We should applaud ourselves in the wide-format digital inkjet print sector because the imagination businesses continue to show must shame many of those in other industries, indeed in other print sectors.
This issue for instance is testament to the breath of creative development taking place across all sizes of digital print providers. Take the likes of Displayways (p15), which is not just one of the many companies constantly looking to bring new applications to market, but thinking very creatively about who it collaborates with to maximise potential, and then thinking outside the box about how it gets those products in front of potential clients.
Meanwhile, Your Print Partner founder Stuart Maclaren shows why he is this month’s Leading Light, having won Young Business Person of the Year Award 2014’ in the Lincolnshire Media Business Awards and being listed as one of ‘the most successful things to come out of Lincolnshire 2014’ in the Lincolnshire Echo. He sums up his strategic thinking quite simply: “If we’re going to be part of a creative industry, we have to be creative ourselves.” In his case that means travelling the globe for new ideas and then working out how to make them profitable here at home, and pushing the boundaries in terms of company development. It’s working. YPP, which is just turning four, is expected to bring in £1.5m this year.
And it’s not just the PSPs that are showing imagination. Take a look at what Your Print Specialists is doing about turning on the talent and making this sector more attractive to youngsters as a career opportunity. It is now a learning partner at project-based Studio West Newcastle and hopes others will follow suit.
Imagination fuels this sector – it looks like we have enough in the tanks to keep us moving ahead for some considerable time to come.