Paperless world?

The Paper Boy
Originally uploaded by from a second story.

I am clearing out my blogs today – spring cleaning as it were – and I happened upon an article from BrandWeek regarding the demise direct mail. The medium is declining, with forecasts predicting at nearly 40% drop in spending by 2013. That's almost $20 billion disappearing. The article mentions that for a time, direct mail was the number one marketing expenditure. This forecast predicts that it will fall to four place – under broadcast TV, radio and newspapers. Of course, in its' place will be email, already moving to the number one digital spend.

That got me to thinking about the printed word and/or image. In my lifetime, I could witness the virtual elimination of printed content. For someone who used to be a huge magazine fan, it's a shocking development. There's something reassuring about paper, namely the texture, color and infinite variety. What would happen if paper really were to disappear, as those calling for the paperless office have been eagerly awaiting?

I'm sorry to see paper go – and let's be real it won't go anywhere for a long time. But at the same time, I like the idea of a less resource dependent way of interacting with words and pictures.

That's why I took to the Kindle and that's why I embrace any solution that will be forthcoming in digitizing the magazine experience – glossy photos, intriguing headlines, ground breaking layouts, and a mix of serious and fluff pieces. The web has gone a long way to bridge the gap but I find websites too confining in that they require computers to interact with them. I just want to turn a page.

Content providers have developed iPhone apps to bridge the gap – Style.com is one – but I want something more vibrant and less power-hungry. Plenty of readers are looking to jump into this space so more soon, I'm sure.