It is time to kick back against the tyranny of speed

The declaration that Cloudprinter is planning to set up its own production sites in 18 key US locations and in key European markets underlines the evolution of online print. The Dutch-Ukrainian company is shifting away from corporate customers, who are inclined to buy diminishing volumes of print, towards individual and artisan creators selling their carefully crafted products through the likes of TikTok Shop, Pinterest and Etsy, so called social commerce. These are customers that are buying increasing amounts of print, whether T-shirts and hoodies, cook and garden design books, greetings cards and posters. Its about the personal touch, the link between the creator and their followers, expressed in owning a printed item.

And it is a growing market. Found, which manages print on demand book production for these influencers, has exceeded more than 300,000 units in North America in the last three years as the marketing word spreads. Countless T-shirts and birthday cards have also been purchased in this way. Cloudprinter reckons these are fickle customers, liable to switch to a provider that can offer a better – meaning a faster and closer to the end user – service. End customers have been educated by Amazon to expect same day or next day delivery and, while impossible for some printed products, that expectation now exists. Cloudprinter is betting that the winning printer will be the one that can deliver in any market. 

Like the chase to be the cheapest printer, the race to be the fastest printer is ultimately fruitless and not worth joining. There can only ever be one fastest. Perhaps printers should head instead in the opposite direction and promote ‘slow production’ in the same way that slow cooking and slow fashion have become things. Any printer can be slow of course; this though is about progressing at the ‘right’ speed, about care and love for the craft of printing, creating work which is the result of collaboration on design, papers and any embellishments. Such work is more likely to be distinctive and effective. But it will always take time.