Pretty in Print

Editor in Chief Beth Nicholls and Deputy Editor Kayleigh Greig swoon over the magic of paper print, sparked by a visit to Rawson Print’s Factory.

In an age where information can be accessed at the tap of a screen, why does Grapeshot still go to the trouble of printing our magazines?

Though many readers now use kindles, tablets and computers, studies show that print remains the favoured reading format.^[1] In fact, print has consistently proven more effective for comprehension and knowledge retention.^[2,3]

There’s just something about the smell and tactile feel of paper. It makes the information feel tangible. Not to mention, we can relax knowing it’s not going to lose connection, be interrupted by pop-up ads or run out of charge part-way through. There’s no chance of being distracted by notifications or emails—it’s just us and the page.

Anything printed feels like a personal belonging, while digital info feels like it belongs to someone else and you’re stepping into their website. When the paper is in our hands, we can modify it—highlighting, writing notes in the margins, bookmarking our favourite pages, or even cutting sections out to make collages.

People often shame others for printing things out because it’s “killing trees.” Yes, trees must be cut down to make paper, but they are not a finite resource. We kill trees, but we can also grow trees. So long as we use paper from a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified source, we can be confident that the rate of trees falling is never higher than the rate of seedlings being planted. 

Not only can paper be infinitely produced, it can also be recycled up to five to seven times before the fibres become too short to be reused for high quality products such as printing paper. Even past that stage, paper can be used for rougher products—at Rawson Print Co., for example, offcuts are turned into kitty litter. 

This year, Grapeshot members were treated to a tour of Rawson’s factory, where we learned plenty more about the printing process in general. First of all, for things like newspapers and magazines, the two main types of print are offset and digital.

Offset printing, or offset lithographic printing, involves using plates covered in ink to mark printing blankets, which then press the design onto the canvas. Ink colours are built up in layers, one at a time, using the colours CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), though additional plates can be used for very specific colours such as Woolworths’ green or Macquarie’s pinks and reds. Precise colours are defined by their Pantone colour, a standardised system used for consistency between companies. Offset printing is great for large format, high volume and high quality orders, though print jobs can take longer.

As for digital printing, it has historically produced lower quality than offset, though these days the results are near indistinguishable. Inkjet printers apply ink directly to the paper in tiny dots using small nozzles, while laser printers use toner to fuse images to the paper. Digital print can be a great option when a quicker turnaround time is necessary, or when high volumes of identical copies aren’t needed. 

To the naked eye, these two methods produce similar quality prints, though to the trained, print-obsessed eye, the difference is indeed perceptible. Though, the end outcome and use, along with budget, are two key points to consider for when a company chooses to use offset or digital printing. A small business who is just starting out will most likely choose digital printing as it’s more affordable and they aren’t looking for the top-most quality prints. However, a large corporation will choose offset printing as it’s not only of a higher standard, but also better suited to large runs of printed material. 

Grapeshot has historically been printed using the offset printing method, but recently we have started to experiment with the digital printing method. 

Whatever the method, print is here to stay, and Grapeshot will be pretty in paper for years to come.

References:

[1] Schwabe, Annika, et al. “Book readers in the digital age: reading practices and media technologies.” Sage Journals, vol. 11, no. 1, October 2022, https://doi.org/10.1177/20501579221122208. 

[2] Haddock, Geoffrey, et al. “The medium can influence the message: Printbased versus digital reading influences how people process different types of written information.” British Journal of Psychology, vol. 111, 2020, pp. 443-459, https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/sites.gsu.edu/dist/4/1635/files/2021/08/MediaAndMessage.pdf. 

[3] Jensen, Ragnhild et al. “The smell of paper or the shine of a screen? Students’ reading comprehension, text processing, and attitudes when reading on paper and screen.” Computers & Education, vol. 219, 2024, https://www-sciencedirect-com.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0360131524001210.