This article first appeared in the May 2025 issue of Australian Printer, authored by Posterboy Printing’s Daniel Edwards
At a recent bustling tradeshow, I found myself behind a charity stall as a volunteer, tasked with designing our print collateral. I printed a fluoro yellow strut card, connection- heavy DL flyers, and a detail-packed A1 poster – each stripped back to focus on role over polish. By day’s end, I’d out- talked and out-engaged glossier booths around me, proving print’s real strength lies not in beauty, but in moving people.
I settled on these three pieces, each with a clear role. The strut card screamed in fluoro yellow, emblazoned with the most basic font of all, Arial Bold, as big as it’d fit – just the outcome of the product, no branding at all. It wasn’t pretty, but I wanted people to notice it and be able to read it across the room.
The DL flyers were artifacts they would take home. It listed the product benefits and all the connections there are so people can continue to learn more, a QR code, URL, email, and phone number on the back, with branding for recognition.
The A1 poster, hung behind me, was a wall of legible detail – minimal colour, light on logos, heavy on information for those who stepped closer. It was a conversation leader. My setup stood in stark contrast to the booths around me, where vendors meticulously arranged high-res banners, curated samples, and vibrant displays – a symphony of visual noise.
As the show kicked off, that strut card cut through the chaos like a beacon. I could see people from down the aisle notice and read the strut card, drawn in by its blunt clarity. They’d sidle up, and pointing them to the poster, I’d walk through the offering. I then handed out flyers and took details.
Meanwhile, neighbouring stalls, with their busy setups, often sat quiet. Their displays dazzled, but they didn’t move anyone – too cluttered, with no clear message, they did not stand out.
This was a revelation for me as a printer. In my book, I’d argued print excels with clarity of message, not decoration. Here was proof. The strut card’s unapologetic simplicity grabbed attention where intricate designs drowned. The flyer was a take home piece that funnelled activity online, down the conversion funnel, while the poster was a prop that structured conversations up close.
It reinforced a truth we’ve drifted from: print is good at communicating and moving people – physically across a room or down a marketing funnel not to mimic a website’s gloss.
When I started in this industry, crafting 30-inch by 40-inch posters for Westfield, print was raw and practical. We’d cut vinyl onto screenboard. There was no capacity for images, the style guide drove the font choice, and when text got small, the material limitations meant we had to use the font VAG Rounded so it would weed.
Back then, the medium’s limits seemed like limits because of what we couldn’t do. But those limits actually kept us playing to print’s strengths.
Now, digital printing’s ease has seduced us. Full colour images and endless typefaces tempt designers to prioritise aesthetics over function. Marketing and branding experts, caught up in screen- inspired trends, overlook what print does best. At that tradeshow, I saw how far we’ve strayed and how much we can reclaim by refocusing on purpose.
Too often, as printers, we’re stuck in the back, churning out jobs without seeing the front lines. We miss how our work performs – whether it grabs eyes, sparks talk or sits ignored. This disconnect lets clients dictate designs that look great onscreen but falter in the real world.
So, what’s the takeaway for us as print professionals? Start talking to your customers and ask where their print will live in the sales or marketing funnel. Offer design advice that fits that context. Suggest how a face-to- face interaction flows and where print can guide it. The more we share our expertise – beyond just quoting prices – the more we shift from commodity vendors to trusted partners. That’s how we stop competing on cost and start proving our value. The tradeshow reminded me how to really leverage print: it’s a tangible, human medium with power to connect. We don’t need to chase digital’s sheen; we just need to lean into what print’s always been good at – moving people, one bold message at a time.
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