Hence, the arrival of pop up shops.

Pop up shops can be a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to road test a new idea or get into a high street to market their products and get consumers to experience their brand on a temporary basis. Fun, innovative and most importantly, cost effective, pop ups can be found cropping up in high streets everywhere – and not just pop up shops. Pop up bars, pop up galleries or even restaurants can be found, creating a stir in the local area.

Dressing the retail space is essential to its appeal. If you are only in a town or city high street for a few weeks, it is essential to ensure you have as much presence as possible on the high street. This is good news for local printing companies. Businesses looking for POS printing or poster printing can find printers in the area who can help turn around printed materials in a short lead time. Pop ups make good commercial sense when trying a new shop format or an untested city for a brand but the quicker you can get your pop up shop up and running the better value it will be.

The movie, directed by James Cameron, has already surpassed his own directorial hit ‘Titanic’ in the worldwide box office stakes, in part due to the fact that Avatar is in 3D and 3D tickets cost more for theatregoers. Now it appears that Avatar may have set a new 3D print record too.

Lenticular specialist company Riot of Colour has created a 3D panel that is to be displayed at HMV’s flagship store on Oxford Street, London, to promote the DVD and Blu-Ray release of the movie. The display is believed to be the largest 3D lenticular display ever created in the UK, setting a new record for Avatar.

The display, created by the Charlton based company, comprises of five 2.4 metre panels.

In addition to this giant display, Riot of Colour also produced another, smaller, display for the HMV store on Bond Street.

Riot of Colour’s director, Mark Roblett, believes that the display is the largest ever created in the UK. According to Mark, it took the digital print specialist weeks to render the huge files that were sent over for Avatar, before the display was finally ready for HMV.

Mark commented:

“It’s always nice to have an opportunity to push the boundaries of lenticular technology to new levels.”

Trevor Crawford, the IPEX exhibition director, has revealed that 38% of the exhibition floorspace is booked by digital manufacturers and suppliers with just 26% being taken by presses. Mr. Crawford believes that the market is more positive compared to six months ago and speaks of a ‘new air of controlled optimism’

According to Mr. Trevor Dodsworth, head of product marketing at Cannon Business Solutions, who has doubled its space take-up this year, digital is now a larger component of major tradeshows due to advancements in technology. Mr. Dodsworth said:

“Rather than being a ‘new kid on the block’, digital is now an established part of any major event.”

The exhibition is reflective of the increasing mix of traditional and digital solutions for printing companies. Analogue technology is still likely to have a large part to play in the future. Mr. Chas Maloney, director of marketing at Ricoh UK, who will showcase their Pro C720 and C720S production printers at the exhibition, said:

“I still believe that there is room for both in the marketplace. If I’m seeing a balance moving towards digital then it’s just that, a balance. What is important is focusing on the customers’ needs and demands,”

The print industry is moving into an interesting phase. It will be interesting to observe the movements over the next year or two.

Some people are worried that traditional coldset produced newsprint will vanish as a result of these new developments, whilst others believe that the newspaper format is here to stay. For example, Sir Harold Evans, former editor of The Sunday Times, believes there is plenty of life left in the newspaper industry, with digital print offering a new lease of life to the printed press.

Sir Harold believes that digital technology will not only save the medium but will lift it to new heights. Developments in digital technology now make it possible to publish editions in remote places around the globe. It is very easy to send a PDF over the internet, which is then printed locally. Many also point out the environmental advantages of this as it removes the physical transportation of bulky news print.

Digital printing costs are reducing, but traditional coldset print still has the advantage of economies of scale. Future production is likely to see a combination of the two methods, with dedicated local sections produced digitally. It will be interesting to see how it all settles down.

Adobe UK’s John Cunningham stated that Adobe’s decision wasn’t in any way a sign that Adobe wasn’t committed to the print industry and the print market is of vital importance to Adobe.

Cunningham stated:

It’s really just that the official programme, which was created to help with the transition to InDesign, is no longer required.

Maybe it looks a little bit more daunting, or that Adobe isn’t interested in the traditional print side anymore – of course we are, it’s still a huge part of our business.

The decision to close down the ‘Adobe Partner Connection Print Service Provider Program’ was announced by Adobe at the beginning of the month. Adobe blamed a declining membership for the decision.

The main competitor to InDesign in the graphic design industry is Quark, which moved fast to capitalise on Adobe’s decision. Quark announced that it was offering a year’s free membership to its own system, QuarkAlliance, for Adobe users.

Cunningham isn’t fazed by Quark’s move though, believing that users of InDesign aren’t about to suddenly switch to using Quark:

InDesign has such a strong, firm base out there in the industry now and is such a widely-accepted standard, that I don’t see people seeing [the closure of the print partner programme] as negative, as long as they can get the technical support as and when required. It’s not a case of: right, we’ve finished the programme and so now we turn our backs on you.

Cunningham also mentioned that there are two user groups for InDesign currently being run in the UK. They are held in London, and in Cardiff, Wales.

The police are hoping that the manufacturers of the specialist printing equipment that is used to create fake IDs will assist them in monitoring who has access to it and what it is being used for. The equipment can be used to produce fake ID cards and even passports, when in the wrong hands.

The police are asking that manufacturers and distributors create profiles of their customers, the print companies in the UK whom they sell the machines to, so that any suspicious purchases can be reported to the police.

Detective chief inspector Nick Downing said that 90 different entities have agreed to help the police to control who has access to the equipment, with the 90 entities making up around 75% of the print industry.

However, the final 25% is more difficult for the police to monitor as it consists of 10,000 small print companies in the UK, distributers and resellers.

It has been suggested that if the smaller print companies and resellers do not help them monitor the sale of equipment that can be used for creating fake documents, regulations may have to be introduced to ensure compliance. However, the police are still hopeful that this will not be necessary and those small print companies will voluntarily comply with their requests.

INM has agreed to speak with Alexander Lebedev exclusively, but the exclusivity agreement will only last until February 15th.

INM controls the Independent and the Independent on Sunday.

Mr Lebedev meanwhile already has interests in newspapers in London, controlling 75.1% in the London Evening Standard.

A spokesperson for INM added:

It should be emphasised that these discussions are still preliminary at this stage and are subject to due diligence, agreement on the financial consequences of the transaction for INM, and a number of substantive contractual conditions being fully satisfied to all parties.

One of the stipulations of the contract is for the printing services that the newspapers must continue to use. They are required to use the printing services of Trinity Mirror. Figures released earlier this year show that the printing contract with Trinity Mirror is costing INM dearly, as even closing the newspapers down would cost them €25 million – with the printing services contract forming the bulk of those costs.

INM announced earlier in 2009 that costs had been reduced at their London newspapers and they believed they could break even by the end of this year.

“£4.2 million from the European Regional Development Fund, £3.8 million from the NWDA and additional funding from Salford City Council”

The new centre will be able to offer a range of options to both individuals and businesses. There will be specialist training facilities, access to advisors from a range of agencies, access to the NorthernNet digital media network and flexible office space.

Salford City Council wants the centre to be a ‘hothouse’ of digital development, one which should provide a lot of business for print companies in the area. They envisage the centre as becoming one of excellence to the games industry and:

“An international research centre for innovation and research into digital media markets and technologies”

The MEC will also be open to community groups, where they can learn new skills and create media content. SCC describes the centre as being “a vital component” of MediaCityUK.

The centre promises to be world class. This is a most encouraging development for the region, especially in such a hard economic climate. The recession may have reached the worst point but it is generally agreed that the recovery will be a long affair. Investment in facilities such as these is vital for a successful future.

MediaCityUK should prove to be a major asset to the media industry.

SYIF operate a Mentorbank scheme, which gives access to business mentoring and management support for participants. They offer support to small and medium sized firms. The Investment Fund offers what they describe as ‘seedcorn finance’, equity-linked investments and business loans. Financial support ranges from £15,000 to £2.5 million.

A printing company in Rotherham, Wright Printing Services, has just received £500,000, the first part of an investment programme to develop their business. The company has 60 employees and believe they are in a good position to capitalise as things improve.

The first part of the investment will go into updating the company’s reprographics equipment. They will install a new CTP device early in 2010. Managing director Ian Wright said:

“The company is currently working on plans to improve its reprographics systems, to ensure the technology and capacity are in place to support the anticipated growth in revenue planned over the next few years”

WPS offers print management and brokerage in its business mix. As well as leaflets, flyers and brochures it produces stationery and continuous business forms. The company has an annual turnover of £5.5 million and has a strong management team. The investment manager at SYIF, Mr. Paul Betts said:

“The cash injection demonstrated the fund’s confidence in the management team and the company’s ability to grow the business”.

So, it looks like a good year ahead for WPS. This is good news for the company and the South Yorkshire region, in such challenging economic circumstances.

The aim of the accolade is to identify companies which are performing best financially, who have high client ratings, have an excellent portfolio and who are rated as ‘formidable’ by their peers, such as other design companies and print companies.

Agencies are researched and the top agencies which fit the criteria are identified ‘as up and coming’. There is also an award for Managing Director of the Year. Agencies are judged on evidence from four criteria. Creative poll, financial poll, client satisfaction poll and peer poll.

There is no restriction on the size of your business in order to take part. It is open to both small and large firms. The award will be a prestigious accolade for the winning agency. The accolade will be awarded to the agency that performs best across all of the four polls.

The results will be announced at the Scottish Design Lunch which will take place in March 2010. There is still time to make an entry. You just take part in an online questionnaire and submit it by 14th January. This is followed by the submission of your creative work which will be judged by the panel of Scottish judges. If you think your agency is worthy of the accolade Scottish Design Consultancy of the Year 2010, get your entry in.