The opportunity is vast.

How Can You Be Successful

Our defining opportunity is to help our clients be successful.As we pointed out in the NAPL State of the Industry Report,Eighth Edition,we have more ways than ever to do so by:

Helping clients communicate more effectively with their clients.

Defining ourselves in terms of our contributions to the client's success rather than our production processes.

Creating communications/marketing programs—of which print is a critical part, but not the objective—rather than print individual jobs/transactions.

Please look at the following recovery preparedness checklist:

Preparing for a recovery means first being aware of some fundamental industry facts:

1．Even when recovery is at full strength and the recession is far behind us, we aren't going back to the way we were.

2．Sustainable success will require new skills—new skills for a new industry.

3．Market share is being redistributed, but not according to company size, equipment configuration, or ownership structure.

4．We have to insulate ourselves from the growing commoditization of print.

5．We are in the communications business, not the ink-on-paper business.

6．Our defining opportunity is to make our clients more successful and to ensure they recognize our contributions to their success.

7．Despite record consolidation, our industry is getting more competitive.

8．The stakes are getting higher.

9．We have to make the case for ourselves and our industry.

10. Don't be fooled by averages.

11. Because our industry is getting more competitive and complex, we have to make time for big picture questions such as, What are we doing better today than we did two years ago? What will we be doing better in two years than we are today? How are we becoming more valuable to clients?

We Aren't Going Back

The economy will give our industry a big boost, but we aren't going back to normal because structural change redefines what's normal by redefining our clients, markets, services, competition, value proposition, and everything else that matters.

We've always had to wrestle with change, but for many years change was largely limited to better ways to do the same things: faster presses with shorter make-readies, the Mac and desktop prepress, in-line finishing, etc.

Change was significant and it contributed to the success of those who kept up and the failure of those who didn't, but it was not transformational: We were fundamentally the same industry coming out of recession as going in. Bottom line: What made us successful before a downturn would make us successful after. Not anymore.

In the late 1990s our industry began to change structurally. Structural change is a profound, transformational change that is independent of the business cycle. Examples of structural change include:

● The Internet and digitization, which have created electronic alternatives to print that sometimes complement print and sometimes displace it.

● Digital technologies that allow clients to shorten press runs dramatically by targeting their markets more precisely, reduce inventory and obsolescence by printing on demand, and bring printing capabilities in-house.

● Clients relocating to other parts of the country or the world—and taking their printing with them.

● Clients merging and centralizing/consolidating their print purchases.

Exercise

Q&A

1．Explain why the graphic communications industry developed.

2．Name three important problems that our ancestors had to overcome in order to make maximum use of the graphic communication process.

3．Trace the development and spread of the graphic arts in the world.

4．Define movable type.

5．Describe the contribution of Johann Gutenberg to the development of printing.

6．Trace the development and spread of papermaking throughout the world.

7．Trace the development of inks and ink-making technology.

Complete the Sentences by Filling in the Blanks

1．People have always needed to ________with other people. By learning to________ and________ , our ancestors overcame a major limitation in________ communication — the need for________ between people.

2．However, there were________ to overcome before our ancestors could make ________the graphic communication process. For example, ________for ________and________ had to be invented and developed. Then________ had to be found to reproduce ________of a message. Because of their need to ________, our ancestors ________how to solve each problem.

Put the following into Chinese

In the late 1990s our industry began to change structurally. Structural change is a profound, transformational change that is independent of the business cycle. Examples of structural change include:

● The Internet and digitization, which have created electronic alternatives to print that sometimes complement print and sometimes displace it.

● Digital technologies that allow clients to shorten press runs dramatically by targeting their markets more precisely, reduce inventory and obsolescence by printing on demand, and bring printing capabilities in-house.

● Clients relocating to other parts of the country or the world—and taking their printing with them.

● Clients merging and centralizing/consolidating their print purchases.