A Glossy Future

Taking a break for the holidays was refreshing. Spending time with the people and things you love and nothing else can really charge your inspiration batteries. For my first post of the new decade—I'm looking to the future.

People have been saying that print is dead for years. I'm not ready to chisel the epitaph just yet. The video below was produced by Bonnier Corp—a major producer and distributor of magazines and other printed media. The good people at Bonnier want to know what the magazine of the future will look like. Apparently the magazine of the future looks suspiciously like a tablet PC.

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

Every now and then videos pop up with some industrial designer describing the thin form factor and intuitive gesture navigation of the future of print media. I've seen a newspaper tablet that you fold back and forth to simulate turning pages. A projector that creates a virtual screen between your hands when held out in front of you. And I've seen several of these tablet PC jobs now.

The idea is no doubt cool. And if this tablet was available to the consumer, the gizmo-geek in me wouldn't be able to resist. But there is something that all these digital-print devices skip entirely. Tactile sensation. A magazine made of paper and ink is tangible. Turning a page isn't just a visual experience. You feel the paper between your fingers as you turn the page. That's something a digital-print device like this can't simulate.

Designers are ignoring the real connection people feel to objects (which is ironic). The argument is that digital devices can bring so much more to the reading experience and I don't disagree with that. What I question is if that equates to value being added to the reading experience.

This may be the future of print media, and if it is I'm sure I'll adapt. But I'll miss the ink and page experience. I'll miss the texture of reading. And I'm willing to wager that many people will share my longing for reality. The future doesn't have to be all gloss and gesture does it?