How Digital Printing Has Revolutionised Greeting Card Publishing

This time 30 years ago, British scientist Tim Berners Lee had just launched the worldwide web, Sting was top of the album charts with The Soul Cages, a pint of beer in a pub cost the princely sum of £1.37– and the very first edition of Progressive Greetings magazine, under Max Publishing ownership, was published.

With a nod to the past, but with his eyes very much focused on the future, Adam Short, managing director of The Imaging Centre, digital printer to hundreds of card publishers, shares what he feels have been the major industry changes from a digital printer’s perspective, as well as his predications for the future.

Above: Adam Short outside The Imaging Centre’s brand new state of the art headquarters in Tonbridge, Kent.

A historical perspective…

What has the past taught you?

“No job is too small. This is actually one of our company values, and one of the finest lessons I have been taught. As digital printers we deal with many new businesses and we still never know how successful publishers will be. Our outlook is that we try and advise everyone as well as we can and try and make each one of those start-ups that come to us as successful as they want to be.”

Above: Adam’s father Bob Short, who co-founded the company with an antique ‘clocking in’ machine at the old factory. Times have changed in so many ways. — **Above:** Adam’s father Bob Short, who co-founded the company with an antique ‘clocking in’ machine at the old factory. Times have changed in so many ways.

What have been the main industry changes?

“For us the digital technology has had the biggest effect, we truly believe it has allowed many more publishers the opportunity to come into this fantastic industry, as well as allowing those already established to bring out more designs, more frequently while still achieving the same high-quality standards.”

Above: The Imaging Centre have been a major supporter of The Ladder Club since it started over 20 years ago helping would-be and newbie publishers get on the first rung of the greeting card ladder, of which digital printing has played a large role. — **Above:** The Imaging Centre have been a major supporter of The Ladder Club since it started over 20 years ago helping would-be and newbie publishers get on the first rung of the greeting card ladder, of which digital printing has played a large role.

What have been the highlights and lowlights for The Imaging Centre?

“I always feel a huge sense of pride when I see a card we have produced on a shelf in a store, or even better when one comes through the letter box. However, our main highlight was PG Live 2018 just two years after using the same show to launch IC Simplicity we were able to see our vision come to reality as we were receiving orders from publishers while at the show just as they were receiving them from the retailer.
Our lowlight would have to be the past 12 months, which have been hugely challenging for everyone in the industry, although again to consider ourselves extremely lucky to be in such a creative industry where people have adapted to the forever changing situation so fantastically well!”

Above: Adam Short (left) with John Higgins, co-founder of Go La La at PG Live 2018 when the IC Simplicity system was up and running. — **Above:** Adam Short (left) with John Higgins, co-founder of Go La La at PG Live 2018 when the IC Simplicity system was up and running.

And now to the future…

How do you foresee greeting card publishing changing over the short, medium and long-term?

“We feel that short term technological advances mean that personalisation, direct to consumer markets and instant trends will continue to grow. More long-term these advances will also mean that publishers can see their new designs published and more readily available to the general public much quicker. We believe on demand production will grow from strength to strength reducing waste, footprint and improving the environment.”

What have you done to help futureproof your business?

“We have invested heavily at The Imaging Centre with the future in mind. In the past 12 months we have purchased and installed a new state of the art operating system to improve efficiency, turnaround, customer communication and further reduce waste.

In addition, we have recently moved premises in order to house new equipment, including our brand-new HP Indigo 12,000 B2 digital press, which extends our run capacity while also meaning we can offer even more products than before on demand, including giftwrap. Within our new building we have also dedicated an entire floor to install The Imaging Centre’s Innovation room, where we hope that publishers will be able to utilise to design, create, proof and approve all at one time in order to go from thought to finish even quicker than ever before.”

Above: One of the shiny new machines that The Imaging Centre has just installed. — **Above:** One of the shiny new machines that The Imaging Centre has just installed.

If you had a magic wand for the future what would you use it for?

“We would use the magic wand to inspire every business to be eco-conscious. Long term we truly believe that the environmental aspects of each business is key to the future, and every element of our own developments have this at the heart. From the board types and packaging that we offer, to our solar-powered warehouse, on-demand printing and electric company cars – we keep the environment at the forefront of each decision.
And of course, in the short term we are wishing retailers the best for their re-opening to allow all of our publishers to be able to showcase their designs in store as before!”