Look around you, wherever you are, take a walk and look. Did you notice that so many of the surfaces around you have been decorated? There are pictures, patterns and oh so many messages.
One of the noticeable changes in the last 100 years has been the printed world around us. You no longer buy goods in plain paper bags, measured out carefully from a plain glass jar. Expensive purchases do not come in plain boxes but in printed boxes luring you into the potential of what lies inside. The items we use are no longer plain but have names, messages and even patterns on them. As we walk in the street, our walls are festooned with printed messages in bright pictures. Look in shop windows and you will see all kinds of printed material enticing you in.
Our world is full of complex color and imagery, a great, quiet technological advance has been happening under our noses and we perhaps were unaware.
It is quite remarkable what we are able to print and what we are able to print on. The quality has never been higher and it seems we can print on almost anything.
One interesting case study is that of the humble box. When we talk about a box we are no longer just referring to a cardboard box, boxes are now made of a variety of materials including various varieties of plastic. Not that long ago, when the manufacturer wanted to print information and marketing materials on the packaging, they would buy the package and have custom made stickers printed to attach. This added a stage to the packaging process and therefore cost. More importantly, the world is starting to demand their packaging is more sustainable, they are cutting down on packaging material. This has led manufacturers getting rid of the label and printing directly on the packaging. The quality of what they can print even on flimsy plastic is quite astounding.
There are many companies leading the printing revolution. Jolybar, based in Israel, is a technologically progressive company specializing in the production and supply of materials for flexible packaging and digital printing. Jolybar processes coated papers and bindings for digital printing and customized sheets and rolls for different types of flexible packaging, for such specialized markets as electronics and hi- tech, pharmaceuticals, security and food manufacturing.
The printed world around us is changing and becoming more noticeable from the very large advertisements in the streets to the printed blister packs containing your medication. What a visual world we live in!