Future Links November 19th 2014
Here are our daily links with the most important news from the printing industry. Today they feature a study that shows consumers’ confusion by brand-name lookalikes, an app that digitizes printed photographs, new research to enable metal 3D printing at home, the Arjowiggins campaign that funds education for African children, Presstek’s steps toward chemistry-free plate making, Brother’s new label printer, a study about increased growth in a fragmented market and Ben & Jerry’s new look.
Consumers confused by look-alikes
Strong brands have an unmistakable look – that’s conventional wisdom. But in recent years, more and more store-branded products have cropped up, displaying a look very similar to the brand name products. Market researchers at Which? found, for example, that 39 percent of consumers confused McVitie’s Ginger Nuts and Lidl’s Tower Gate Ginger Nuts once the brand names had been removed.
More at Design Week
New app digitizes photographic prints
You’ll find them in almost every home – shoeboxes full of old photographs. Equally common is the good intention to sort and scan them one day. A new app now makes one day appear much sooner. Heirloom uses a smartphone’s camera to scan and digitize photographic prints in high quality and stores them on their servers. The digitized pictures can also be shared via social networks.
More at Digital Trend
Researchers work on affordable 3D metal printing
3D printing at home has so far been limited to plastic filament, food and a few other soft, pliable materials. A team from Delft University of Technology is now developing an affordable metal 3D printer by mating a MIG welder to a conventional 3D printer.
More at Gizmodo
Arjowiggins Graphic campaign funds education for African children
Arjowiggins marketing campaign was a success. Each time a free-of-charge Cyclus notepad was ordered, Arjowiggins donated a year’s school fees to a child from SOS Children’s Village in Vontovorona, Madagascar. Cyclus is an uncoated and coated paper range produced from 100% recycled fibers.
More at Print Week
Presstek advances chemistry-free plate-making
At the Graph Expo in Chicago, Presstek showcased JT, its new direct inkjet plate technology. The Presstek JT aluminum plate is designed to be imaged on Epson inkjet printers with the printer’s standard ink cartridges. According to Presstek, this technology has a small physical and environmental footprint.
More at What They Think?
Brother introduces label printer with full color LCD screen
Brother is announcing a new label maker, the latest in its P-Touch series. The PT-D600 features a full color LCD screen, which gives users a WYSIWYG idea of their label printout. The label maker sports its own QWERTY keyboard and connects to a PC or Mac via a USB cable.
More at Slash Gear
Experts say fragmentation will aid market growth
The 3D printing industry remains highly fragmented across printers, materials and software. This fragmentation will catalyze growth, as no single company controls the majority of the market, according to the Information Network’s latest report “3D Printing: Material and Equipment Opportunities, Trends, and Markets”.
More at Seeking Alpha
Ben & Jerry’s redesign shows premium quality and quirkiness
When Pearlfisher New York was assigned the redesign of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, it wanted to preserve its quintessential quirkiness while emphasizing its premium quality. The result: A more unified message, which helps create a more consistent and up-scale look across all packaging.
More at Packaging Digest