Having traveled in both the world of fine arts (my fiancee and I do art therapy with the autistic) and the graphic arts (as a designer, art director, and consultant, to name a few), I have come to firmly believe that a few principles of good design pertain to both.
One of the major attributes of good commercial printing design is that it surprises the viewer in some way. It tricks your eye or gives you something you didn't expect.
I always find it intriguing to watch the developments in digital custom printing. There's a lot of activity in this arena, and the offerings point to the future, making it crystal clear that print is not dead.
My fiancee and I went mattress shopping today as one of the final shopping trips of a year-long hiatus from our home due to last year's house fire. At one point in the trek through the main part of the furniture store and the clearance section, my fiancee noted the difference in the clothing worn by the sales reps in the two parts of the store. Her comments addressed both the image and branding attributes of the various “uniforms,” and the technical, commercial printing aspects of the clothing design.
A commercial printing client of mine is designing a cross between a brochure and a pocket folder to showcase her client's business. My client, who is a designer, came to me for suggestions for a piece of marketing collateral that will be a brochure, or short booklet, in the front, but that will have a pocket on the interior back cover into which the end-user can insert multiple 8.5” x 11” single sheets of marketing material.
It has become commonplace to be able to print just one of almost anything. Digital commercial printing has evolved to this level. It no longer surprises us, even if the one-off printed item is intricate and precise, perhaps with special cover coatings or digital ink treatments. Even operations that had relied on diecutting (such as embossing and foil stamping) have digital counterparts, allowing prototyping of even a single item, such as an ornate box for a new product.