Print Is Not Dead: The Comeback of Editorial Design

The obituary for print has been written more times than I can count. Yet, walk into any independent bookshop in Dhaka, London, or Tokyo and you will find shelves of beautifully designed magazines, photo zines, and exhibition catalogues — most of them launched in the last five years.

Print does what screens cannot

Print rewards slowness, intentionality, and the texture of paper. It cannot be A/B tested into mediocrity. It does not autoplay. It exists in one fixed form, which is exactly why it can take risks that a digital surface — endlessly tweakable — rarely will.

The new editorial designers

The most interesting editorial design today is happening at the margins — small print runs of 500 to 2000, often financed by patronage or pre-order. The designers behind these projects are treating layout as authorship, not service. The grid is back, and it has something to say.