A project to name and classify everything a printer can print has come to an end in the US. The United Printing Taxonomy is due for publication next month and if widely accepted could be transformative for communication across printers and between printers and customers. Taxonomies are widely used in other industries let alone the best known in biology which organics every living species according to its familial relationships with other species and uses latin names to ensure all scientists can identify and discuss these species. The United Printing Taxonomy is not using an antique language but the purpose is the same: to end the confusion when printed products are discussed.
We will be able to identify what is a book, how it differs from a magazine and its close cousin the catalogue; what is a banner, pop up, or point of sale. There is a second listing – that covering equipment and what machinery does. It will have been a thankless task but one that has huge implications if the conversations about printed products are to take place not between sales executives and designers, but between softwares, with implications for automating print production. Here there are antecedents. JDF is one and the vision that Crispy Mountain had for its automation project is another. The classification may sit neatly with the age of agentic commerce that is on the horizon.
But there are dangers. This has been a US project and as has often been said, we are separated by a common language. Firstly the US is resolutely imperial in its measurements. Is the standard page, US letter format or A4; is paper described in pounds or gsm? Within the machinery side do presses duplex or do they perfect? (Originally perfecting presses printed both sides of a sheet simultaneously, so the terminology will change, which has been considered.) There is certainly a need for standardisation to reduce confusions and waste, making it easier to specify and purchase print. This should be a welcome step in that direction.
Roll over Charles Darwin, here comes print
A project to name and classify everything a printer can print has come to an end in the US. The United Printing Taxonomy is due for publication next month and if widely accepted could be transformative for communication across printers and between printers and customers. Taxonomies are widely used in other industries let alone the best known in biology which organics every living species according to its familial relationships with other species and uses latin names to ensure all scientists can identify and discuss these species. The United Printing Taxonomy is not using an antique language but the purpose is the same: to end the confusion when printed products are discussed.
We will be able to identify what is a book, how it differs from a magazine and its close cousin the catalogue; what is a banner, pop up, or point of sale. There is a second listing – that covering equipment and what machinery does. It will have been a thankless task but one that has huge implications if the conversations about printed products are to take place not between sales executives and designers, but between softwares, with implications for automating print production. Here there are antecedents. JDF is one and the vision that Crispy Mountain had for its automation project is another. The classification may sit neatly with the age of agentic commerce that is on the horizon.
But there are dangers. This has been a US project and as has often been said, we are separated by a common language. Firstly the US is resolutely imperial in its measurements. Is the standard page, US letter format or A4; is paper described in pounds or gsm? Within the machinery side do presses duplex or do they perfect? (Originally perfecting presses printed both sides of a sheet simultaneously, so the terminology will change, which has been considered.) There is certainly a need for standardisation to reduce confusions and waste, making it easier to specify and purchase print. This should be a welcome step in that direction.
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Prayers for the future of the print industry
Prayers for the future of the print industry