Opinion: Print is Power

23.04.2026

Many years ago, my first real job was at a print magazine. We published four issues per year – spending several months working on 112ish pages of writing, design and photography. It was a weird time to get into the industry. It was the 2010s, and the great list-ification of the internet was well underway. As social platforms unleashed a firehose of traffic, more and more publishers were lulled by the siren song of digital engagement (and associated ad revenue) to prioritise web platforms.

Against this backdrop, the magazine's print focus gradually receded into the background. The impetus to create long-form, considered content was replaced by the incessant drumbeat of the new. Speed and volume replaced depth. Eventually, the economics of the magazine just didn’t stack up – and the title transitioned to digital-only publishing.

Since then, of course, many other magazines – including those of global repute, reach and resources – have met the same fate. So, reasonably, I had assumed that apart from a high-budget project here and there, my days of print publishing were effectively over. That turned out to be totally wrong. 

In the past few years, we’ve created more than a dozen print publications for clients across many industries, from regional theatres and cultural institutions through to build-to-rent communities and shopping centres. This mirrors broader trends taking place in the zeitgeist. Brands like J. Crew and Patagonia are reviving print product catalogues, while everyone from fashion houses to dating apps are launching in-house editorial titles.

All this begs the question, why now?  In a landscape defined by algorithmic attention, print projects offer a refutation of disposable culture. They invite considered storytelling with resonance, depth, and a tangible permanence digital media can’t replicate.

An Instagram folder of saved posts can never rival a magazine on a coffee table. The print title is corporeal. It has weight, dimension and aura (in the classic sense, not the gen Z sense). In feeds awash with misinformation, the physical characteristics of a print project inspire trust, convey authority and signal taste. It’s evidence of effort – and that counts for something real. Especially in an era where the highest echelons of power are posting memes and listicles like 2012 Buzzfeed.

From a design perspective, these projects offer liberation from the constraints of the phone screen. Is it possible to convey your brand in a 9:16 aspect ratio? Of course. But extended space for exploration, experimentation, play and discovery lets brands breathe and take on new life. The formats invite dialogue – a space where you can hold (and shape) the conversation about and around your brand.

Broadly, we can situate this shift within the increasing calls for a return of friction to our daily lives. In a landscape where the digital experience promises to smooth over any moment of discomfort or disquiet, print asserts itself with demands for attention. Definitionally, it’s the opposite mechanism to the infinite scroll. It’s fixed, finite, forever. It requires you to sit with it, to focus time and attention on the experience. Social asks for engagement – print seeks absorption.

In a landscape of ‘snackable’ content (an apt term for media often consumed furtively while hunched over a desk), print is akin to a well-planned dinner with friends. Rich, nourishing, soulful. In the face of cultural obsession with the instant – it’s nice to be reminded there’s pleasure in permanence.