OUGD601 / Context Of Practice / Practical / Technologies / Variable Data Printing

Variable data printing allows exactly that, variable data to be printed individually on each product. Leeds and London based printer Pressision has such technology; a HP Indigo 7800. The main use of such technology at the moment is direct mail, printing individual print elements in order to establish a more personal connection with the consumer. The use of technology within direct mail has been quoted to increase return of investment by up to 500%.

Variable data printing has been used by People Of Print to offer personalized magazine covers. The experience of such personalization exaggerates the ethereal attributes of print and personalization unobtainable in the digital – see example here. The possibility of my own customized cover was attractive and created a relationship between myself (consumer) and product, conceiving a sense of worth.

An extension of the project, selling covers designed by well-known designers and studios created the option of further commerce, view Eike Koenig’s entry here. The option of multiple covers and adding a relation to a well known person creates an added sense of value, this is reflected in the rise of multiple covers (Research here suggest the use of multiple of covers can increase sales due to duplicating possibility of sale due to collection, increased advertising revenue and creating more impressions.) i-D Magazine recently released 11 covers designed by well-known and regarded industry professionals to celebrate their 35^th anniversary.

Using variable data printing, each article will be stored on the printer and printed cohering to a consumer’s curation. With a set amount of articles available per issue, the dimensions of each issue will be the same. To vary the amount of articles per issue would create an inconsistent and subsequently more likely to expense as another variable.