ellen kardell
graphic designer | print specialist
Design. Collaterals. Even websites.
Technology has grown exponentially in the last two decades. The internet is a game-changer. Print experienced a brief period of being set aside for the shiny new toy of the web, but now—
It's time for a re-imagining of print. Long gone are the thousands of pieces of junk that used to fill our mailboxes, trash cans and landfills. Poorly produced mass mailings devalued the beauty and industrial craft of print. The internet can be a faster and possibly less expensive way to reach a mass audience with quickly changing information, ideas and products, but for a message that will be looked at and kept around — possibly for years — just because it's too beautiful to toss away, nothing beats print.
A good print job is a tangible celebration for the senses: the weight, look and velvety feel of a lovely paper stock, the smell of fresh ink, the gleam of spot varnish. A beautifully printed piece will enhance your brand and demonstrate the permanence and solidity of your vision and your product.
No longer the only game in town, print can play to it's integral strengths and be used as a premium messaging platform.
This is the future of print.
Okay. I can design for the web. I can produce graphics and enhance photos so they will look fabulous online. I do not code — that's a whole separate part of the brain that I do not possess. I partner with a quirky and multi-talented web designer/coder and published playwright/author for websites.
This isn't just a job to me. It's about the love of doing something creative, every single day. And my first love is print design.
I've been designing for print since we used Xacto knives and did manual paste-ups. There isn't a part of that I don't love. Now the process is much more streamlined, and I love that as well.
Print connects us to our shared history, all the way back to the Gutenberg press. It's been around. It will be around.
I believe this. It is what makes me a passionate print designer.