#i should not have access to other mortal kombat media that are not the main games

[darlingxdarkling]

I can’t believe my first Medium article is a pop culture piece criticizing Sindel’s depiction in MK11 Aftermath, but you know what? It’s totally worth it.

Full text under the cut in case the article is inaccessible because of Medium’s paywall. I want my pieces to be as accessible to the public as possible.

Warning: Heavy spoilers for Mortal Kombat 11 and its expansion, Aftermath.

Ever since its first release in 1992, the Mortal Kombat franchise is known for its extreme, action-packed violence and gore that led to the creation of the ESRB. It’s also know for its controversial depictions of scantily-clad women; however, did this not deter female gamers from becoming fans of the franchise, myself included. Admittedly I am one of the fans of Mortal Kombat who was late to the party, partly due to my age and inaccessibility of gaming platforms, only discovering Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 in 2010 while playing with my older cousins, who were mostly boys.

Eyes fixated on the pixelated, motion-captured sprites on the screen in wonder, I remember being a fan of characters such as Raiden, Nightwolf, and Sindel. Especially Sindel, whom I grew to adore because of her regal, gothic appearance. Due to the stereotype that gaming is a masculine interest prevalent during those times, I felt alienated at times, having no other female playmate aside from my younger sister. However, seeing female characters such as Sindel gave me characters to identify with in my formative years.

A decade later, I still am a fan of the franchise, and of those characters. With the years that passed, there had been significant changes in the video game industry, and the clamor for better depictions of women, people of color, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and other minorities. Mortal Kombat is one of the franchises that changed with the times, even introducing their first confirmed gay character Kung Jin in Mortal Kombat X, and depicting classic character Mileena and 3D era character Tanya as lovers in the same game, confirming that Mileena is indeed canonically bisexual.

Mortal Kombat X’s female character designs were diverse and realistic too; there were some female characters whose designs didn’t show too much skin, like Sonya Blade’s main costume, befitting her role and demeanor as a tough-as-nails general, and there were female characters like Mileena who had more skin in her costumes, justified by her character’s desire to compensate for her monstrous Tarkatan genes. It’s not perfect, but overall, Mortal Kombat X is a breath of fresh air to the franchise. As a bisexual, an Asian, and a woman, I felt seen. I felt good, because minorities like me are respectfully represented.

As for its sequel, Mortal Kombat 11, there are some noteworthy depictions of real-life social issues in the game, such as colonization, which is explored with Nightwolf’s revamped lore. In the rewrite, Nightwolf is depicted as someone who used to be angry that his people, a fictional Native American tribe called the Matoka, resigned themselves to colonizers in his youth, but was blessed by his tribe’s deity, the Great Spirit, with power to help his tribe move forward after he defended the Matoka’s honor against Kano. The subject of race is also explored with Jax’s ending, where he uses the power he obtains from the hourglass to create a world where Black people were never enslaved, which garnered manufactured outrage despite the lack of any real controversy. Another example is Fujin’s ending, where he uses his power to experience the lives of mortals of different races, realms, genders, and faiths, putting emphasis on the value of integrating with the masses in order to understand and serve them better.

However, there are some aspects of the game that left a bad taste in my mouth. No, that would be an understatement. It left me furiously disappointed.

John Vogel is the lead writer for the franchise since John Tobias’ departure, writing the bulk of the story until he left around after Mortal Kombat X. Dominic Cianciolo becomes co-writer, alongside Shawn Kittelsen. Cianciolo is credited as the Story Director for Mortal Kombat 11, and thus responsible for the bulk of the plot.

After being unplayable in MKX, Sindel returns to the MK11 roster in a Kombat Pack, expansions featuring characters who aren’t present in the main story or are guest fighters from another franchise, such as Nightwolf and the Joker from the DC Universe. At the announcement of their return, I was ecstatic. The way Nightwolf’s character is handled and the added lore left me positive and hopeful for Sindel’s return.

But then, the retcon happened.

Originally, Sindel is the deceased mother of Kitana whose husband was killed by Shao Kahn. She then sacrificed herself through a suicide pact in order to protect the realms, and was brought back to life as an evil queen by Shao Kahn milennia later, but then escapes his hold. Here, she is made to be evil all along, responsible for her husband’s death and willingly coming with Shao Kahn to rule alongside him. Sindel becomes a character from her society’s ruling class who is obsessed with preserving her privileged position. Some fans claim that this new depiction is “empowering”, but is it really progressive?

Today, the terms “empowerment” and “women’s empowerment” are becoming buzzwords used by advertisers and big industry writers in an attempt to sell their product to a growing number of women who takes part in geek culture or play video games, and a society with values that are getting more and more progressive. Some people call this phenomena “woke capitalism”, where a corporation adopts progressive political causes. The gaming industry is not exempt from that; people pay for games, downloadable content, and microtransactions after all.

More often than not, when male writers write “strong” female characters, they tend to focus solely on enhancing traditionally masculine values, such as fighting ability, ignoring what other values female characters have that make them strong, or they tend to be horribly, horribly tone-deaf, which I will explain in detail later. These representations of “women’s empowerment” should force us to reexamine the media we consume, and discern whether these are genuine depictions of social issues or woke capitalism disguised as such.

In the first place, why are so many writers obsessed with “empowering” female characters, instead of writing them as characters capable of fighting for their emancipation?

Empowerment is passive; it’s something granted by those who hold power, not earned nor fought for. In the rewritten Sindel’s case, she is empowered by Shao Kahn when he took her as his wife and gave her the privileges he enjoys. Sindel’s empowerment is selfish; her rise to power did not empower, emancipate, nor liberate her daughter Kitana, nor Jade, nor Mileena, nor the women of Outworld. On the contrary, it made life worse and oppressive for all of Outworld’s denizens, including its women, who now have to serve not one, but two privilege-drunk monarchs who rule with an iron fist. If that’s the values the writers want to impart on their audience, I have serious doubts on the sincerity of their “wokeness”.

The release of Aftermath takes things up to eleven, where Sindel betrays her own daughter to be with Shao Kahn, who, originally, enslaves her and forces her into marriage, which holds so much unfortunate implications for those in abusive relationships. It doesn’t help that Cianciolo liked a tweet from a fan that said the original Sindel, an abuse survivor, was never an empowered female character and a was bad mother for killing herself and leaving her child behind, bringing even more unfortunate implications not just for women in abusive relationships, but also for people who struggle with suicide. Somehow, Cianciolo and the fans that agree with him ignore these implications altogether and believes that the new haughty, tyrannical Sindel is an example of a strong female character. This isn’t the first time male writers tried their hand at feminist writing and ended up with tone-deaf plot decisions.

Cianciolo took a nuanced and well-written character and turned her into Shao Kahn 2.0. What happened is essentially the creative butchering of Sindel’s character; she went from being a survivor to an oppressor. Shao Kahn already fills the role of a cruel tyrant who refuses to relinquish his privilege for the good of the masses, and rewriting Sindel to become his distaff counterpart is not necessary at all. This treatment of her character isn’t feminist or progressive at all; it’s poorly-disguised misogyny. It’s implying that a woman can only be powerful if she submits to her husband so that he may grant her a taste of privilege reserved for powerful men, an antiquated sentiment best left to the feudal ages. Granted, the fictional realm of Outworld is ruled by a monarchy, but Sindel’s previous characterization is proof that writers can refuse or avoid using that trope.

Emancipation, on the other hand, is an active role; according to Ruane and Todd, it is “a process by which the participants in a system which determines, distorts and limits their potentialities come together actively to transform it, and in the process transform themselves.” This concept can be applied more appropriately to pre-retcon Sindel.

Going back to my days as a highly impressionable teenager, though I grew interested in her for her benevolent demeanor despite her intimidating appearance, Sindel’s roles as a survivor and a leader are what cemented my love for the character. Shao Kahn murdered her husband, usurped the throne, conquered her kingdom, and coerced her to be his wife. Later, she sacrificed herself for the greater good of a realm, and after being resurrected as an evil brainwashed puppet, she finally broke free from her abuser. With her newfound agency, she became a queen of Outworld who recognized her privilege and used it to stand with its masses against tyrants, and she also becomes a doting mother to Kitana, demonstrating great love for her family. When finally removed from her abuser’s influence, Sindel chose to be free, she chose to lead her people benevolently, and she chose to be with her true family. This Sindel broke free from the traditional Outworld power structure that Shao Kahn perpetrated for thousands of years, no longer a bride to be forcefully taken, nor a pawn to be manipulated by its emperor.

If you can look past the scanty costume design standard for video games of that era, the original Sindel could be a female character ahead of her time. Original Sindel not only can kick ass, she also has agency, willpower, and a heart; a strong female character with good writing. For those reasons, Cianciolo’s Sindel is #NotMySindel.

#mortal kombat #mortal kombat 11 #mortal kombat aftermath #sindel #shao kahn #kitana #king jerrod #not my sindel

[jigretro]

JIGRETRO

Retro gaming blog 1

FLASHBACK

Hey everyone, this is a new experience for me. Over the past couple of years I have developed a growing passion for video games and I am finding it to be such an amazing and inexpensive little hobby to have. During this time I have watched countless hours of YouTube content relating to this subject and to be honest I’ve been inspired.

I don’t claim to be an expert on the subject in any way but wanted to start making content to bring all us geeks together to celebrate what I consider to be an amazing and overlooked art form. I love music and movies and don’t really see why video games should be considered the ugly stepchild of these other forms of media.

In today’s blog I have decided to focus on one of my favourite titles from the Sega Megadrive Flashback.

Flashback is a cinematic platform game bringing all of the best elements and taking influences of games that came before it, such as another world and Prince of Persia. It was developed for the Megadrive but was first released in 1992 on the Amiga. It was then released on the Megadrive in 1993. The game features amazing hand-drawn backgrounds and all sprite animation is created using rotoscope techniques. Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over motion picture footage, creating a natural and realistic look to body movements.

My personal history with this game is that, when I was 7 ish years old, my brother and I got a Sega Megadrive from our parents for Christmas. With me being younger I always gravitated towards general kiddie titles, such as Sonic, Aladdin, Micro Machines and Quackshot, etc. That’s not to say these aren’t great games in their own right, but at the time my teenage brother was into the more gritty/mature side of Megadrive games, such as Mortal Kombat, Road Rash and sport games. Flashback fell very much into this category but, from the moment I saw that killer cinematic intro and the realistic running, jumping and gun play of the main character Conrad B Hart I was mesmerised. It wasn’t like any game that I had seen before and I couldn’t believe the Megadrive was capable of such stunning cinematics for the time.

I was hooked, but this game proved too epic to hold my attention at my age and all I ever did in the game was basically repeatedly complete the first level and a few scenes of the 2nd but I loved every bit of it.

In later years Flashback received an iOS release and, now older and wiser, I just had to download it and give it a really good go at completing. This was a time before I began collecting and, apart from the latest console, any other gaming was done on my iPhone. Anyway, needless to say I ended up completing the game and I absolutely loved every bit of it. It is a game that sits easily in my top ten games of all time.

Spoiler alert, The story is set in a futuristic sci-fi type universe and has major nods to movies such as Total Recall, Bladerunner, Running Man, Alien, They Live, among many others. You play as Conrad who in the first sequence we see being chased on foot and on a flying bike by two characters who eventually shoot him down. This trauma causes amnesia, and you discover that you need to make your way out of the jungle to meet up with a friend in New Washington called Ian. Ian returns Conrad’s memory to him, where you discover that Conrad has uncovered that a shapeshifting alien race has been hiding in plane sight as humans. Conrad then spends time participated in some small mission based jobs in order to pay for forged papers. Conrad uses these papers to enter a violent game show called ‘death tower’ in order to win tickets to back to earth. Upon return he discoveries a plot by the morph alien race to conquer earth. After escaping their brief capture he then teleports to the alien planet for a final confrontation.

The control of the main character can take some time to get used to but the first level provides a good training session to learn all the skills required. Platforming is strong and has obviously influenced games such as Tomb Raider with some great running, jumping and ledge grabbing. Another positive relating to this is that Conrad acts as a realistic human and you won’t find him doing anything super human in his platforming... big falls kill. The combat is excellent and changes with the different bad guys you find along the way, all requiring a different technique to dispatch of them with minimal damage. The puzzle aspect on the whole is brilliant but on occasion can effect the pacing, having a couple of long winded and dull moments (looking at you, job centre in New Washington level).

There are 7 levels, all with a password for return... thank god for save states, as these levels can take some time to complete. Completing the game for the first time will take around the 6-8 hour mark and is a really worthwhile investment of your time. No matter how you access retro games, either using original hardware all the way up to emulation, you owe it to yourself to experience this game. I think it holds up really well.

Many thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the content. This is a bit more of an experiment for me but, hopefully, if I get some positive feedback, I will produce more content in the future.

[officialotakudome]

New Post has been published on Otaku Dome | The Latest News In Anime, Manga, Gaming, Tech, and Geek Culture

New Post has been published on https://otakudome.com/guilty-gear-strive-preview/

Guilty Gear -Strive- Preview

The latest entry in the storied Guilty Gear fighting game series arrives in Guilty Gear -Strive-. The first main game in the series since 2015’s “Xrd Revelator”. Strive acts as a soft reboot for the franchise even going under the working title of “New Guilty Gear” during the early stages of it’s development. The new title intends to cater to veterans as well as allow accessibility to brand new players who were looking to give the advanced fighter a try.

Guilty Gear Strive is a 2021 fighting game, it it developed and published by Arc System Works.

Editor’s Note: Media access to the Guilty Gear Strive beta was provided by Arc System Works in support of this preview. Slight story spoilers may be present within this preview. 

The long-running fighting game Guilty Gear returns.

Beginning way back in 1998 on Playstation the Guilty Gear franchise has become unanimous with the fighting game genre right next to Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, King of Fighters, and Smash Bros. The series was most noted as being one of the few fighting games to feature a prominent story for it’s world and some insanely difficult gameplay. Arc System Works is looking to rectify the latter with a soft reboot meant for new players to get in on a lot easier, while also keeping veteran players of the series in mind.

Guilty Gear Strive wants to bring everyone interested to the battlefield.

While the beta for Guilty Gear Strive is like most betas a taste of the full product it does give a solid idea of what to expect. What’s more surprising is the fact that it gives you a hefty handful of characters to play around with. Upwards of about ten plus and something I really appreciate is that they even detail the easy of difficulty for each character to use so newcomers can get settled in before they feel confident enough to choose their favorites. While other fighters in the past have claimed to have an ease of play for newcomers (and some honestly do) I commend Arc System Works for going so above and beyond for letting players know who they should feel more comfortable playing as no matter their current experience or lack thereof. As someone who’s fairly familiar with fighters, but unfamiliar with Guilty Gear outside of general knowledge on how difficult the game mechanics are I have to say this makes me smile. If you go on gaming message boards you’ve probably seen them full of threads asking just how hard the game is. It’s an attractive looking franchise so naturally anyone who’s curious about it’s fancy artwork and stylish move animations would what to experience in some fashion right? 

Strive impresses with rookie friendly gameplay mechanics.

The gameplay on the surface is pretty basic for fighting games you have your punches, kicks, high, and low attacks as well as specials known as “Burst” meant to give you an edge in the fight. Luckily the beta contained a tutorial and training mode to toy around with. So you’re not completely hopeless if you choose to play online against others. The characters have different battle types such as long range and balance among others leading to a ton of variety. Unfortunately though, the variety is at the mercy of the ease of use so some characters no matter how interesting their play style may be will be harder to use than others. Another issue is that the individual character’s battle type has it’s own pros and cons. So it’s going to take time and effort finding the character that’s right for you if you’re serious about joining in. I was going to talk a bit about the story, but seeing as how story mode is locked in the beta and Strive is likely to have hundreds of new players I’d rather save it for the review.

With a genuine and attentive attempt at making their historic fighter playable for everyone Arc System Works is trying their damnedest to make it one of the most open invite fighting games in a long while. The gameplay for Guilty Gear Strive is still advanced for premier players so no one feels ostracized which is a rare feat. I’m not sure how much I’ll get into the Guilty Gear series as I’m a player who enjoys gaming for the story just as much as the gameplay and with a series as long-running as Guilty Gear that’s going to be tough. That being said from a pure gameplay standpoint Guilty Gear Strive has my attention, but that could be said for the series as a whole for the last decade or so. Guilty Gear Strive releases on PC, Playstation 4, and Playstation 5 on April 9, 2021. 

[candescencearia]

The issue of sexually explicit content

So I have a NSFW side-blog now. If you’re 18 or over (or whatever legal age it is in your country, it’s actually 16 over here in Australia, fun fact), are viewing in private, and aren’t squeamish about that sort of thing, you can view it if you want. Can’t exactly stop ya.

Now, some of you might be asking “why”? It can be argued that having visible NSFW material easily accessible from one’s personal blog might not be a good look for someone trying to get into a professional industry that generally shuns explicit content (none of the three main console makers allow X-rated content to be published for their platforms, though there is indications that Steam might be moving towards allowing sexually explicit content). Personally, I don’t feel like I should have to explain myself, but I’d rather put my thoughts on record, but this is also a neat avenue to discuss sexuality in gaming and art in general.

Well, firstly, my personal view on “porn” and similar content is that I’m one of those people who sees society’s general prudishness concerning sexual content to be irrational and out of step with how we also classify violent content. Sex can be used to hurt people (sexual assault/rape) and it can cause people harm physically and mentally when misued (pregnancy, STDs, etc), but it’s an essential part of life that allows the creation of new life. Violence can be used to keep others safe, but violence as protection generally is a result of a response towards violence to deliberately harm, and I think we can all agree that the world would be better without violence. The fact that realistic “murder-porn” like Mortal Kombat’s most recent entries is more “acceptable” than two consenting adults getting it on in full detail just seems wrong to me.

As a side-note, it’s also at least partially why sexual education isn’t as good in many cases as it could be, because young people being knowledgeable about sex and knowing how to stay safe when being sexually active isn’t going to destroy society, for God’s sake. Young people are going to have sex, you’re not gonna stop them from doing it, at least make sure they are gonna be less likely to make life-destroying mistakes while doing it.

Secondly, I like to keep my lewd stuff and my more “professional” stuff separate - for me, there is a time and a place for scantily-clad men and women, and even then, keep it tasteful. If you’re out to blatantly titillate, you might as well either go all the way or not bloody bother, that’s my philosophy. I’d like to actually do sexually explicit game projects one day, as elaborated below, but that’s another thing entirely. It’s not unheard of for professional creators to also do explicit stuff as well separately without affecting their more “mainstream” material.

Thirdly, I decided that I’d rather be open and treat it like some normal thing rather than try to hide that sort of thing and run the risk of someone looking up my online activities and trying to use it as “ammunition” against me for whatever reason. With a person’s online activities being easier to find and impossible to hide with the internet essentially making stuff permanent, trying to hide something like I’m ashamed of it wouldn’t be worth it in the long run.

Did I explain myself clearly? I bloody well hope so. Long story short, I ain’t gonna be ashamed of and hide the lewd stuff I do and view, but I’m not gonna make a big deal out of it either.

So there’s the matter of the notion of releasing “serious” explicit game content, particularly anything that isn’t just smut. I am legitimately serious about breaking the status quo, especially if I make a name for myself, but there are obstacles. Until the console platform companies allow for X-rated stuff (same with mobile, but who cares), console releases wouldn’t be happening, but PC is still a free platform, and there are signs that Valve is moving towards allowing adult content, so Steam might be an option in the future.

However, some rating agencies will be a problem. In particular, my country’s media ratings system (the Australian Classification Board) is government-mandated, and for games, while R-18 content was allowed for it some years back, there are still a variety of unnecessary and ridiculous restrictions. In particular, “unsimulated” sexual activity (basically, “actual” sex and not just miming the actions) is basically banned, which leaves a severe legal quandary about selling a game that cannot be legally classified on the internet. Well, I’d rather perform some civil disobedience for the sake of making a point, especially if it’s essentially harmless, and if I do make a name for myself and have a large enough reputation, I can probably draw attention to the issue and really force government MPs to think about it. But if that happens, I’ll likely need to have finished at least one or two projects that really draw attention.

But again, that’s a long way away. Getting back to my main point in all this, I like lewd stuff, I’m not gonna hide it, and I’m not gonna make a big deal out of it, either. If anyone has any problems with that, well, I probably don’t care, but I wouldn’t mind discussing the subject with people like rational adults.

Edit as of September 2018: Well, looks like Steam changed their policies. Adults-only/pornographic material is actually permitted on the Steam storefront now. That’s a big step forward, really.

#my stuff

[kojakgraphics-blog]

Is Paper and Print Still Important?

Is paper and print still important? From traditionalists to technologists, we asked the experts...

There’s no denying we live in a digital world, but it seems that printed communications still hold a place in our hearts, despite what the naysayers will have you believe. To find out just how important the medium still is, we called on a diverse group of experts, all involved in the paper and print industry in various different ways, to share their thoughts, and their favourite work. From traditionalists to technologists, here’s what they had to say…

THE PAPER MERCHANT Emma Linley, creative papers product manager, Antalis A world without print would be a pretty dull place! Print is still a vital part of the marketing mix and helps to provide a real world point of context for many campaigns that would otherwise exist only online. The role of print may be different to the part it has traditionally played in communications, but it’s clear that it still has an important place.

In an increasingly digital world, printed and digital communications complement each other, and one should not be seen as a replacement for the other. Incorporating printed materials into the mix can maximise a campaign’s impact.

For marketers and designers, the challenge is to find the critical balance of digital and printed mediums, which effectively maximises the impact of their campaigns and cuts through the clutter, in an era of message overload.

The integration of print and digital has been proven to increase response rates and an integrated campaign can help ensure that messages are received across multiple channels. The paper element can be used in many different ways. For example, it can push people online, via bridging technologies such as QR codes and augmented reality applications, or it can be used to reinforce messages from digital media. Introducing direct mail to an integrated campaign can raise the campaigns effectiveness by up to 62 per cent.

Digital, however sophisticated, cannot replicate the look, feel and individual characteristics of paper and other substrates.

Paper and print is a very tactile and eye-catching medium, which opens up an incredible range of opportunities for designers and marketers that wish to create beautiful, multi-sensory pieces of work. This is fuelling interest in some of our tactile creative papers, such as our Curious Matter and Curious Skin ranges, as designers seek to drive consumer engagement by creating printed products that have a broader appeal than purely visual.

While the world is going digital; paper is a vital component in communicating a brand message, add to that different printing technologies and you have a very powerful tool. Nothing quite puts your brand in the consumer’s hand like print.

THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER Craig Oldham, founder and creative director, The Office of Craig Oldham Like Streetfighter, Mortal Kombat, and those shit Alien and Predator movies, there’s a lot of versus action out there. Print versus digital is the best that communication design has to offer up. Hardly surprising then that I feel it’s a bit of a no-brainer.

People often forget, because it’s been with us for such a long time, that print, especially the book, is a technology — a piece of equipment created to perform a task. And if the last 50 years have told us anything it’s that technology is there to improve things, and offer new and alternative ways of doing them. But it’s exactly that — an alternative.

Technology’s modus operandi isn’t simply to overwrite that which precedes it, it’s to better it, and provide another option, another way. We accept this in the case of the size of our mobile phone, the sophistication of our computer or TV set, yet many struggle when it comes to design, thinking they have to go with one or the other — because of the populated fallacies that print is ‘dying’ or that analogue methods of communication are no longer effective when compared to their digital counterparts.

The reality is analogue and digital don’t live in competition, they’re different beasts. It’s not this or that, one or the other, they are just two different technologies — they are two different tools at your disposal. And your job as a designer is to pick the right tools for the right job.

As I skirted around earlier, just a few indents ago, print has been with the human race for centuries, and like digital it too had its moment with us where it was the new fad. Before mass print came along (until the technology came along) the only source of information most people had was one book and a priest, so thank Christ when Martin Luther rocked up with his poster, a bag of nails, and a different opinion. He used the right tool (print) for the right job (mass communication). And it worked for him. Fast forward a good 500 years and it’s still going on. Sticking with the poster, it’s since recruited for wars, symbolised youthful rebellion, iconised men and women to fame and fortune, and equally to death and terror. Even in an age where digital could be seen to be the popular choice, it’d be hard to deny that it was the poster that elected the first black president of the United States of America. But that’s only because Shepard Fairey understood what confuses so many, just like Luther did. They employed the right technology to best communicate their ideas.

Although I am admittedly a bit of a print fan, this is only because I haven’t been offered much, in terms of a draw, from digital yet. It’s still relatively new to us and as a result I don’t think it’s been used to its full potential yet. Its best is still to come. But I don’t think we’ll get there until people stop seeing digital as a contrast, as the counter to analogue – the point will be forever missed that it’s still about creating something. It’s about having a great idea and making it happen through the right and relevant channel. Wether that’s a bit of print or a bit of digital, a poster on a church door or www.wwwdotcom.com

THE MAGAZINE DESIGNER Jeremy Leslie, founder and creative director, magCulture Print remains important for many reasons but the main one is that nobody has yet come up with a better way to curate, manipulate and present content. If someone presented ‘the printed magazine’ as a brand new idea people would be wowed. They offer finite quantities of well-tooled material that are subtle balances of the familiar and surprising, matched to expectations of the reader and easily navigated and explored. The best examples become almost friends, regular parts of your life that can bring both joy and irritation.

Of course digital media offers many alternative qualities that can trump print, immediacy being the most obvious one. But as the web gets ever larger the filters involved in navigating become more and more imposing. The increasing personalisation of search results means we read what Google assesses we want rather than offering us serendipity.

My relationship with what I read online is so much about function and need, while print offers a more considered visual structure and hierarchy that subconsciously provides intense messaging about importance and relevance. I enjoy The Guardian iPhone app, but compared to that tiny screen the printed format offers a far subtler hierarchy and more easily assessed gauge of the content.

There are exceptions of course; The New Yorker has transferred its content successfully to both the web and tablet. And I’m proud to be have designed the groundbreaking site Aeon, offering a new long-form essay to read every weekday. It has quickly built a loyal readership, as have many other sites.

But it’s intriguing seeing how many successful content-orientated websites have recently added print elements to their publishing strategy. Music website Pitchfork has often been cited as one reason behind the downfall of the traditional music magazine, so there’s an irony to the fact they are about to publish the third edition of their quarterly Pitchfork Review, a beautiful piece of publishing produced in-house. The website will always be the main focus, but the fact they are publishing in print is recognition that there remains a hierarchy of importance in terms of form. The spontaneity, immediacy and breadth of the web matches much of what the music fan wants. When it comes to selecting the best material and publishing it to be kept, for now only print will do.

THE SCIENTIST Dr Kate Stone, founder and MD, Novalia I struggled to think of a stand out reason why print is important, I struggled because there are so many reasons, each significant in different ways, so I thought I would list just a few of them. Print communication is pervasive, we all come into contact with it many times a day. As well as advertising print is used to cover walls in our homes, patterns on fabric and even used on floors and tables.

Print is physical. We live in a physical world; until our brains are uploaded to the cloud there will always be a need for physical media. We like to touch, taste, smell and feel things, print does them all. Print can be temporary like a newspaper or permanent like art, becoming valueless or priceless with time.

Print is big or small, covering the side of a street block, or just a postage stamp. Print is low cost in low and high volume, from millions to just one, there is a cost effective process for any amount.

Print is local, a low labour intense process means we don’t need to manufacture on the other side of the world, shipping costs and times often mean we can’t. Print is renewable and recyclable, most of the raw materials do actually grow on trees. Print does not crash or need a software update when most needed (although I may be helping to change that, oops).

Print is accessible. Print changed the world, before the printing press books were written by hand one by one. This was a liberating and empowering information revolution. Although we live in a physical world it is now clearly a digital age, with many declaring the death of print, but it’s simply a re birth of an old medium, enhanced with much of what digital communication has to offer.

Digital offers two way communication, sound, video, instantly updates, connectivity and data logging. I am excited about combining digital and physical communication, print can become a significant portal to the digital world. Adding printed touch and Bluetooth with a connection to the internet via your mobile device to print is now possible. My work is about figuring out how and why we could/should do this. I’ve created interactive print because I was curious, fortunately that seems to have inspired a new vision and excitement for print.

THE TECHNOLOGIST Marcus Kirsch, founder, SenseLab London Before a medium or idea enters the mainstream, and during any relevant paradigm shifts affecting it, its role and relevance enters a phase of exploration and experimentation. Those phases tend to be significantly more important than the smaller incremental progress it makes, once it is a big or otherwise large scale entity. As for any system, size can mean stagnation of some, if not all, of its parts.

The same is obviously true for print and its future since digital publishing and the internet appeared on this planet. Personally, and taking reference from culture and history, I believe a ‘Blade Runner’ scenario is more likely than a ‘Things to Come’ scenario, meaning nothing new will ever completely kill the old. It will mix in various ways, traces of decades if not centuries still humming about in the years to come.

American science fiction author Bruce Sterling, being one of the future digital types that roam Silicon Valley, was one of the first to say that there was still a strong point for him to write ‘The Hacker Crackdown’ as a book – a finite edit of a point. And this is probably print’s strongest point. It is an opinion and view, a set of data, frozen in time and frozen within its references. We still learn best through comparing things that are different. Bigger and smaller are relative and help us make sense of things. Which is why I still carry a copy of ‘Future Shock’ with me – the 70s book that is still weirdly contemporary. It makes it more important that it is frozen in time, back in 1970 by Alvin Toffler.

So I find it rather exciting that it is a new era for print: an opportunity to explore itself out of stagnation. As we see in the examples below, books, references and non-linear storytelling are part of both print and the digital world, and on top of it all there is a strong case for the print medium containing stories and information, frozen in time as comparative and contextual parts of a greater story.

By: Staff Writer at TheDrum.com

Reposted by: John Macharsky

#print