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Johnson's World is a monthly column currently appearing in What They Think magazine, and WhatTheyThink.com and previously in Printing Impressions, Printing News, Wide-Format & Signage, Quick Printing, and American Printer magazines. Scroll down to read past issues.

May/June 2024		Live Your Life in Totality Steve Johnson derives life lessons from last April’s “eclipse tourism.”
March/April 2024		Look to the stars for inspiration for promoting the efficacy of print Astronomer vs astrologer can compare in the same way as printer vs digital media.
January/February 2024		Getting Real About Artificial Intelligence Depending upon who you ask, AI means either the beginning of the end for the human race’s domination of the world, or the elimination of all our jobs…
December 2023		This Christmas, Get A Clue The grandkids, at grandpa’s house, with a board game. Steve Johnson introduces some digital natives to the board game Clue.
September/October 2023		The Bald Facts Who loves ya, baby? Steve Johnson explains how Telly Savalas is a case study in how to successfully distinguish yourself in the market.
July/August 2023		Pause, Plan, and Proceed Leaders don’t always have the option of taking as much time as they need to carefully plan and implement their strategies…or do they?
May/June 2023		You Have Mail…Or Maybe Not By law, the US Postal Service is supposed to deliver mail six days a week. Steve Johnson tries to understand why his mail delivery has become erratic and unreliable.
March/April 2023		Kudos Steve Johnson offers kudos to two stellar examples of variable-data printing, truly personalized with useful information.
November/December 2022		Christmas Times A-Comin' I’ve been sending Christmas cards my entire life, so I’ve learned a thing or two about them, and I’m going to share some tips with you, dear reader.
September/October 2022		Vague musings, name-dropping, streams of consciousness and occasional flashes of brilliance... Paper may be used less, but where it is growing, paper is worth more.
July/August 2022		Sound Like a Dry Martini As a rule, I do not enjoy reading blogs. Countless scientific studies have unanimously concluded that online reading results in inferior comprehension and minimal retention. In-depth on-screen reading is also uncomfortable on my eyes.
May/June 2022		Grow Your Own Graphic arts programs are disappearing from vocational schools and you can no longer count on a steady stream of applicants. What to do?
April 2022		The Cat and Mouse Game Walter the Cat lives with me in a large house on a big lot in a rural area with a cold climate, all factors which add up to mice.
March 2022		I Call Nonsense I’m calling out some nonsense, and what better place to start than the internet? It is home of social media, which is unequalled for nonsense.
January/February 2022		The Lizard and the Window Washer How to hit the jackpot when things go wrong.
November/December 2021		Warming Up to Color When a genuine reason to add color appears, especially where it is not normally used, jump in! Make the case. Be an advocate for color and for print.
October 2021		Bad Data Needs a Scrub Bad data is an inevitable byproduct of the information age. The sheer volume of data collected is part of the problem, but it is the way it is managed that really causes glitches.
September 2021		Dear Mr. Schwab It was with sadness that I received Charles Schwab & Co’s notice that the summer issue of your magazine On Investing would be the last. As both your client and a connoisseur of printed magazines I can vouch for the quality, professionalism and efficacy of On Investing.
August 2021		Poop On the Playground Before you embark on your company’s next big thing, pick up a bag and a shovel. You might want to clean up your poop.
June/July 2021		Musings, Droppings, Streams and Flashes Digital print or conventional print? Do you have a preference? More importantly, do your clients? Do they even care how you affix ink to paper?
May 2021		Thanks, No Thanks You're worth more than a cup of coffee.
April 2021		Are You Impressed With My Press? I just bought a press! Pretty exciting, eh? Can you guess exactly what I bought?
January/February 2021		Be My Valentine Ask your customers to be your Valentine. I’m not suggesting that you send roses to your customers, but how about a card?
November/December 2020		Go Ahead, Judge Me Whew! Thank goodness the elections are over. The sad fact is that while everyone either loves or hates the president, many folks don’t care or even know who exactly is their county clerk, their coroner or their representative on the library board or fire protection district.
October 2020		Cheese, Sausage, Mushrooms, Shipping The question was changed from what's the best pizza to what's the best pizza to ship a thousand miles across the country.
September 2020		Don't Keep Secrets You are the best promoter for print.

April 2020		Wrestling at Oxyrhynchus Think that the times we live in are different from anything the world has known in the past? Think again. We may have the printing press, the internet, and indoor plumbing, but human nature remains unchanged.
March 2020		History Goes Paperless; History Goes Away "Old formats of documents that we’ve created or presentations may not be readable by the latest version of the software because backwards compatibility is not always guaranteed."
February 2020		Musings and Morsels This month's article is all about Valentine’s Day candy, those pesky click charges, just right vs. too much, and the value of print.
January 2020		Darn Those Beancounters Those darn beancounters! Killjoys! Dealwreckers! The bankers and the corporate moneymen are always there to rain on our parades! They are just being barricades on our road to innovation, success and glory!
December 2019		Laughing at My Newsletter Half the content of my company’s monthly Overnight Lite newsletter is made up of jokes, riddles, and puns. Right now my newsletter has me smiling, but it is no laughing matter. I’m smiling because we’ve just celebrated 30 years of continuous publication.
November 2019		Gift Giving for Kids Is Easy When giving to kids, check out their toys. American Girl dolls and Star Wars have spawned many volumes of reading material.
October 2019		New Doors, But Old Habits When we needed to get our new doors painted, I called Pete because his work was usually good enough.
September 2019		Annoying Your Customers for the Right Reasons A bumper sticker on the front door of an ad agency eliminated the middleman by offending 50% of the people walking in.
August 2019		Social Media: How to Alienate Friends and Make New Enemies Just employ the power of social media to share your political opinions with the world.
July 2019		Important Print Lessons from The Bard Many think Shakespeare is archaic, something from the distant past, worthy of study by historians, but of no relevance in today’s society. Funny, that’s the same thing many people say about print.
June 2019		Data Is Everywhere ... But Make Sure to Use It Correctly Data is merely information; it is what you do with it that counts. If we have the right data and get the data right, print is a powerful marketing and informational tool. Get it wrong, and you’ve just lost all credibility, meaning you have no more perceived value than a Twitter feed.
May 2019		Lessons About Data A donation I made at a recent fundraising event for the Forest Preserve Foundation generated a heartfelt thank you letter for me and my wife … wait a minute, I don’t have a wife!
April 2019		Print: The Only Effective Medium in Some Cases, and Here's One of Them In the less-than-glamorous Spring elections there isn’t much money available for advertising. How exactly are those precious campaign funds spent? I decided to take a look.
March 2019		Hats Off To Print Domtar Paper’s Blueline is either a small magazine or a very complex and content rich brochure. I’m going to call it a magazine, since that’s what Domtar calls it, but the label really isn’t important. What is important is print.
February 2019		You Can Do It, Sam I Am The story, recounted by James Clear, says a bet was made between polymath Bennett Cerf in his role as founder of Random House Publishers, and Dr. Seuss, who needs no further introduction. Cerf bet Seuss couldn’t write a children’s book using only 50 different words. Seuss won the bet.
January 2019		Special Greetings are 'Still a Thing' Think the time for cards has passed? Not nearly. The Greeting Card Association reports that Americans buy about 6,500,000,000 printed greeting cards each year.
December 2018		Give the 'Original Present' This Year Bible publisher Tyndale House’s Filament project is the New Living Translation of the Bible and an app, which pairs the text with augmented reality. Augmented reality and interactive print are topics that regularly garner enthusiasm in the design, publishing and packaging world. Unfortunately, they don’t get much coverage anywhere else.
November 2018		Midterm Elections Show Value of Print A sign in someone’s yard means they have thought long and hard about this election, made a call to the campaign office or at least responded formally to a campaign worker’s request.
October 2018		DiGiorno Pizza Marketing Approach Provides Printers With Good Food for Thought Check out DiGiorno’s website. All you see is pizza. Check out their packaging. All you see is pizza. Your printed products may not be mouthwatering like pizza, but an accurate representation of your specialty should be the highlight of your marketing. If a prospect needs your product, their mouths will water.
September 2018		The Hole Not There: Master Your Core Competencies First Quite a few years ago I received a promotional wall calendar in the mail. It was from a small company, and it was clearly homemade. By “homemade” I mean it was conceived, designed, printed and bound in the office of the representative company. Design and print professionals were not consulted.
August 2018		It's Debatable Four-score and eighty years ago, two of our forefathers set forth to face one another in a series of debates. The Lincoln-Douglas debates were intense. Unlike today’s presidential debates in which candidates respond to questions with short soundbites
July 2018		Here's Your Mission, Should You Accept The idea of a clearly-defined mission or purpose was, and is, an excellent idea. When properly defined, it serves as a litmus test for everything that a company does.
June 2018		Bid Data Needs a Bath Bad data is an inevitable byproduct of the information age. The sheer volume of data collected is part of the problem, but it is the way it is managed that really causes glitches.
May 2018		There are No 'Safe Spaces' in Business Young people of college age today are being treated to a phenomenon... never dreamed: safe spaces.
April 2018		Elections Bring Out Primal Elements in Advertising and Marketing As Samuel Johnson wryly noted, “When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” I suspect the winner-take-all nature of elections has this effect. Incremental market share means nothing. Winning marketing awards means nothing.
March 2018		Print-Related Musings To Reflect On Vague musings, name-dropping, streams of consciousness and occasional flashes of brilliance ... "You have a much better chance of returning to your reading material if it is in print form, which lies about on a table, nightstand, credenza or bookshelf, beckoning “read me” every time you pass by."...from Johnson’s World.
February 2018		Commentary: Print Is A Medium On Steroids. Promote It As Such Instead of declaring that "Print Is Not Dead", we need to start selling print the way we should have been doing it all along: as the world’s most effective medium of communication and information.
January 2018		Looks Are Important In Direct Mail An oversized bright green foil padded envelope arrives from Sebold Capital Wealth Management. I don't know who they are, but I can guess.
December 2017		Think Of Buying Injet Printing Equipment Like A Marriage Don't choose your new inkjet presses based only on appearances combined with gut feelings.
November 2017		Lessons From A Bruised Apple I personally hesitate to use Apple as an example for business.
October 2017		Thoughtful Lessons From Books … The Printed Kind You can learn a lot from books, usually from reading them but sometimes just from looking over their covers.
September 2017		WeatherTech: Floored by the Mats WeatherTech is a good example for several of my usual themes. They market aggressively, using a balanced combination of the internet and print publications to get their story in front of buyers.
August 2017		What Printers Can Learn From Bowling It is a sign of the times we live in that teenagers bowl using 2 balls each.
July 2017		See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Read Me What has digital media to offer Helen Keller? Nothing.

June 2017		Advice You Can Bank On Need money? Alas, money is hard to come by sometimes.
May 2017		'My Card' The first thing a new business does is put up a website and establish its email addresses. Next comes the social-media presence. Business cards might come after that, but then again, they might not.
April 2017		The Copier Repairman If your digital press needs service every few weeks instead of every day, this is not good enough, not nearly!
March 2017		Make It Fascinating Print has unique opportunity to reach generation Z who are overwhelmed with digital media. When they get mail, they look at it.
February 2017		Leadership Off, and On, the Field Next to parenting, leadership is the most influential role you’ll ever have. As in parenting, “Do as I say, not as I do” won’t ever cut it.
January 2017		Musings, Droppings, Streams & Flashes Pt 9 After the nail-biting, extra-inning game 7 of the World Series in which the Cubs emerged victorious, the Daily Herald was on the spot again. This time they got it right.
December 2016		It's All About More Than The Dress Give the gift of touch for Christmas. Consider coloring books, board games with pieces, cards, dice and fake money which will draw family and friends together.
November 2016		The Sound and the Fury The author, William Faulkner, suggested what was a radical idea at the time of using colored text to clarify the ever-changing different time periods in his book.
October 2016		How To Alienate Friends and Make Enemies It’s easier than ever to alienate friends and make new enemies while at the same time disgusting the general population. Just employ the power of social media.
September 2016		Trains, Magazines, and Portals Is the airline inflight magazine doomed, now that we have wifi and literally hundreds of movie choices to entertain us? It appears that the opposite is true.
August 2016		We All Scream for Ice Cream In the old days when you wanted to cool off you would go to your hometown Dairy Queen for a soft-serve vanilla ice cream cone. Then the market changed.
July 2016		Mind Your Manners Some large American companies should learn from the politeness and etiquette of the Japanese culture in order to improve their sales rate.
June 2016		Musings, Droppings, Streams, and Flashes Pt 8 In 1524 Antonio Pigafetta, having successfully completed Magellan’s voyage around the world and having penned by far the most interesting account of the explorations, petitioned the Doge of Venice and the city council, “that no one may print it for twenty years, except myself.”
May 2016		Threats What is more threatening? An olive-skinned young girl wearing a hajib in a Toyota driving into the parking lot of a local college or an olive-skinned young girl wearing a hajib in a Toyota fixated on her smart phone?
April 2016		Of Quartos and Folios Learn why a 17th Century book of Shakespeare's popular plays called "First Folio" would today be considered an example of print on demand.
March 2016		Vote for Me If you aren’t in the “in” circle of local politics, how do you know how important an election is? How can you identify the hot issues? The Answers Are in Print.
February 2016		Of Beer and Clydesdales Yes, Super Bowl 50 may be played in Santa Clara California, but Super Bowl L will be played right here and now in "Johnson’s World".
January 2016		Of Plastic Lumps and Buggy Whips In his book "Vaporized", Robert Tercek asked the question, “Where have all the record stores gone?”
December 2015		Merry Christmas! Have A Drink On Me When I entered the workforce, booze was the standard go-to Christmas gift for clients. Not wine; I'm talking the hard stuff. But times change and people's tastes change.
November 2015		Dear Newspaper Publisher Each weekday before our office opened, your newspaper was delivered to the front door of our corporate headquarters. Each day, that is, until three weeks ago.
October 2015		Musings, Droppings, Streams and Flashes (Part 7) Vague musings, name-dropping, streams of consciousness and occasional flashes of brilliance ... from Johnson’s World.
September 2015		She's Going to Disney World Jana's tale of her getaway with her husband to Disney World.
August 2015		A Place For Everything And Everything In Its Place There is a graphic floating around on the Internet of an old Radio Shack flyer with a caption pointing out that every item in the flyer has been replaced by a smartphone. Maybe not.
July 2015		The Fight of the Century Very few of us are professional boxers or fight promotors, so what can we learn from the so-called “fight of the century”?
June 2015		A Short Talk With A Printer How much do you really know about the man whose words fill the last page of this publication each month?
May 2015		Shades Of Grey I haven't counted fifty, but I do see several grey areas that the phenomenon of this book's success illuminate for us.
April 2015		All The News That's Fit To Print Instead of Facebook or Twitter, sometimes only print will do.
March 2015		Things Fall Apart Why I couldn't finish “Misconceptions about the Original Populists.” because the book fell apart.
February 2015		Print Could Save Your Marriage … and Your Business Why I might very well refer Dr. David Gursky as a marriage counselor.
January 2015		Musings, Droppings, Streams and Flashes (Part 6) Cat videos on YouTube, Roman Gods, Top reasons people do not go online, etc.
December 2014		Gift Giving Made Easier No gift is more personal than a real book, carefully chosen with the recipient in mind.
November 2014		Be Brief, Be Succint It is difficult to sell anything when the offer is not unique, but it is impossible to sell when it is not clear what the proposition is.
October 2014		Settle Down Do you have a “bucket list” of great things you hope to accomplish in life? Don’t settle for anything less.
September 2014		8 Solid Reasons Why You Should Attend GRAPH EXPO 14 If you can't travel to the drupa 16 show in far off Dusseldorf Germany, consider going to GRAPH EXPO 14.
August 2014		Understand Your Brand Part 2 Two examples of branding done well.
July 2014		Understand Your Brand Be very careful of your brand. Promote it, market it, guard it.
June 2014		I Need a Vacation A nice long trip to Hawaii, or perhaps a week in Florida. At least so says Hilton Grand Vacations.
May 2014		Promises, Promises If you are an equipment sales representative, don't over-promise.
April 2014		Taxman Some print-related taxing tidbits as April 15 comes and goes.
March 2014		Shooting Yourself In the Foot Some overachievers in sales and marketing spend much time and effort creating brand awareness while they themselves seem unaware of what their own brand stands for.
February 2014		Use General Interest To Target Markets If you are reading this article, whether in print or online, it demonstrates that reading is alive and well. That is why newsletters are an unbeatable medium of communication between businesses and the people who operate them.
January 2014		Flying With The Inkjet Set—Or Not Can inkjet presses that will halve my costs still deliver quality acceptable to my clients?
December 2013		Cards For The Holidays In Johnson’s World we always chose the best tool for the job.
November 2013		Reinvention In Interesting Times Waiting for an upswing in the general economy to revive your business no longer qualifies as a strategy. You could reinvent.
October 2013		A Deli-cate Situation You may not be selling sandwiches, but your customers are hoping for price, quality, and service.
September 2013		Hot Town, Squirrel in the City Until now, 3D printing has been used mostly for creating prototypes, but it is starting to come into use for short-run manufacturing. It seems to me this exactly follows the pattern of digital printing.
August 2013		Dear Mister Perfect Complacency is deadly to your business. Any company that has the "good enough" mindset is sending an open invitation to competitors, who will happily come in and steal your customers.
July 2013		Tan, Don't Burn If you are in sales, your prospects are probably more sensitive than you.
June 2013		Disorganized Reorganization When bureaucratic company policy isallowed to trump customer service, you run the risk of losing business.
May 2013		USPS Reformed or Deformed? Poor service, delivery problems, and decreasing mail volume also need to be part of USPS reform initiatives.
April 2013		Something Old, Something New Cutting edge technology can lend with old world tradition to paint a picture of print as a living, growing discipline.
March 2013		Going Postal in a FedEx World Poor business practices will not help the USPS survive as other options become cheaper, easier, and more convenient.
February 2013		Know When to Hold 'Em, Know When to Fold 'Em Ditching unprofitable customers can improve your bottom line.
January 2013		For Us or Against Us How are you ever going to convince your prospects of the value of print if you don't believe in it yourself?
December 2012		Give the Timeless Gift of Print Books open worlds that no video can match
November 2012		Trees Love Paper It's up to us to tell the world the truth about the sustainability of paper and print.
October 2012		If it is Windy, This Must Be Graph Expo It is difficult to sell anything when the offer is not unique, but it is impossible to sell when it is not clear what the proposition is.
September 2012		Chicken, Civility & Customers Recent events offer valuable lessons in online etiquette.
August 2012		Root, Root, Root for the Home Team Digital printers can learn a bit from the boys of summer.
July 2012		Printerly Musings, Observations, and Flashes Vague musings, name-dropping, streams of consciousness and occasional flashes of brilliance from Johnson's World.
June 2012		Championing the Cause of Profits Are you in it to win it? Then pay attention to the bottom line.
May 2012		Email Marketing Is Too Easy Make sure the fruits of your labor don't produce spam.
April 2012		Shopping for Customer Service What can you learn about customer service from the checkout line at an upscale grocery?
March 2012		The Internet, Global Warming, and the Paperless Office The new market is here. Create your own opportunities.
February 2012		Random Thoughts About Consistency I do know a thing or two about concistently marketing your services.
January 2012		Whose World Is It Anyway? Real world advice and obsservations from a print shop owner.
December 2011		The Green, Green Pastures of Home Sound management skills deliver success no matter what services you offer...
October 2011		Welcome (Back) to My World Steve Johnson joins the Quick Printing's roster of columnists.

August 2011		Digital Printing Walks The Plank Why diigital printing is not an option on cruise ships.
July 2011		Don’t Be A Museum Piece The museum I visited displayed samples of single-page newspapers, broadsides and financial documents, all archaic items from days gone by.
June 2011		It’s Not About The Press Yes, most presses look alike to the general public. Should we educate them on the differences? Don't bother. Instead, educate them on the differences between you and your competitors.
May 2011		New Routes, Wrong Turns & The Road Less Traveled Can you steer yourself in any direction you choose?
April 2011		Exchanging Ideas With Future Generations Youth Exchange is a life-changing program for both the students and their host families.
March 2011		The Awesome Power Of Social Media Joe the printer has a cell phone and a Facebook account, although he doesn't use them much.
February 2011		It's All In The Cards Whether or not you sell or print them, there are lessons for us all in the saga of the simple business card.
January 2011		Green Initiatives & Common Sense Green is suddenly everywhere. Hardly a month goes by without an ecology minded group promoting a new green incentive. Kermit the Frog would be proud.
December 2010		Holiday Thoughts If you are looking for a last-minute or belated Christmas gift for a young person, you can't go wrong with comic books.
November 2010		A Tribute To Dick Gorelick Dick's last newsletter, published posthumously, was filled with pages of tributes from printing industry luminaries.
October 2010		Checkmate Chess is like fighting, but with rules, so it is ideal for married couples.
September 2010		It’s Like Printing $100 Bills Printing firms have been squeezed to some degree by the sad state of the economy, and is being reshaped rapidly by the onslaught of new media technology.
August 2010		I Was A Teenage Printer In the Trinity Lutheran Church basement I recently found a Can of Squirms, a role-playing game which I helped to print in the 1970s when I was a teenage pressman.
July 2010		Make Your Printing Clickable Have you seen Playboy's June issue, featuring “Miss Playmate of the Year” in 3D? Put on your special glasses and voila. Who says printing is old school technology?
June 2010		Going up – Discussing Viral Marketing And Social Media Someone likes something, so they tell others. It has been this way since the world began. For thousands of years, we could only tell a few people at a time.
May 2010		Root, Root, Root For The Home Team Are you a fourth-generation printer? When it comes to digital, we are all new to the game, so we'd better choose our team with care.
April 2010		Digital Presses Run The (Color) Gamut Every digital press model uses its own unique patented process from start to finish.
March 2010		I'm On A Mission Remember when corporate mission statements were in vogue? Every big company in corporate America had to develop a mission statement.
February 2010		Who's A Printer? If you do silk screening, metal etching or imaging on aluminum are you a "real" printer?
January 2010		Another Decade A decade ago, the financial industry in particular, egged on by the federal government, really was wondering if Y2K meant civilization as we knew it would come to an end.
December 2009		Quality Is A Sticky Issue If you live in the great state of New York and you own a motor vehicle, you've already heard this story.
November 2009		Fonts Still Matter My introduction to the Futura font came while composing headlines on a Ludlow. This was before a Mac was a computer. It was before a Mac was even a hamburger! If you don't know what a Ludlow is, go ask your grandfather.
October 2009		Get Involved In Print’s Evolution Last month, Google announced a deal to provide two million book titles for printing and binding on the Espresso Book Machine.
September 2009		Print, By Any Other Name Before I opened my digital-only printshop, I worked in conventional shops of varying sizes, performing various job functions. This gave me the opportunity to see the possibilities of digital printing.
August 2009		Three to Get Ready, Four to Go to PRINT 09 I have a few new observations just for PRINT 09, to make certain your trek to Chicago next month is a memorable yet useful event.
July 2009		There Are No Magic Print Markets It seemed that during the Internet bubble of the nineties, the “death-of-print” predictions of a paperless society would be fulfilled.
June 2009		Telling Your Company's Story I just read a press release from a printing company, proudly boasting that they have just installed the world's longest 41-inch sheetfed press, or some such malarkey. I have questions.
May 2009		Just The Facts Don't you wonder how much all the hot air created from self-righteous experts talking about “green” has contributed to global warming?
April 2009		The Holy Grail Of Digital Printing The phrase “near-offset quality” is archaic; digital print quality surpasses offset as often as not.
March 2009		Letters About Mail At my printing company, we send customized marketing packets to prospects after we make initial contact. We include some combination of a personal letter, various Copresco publications, samples, case histories and technical materials.
February 2009		Would You Print Less To Add More Value? If you had the option to receive a printed stock prospectus or receive the materials electronically, what would you do?
January 2009		Standing Resolute In The New Year Nobel Prize-winning author and Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's book “The Oak and the Calf” employed the metaphor of a calf repeatedly butting its head against an oak tree, refusing to stop until either the tree was knocked down or it killed itself trying.
December 2008		The Colors Of The Season The holiday season is upon us once again. A season of colors, all of which have significance. Beware, for here in Johnson's World, everything has a double meaning. Allow me, your somewhat overgrown elf, to guide you through this maze of holiday colors.
November 2008		A Table For Two “Hello, you just phoned Adelle's two minutes ago about a reservation tonight. I think perhaps I spoke too hastily. I'm sure we can accommodate you if you would still like to join us for dinner. What time did you say you had in mind?”
October 2008		I Ought To Be In Pictures Whenever we install a new press (or new bindery equipment, or new software, or another building) we take pictures. Lots of pictures.
September 2008		Would You Like Fries With That? If you are a printer, does it make sense to open a restaurant nearby?
August 2008		Drawing Conclusions Steve Johnson likeness by artist Barbara Carlson Have you ever had your caricature drawn by a street artist? You might not have been flattered by the results, but I'll bet your friends and family all agreed that the drawing was accurate.
July 2008		May I Have Your Attention? When you write a magazine column, the only way you know that anybody out there is listening is when a reader sends an email comment to you.
June 2008		One For The Money, Two For The Show Many of AMERICAN PRINTER's recent articles have been about Drupa. To read this magazine and the other trade magazines, you would think that everyone is attending Drupa.
May 2008		Whither Pluto? What is Pluto now? Is it a minor planet, or a planetoid?
April 2008		All Is Fair in Love, War and Printing Amazon.com has announced that any books printed on demand must be printed by Amazon itself if the book is to be made available via the Amazon Web site.
March 2008		Food For Thought When a hotel clerk says to me, “You are all set, sir. Here is your hotel room key, and the key to the minibar.”, I always gave the mimibar key right back to the clerk. If I awaken at 3:00 a.m., I don't need to be tempted by a bag of M&Ms or a jigger of scotch.
February 2008		More PURLs Before Swine Last month I talked about PURLs and URLs, and the advantages and challenges of including them in variable-data printed materials vs. e-mail.
January 2008		PURLs Of Wisdom Why are printers interested in PUTLs? Marketing, my dear Watson. A properly constructed PURL lands me on a Web page that has been personalized just for me.
December 2007		Don’t Stop Believing – An Open Letter To Santa I'm writing you this letter as I always do, with ink and paper. You don't seem to have your own blog or MySpace page yet.
November 2007		Musings, Streams and Flashes I see more and more of phrases of this ilk cropping up: “A Google search on ‘direct mail’ gives 355 million results. Obviously you cannot afford to overlook such a hot market.”
October 2007		Johnson & Johnson: An Identity Crisis Remember the brouhaha over the unholy alliance between corporate behemoths Adobe and FedEx? Two companies joined forces to steer print away from Adobe's loyal customer base and toward Kinko's, the college copy service.
September 2007		School Days Here is what printing companies of the future (the ones that will be hiring your graduates) need from today's college programs.
August 2007		Picture-Perfect Profits Forget shoeboxes full of photos or disks filled with digital images. Frank Romano of the Rochester Institute of Technology predicts the photo book market will grow to surpass a billion dollars by 2010.
July 2007		Paper Dolls “Daddy, are you writing a column?” asks my daughter Roxane. “Yes, dear, I'm supposed to, but I'm having trouble thinking of ideas.” “Why don't you write a story about dollies?” “How about paper dolls?”
June 2007		Everyone's A Winner I've just won a prize, and if you are a digital printer, I invite you to share it with me.
May 2007		Keep Those Cards and Letters Coming Long ago and far away, I wrote a letter. The “long ago” was three or four years, and the “far away” was in Washington, DC.
April 2007		History Lessons, Part 2 Long ago and far away, I wrote a letter. The “long ago” was three or four years, and the “far away” was in Washington, DC.
March 2007		History Lessons Come with me now to 1987. Desktop publishing was the buzzword.
February 2007		Ancillary Or Essential? As a panelist at the National Printing Equipment and Supplies (NPES)' regional meeting, when asked about "ancillary services", I jumped on my soapbox and the fun began
January 2007		In My Humble Estimation Are you staying awake nights wondering whether you should continue to use budgeted hourly rates (BHR) as the basis for your estimating standards or switch to activity-based costing (ABC)?
December 2006		I’ve Been Working on the Railroad Engaging a consultant? Odds are you’ll hear something like this: “You know, railroads thought they were in the railroad business. They didn’t realize that they were actually in the transportation business.”
November 2006		The Stevie Awards All entries were subject to the rules and regulations explained in my July 2006 column, most of which I have blatantly revised on the fly in the interest of getting a good story.
October 2006		Black Monday After a year of careful planning, I incorporated my new company on October 19, 1987, better known as “Black Monday.”
September 2006		My Stream of Consciousness As the hotel industry finds it prudent to avoid the 13th floor, perhaps book printers and publishers should eliminate chapter 11.
August 2006		The Variety of Variable Printing Gutenberg didn't actually invent printing, but he did invent variable-data printing (VDP).
July 2006		You May Already Be A Winner We are living in the middle of an offset-to-digital printing transition and we all have a stake in the outcome.
June 2006		Where Have All The Printers Gone? In the 1970s, a new type of print shop appeared on the American scene that was dubbed "quick print".
May 2006		Letters, We Get Letters If an organization is holding seminars and promoting speakers to tell us variable printing is the savior of our industry, they had better be able to get the name printed correctly on the invitation.
April 2006		Hey, Hey, Holy Mackerel Here in the Windy City, there are two professional baseball clubs: the Cubs and…and…the other one. Very few people are fans of both teams.
March 2006		All the News That's Fit to Print If you read AMERICAN PRINTER from front to back and at least glance at the stories on each page, each issue, it is a pretty safe bet you’ve seen the following: Copresco has been honored in some way.
February 2006		The Cookie Monster “Cookies,” are those little files planted on your computer by Web sites. They might simply note that you visited the site. More complex cookies keep detailed records of your browsing and buying habits.
January 2006		Welcome To My World Does the printing industry need another commentator? What can you expect from me that you can’t get anywhere else?
December 2005		Give The Gift Of The Printed Word What do Theodore Geisel, Alan Milne and Laura Wilder have in common? Who are they? What are they doing in a printing magazine column?
October 2005		I’m Just Wild About Harry The weather might be cooling off, but a fever is simmering just below the surface. Its name is Harry Potter.
August 2005		The Green, Green Pastures of Home A great misconception haunts the printing industry. It returns as regularly as Halley’s comet but wears a new disguise each time. Call it "Green Grass Syndrome."
June 2005		Victoria's Real Secret My wife finds a Victoria’s Secret catalog in her mail now and then. I don’t believe she ever made any purchases from their catalogs until recently. Therein hangs a tale.
April 2005		Don't Dilute the Value of Print It tears me up to see print’s value diluted to the point that a term like "junk mail" enters the vernacular.
February 2005		The Sunny Side of Print After six centuries of nonstop growth, print volume is declining or—at best—flat and this frightens some, especially those experiencing a decline in their own sales.
December 2004		But Is It Actionable? Harvard professor Chris Argyris addresses the problem of converting catchy slogans into tangible results. He asks "Is it actionable?"
October 2004		Be Wary of Sub-par Data & Sub-par Advice The database is king in variable printing. I say this often. If the database is not up to snuff, the printing doesn't matter.
August 2004		Different vs Differentiated When I was a kid, people often said I was“different.” It wasn't exactly clear what they meant, but I don't think it was as a compliment.
June 2004		Variable Printing in the Illinois Senate Race Although he didn't come out on top in the Illinois primary election this spring, Andy McKenna won, hands down, the prize for best use of variable data in a political campaign.