Like any industry, commercial printing has its trends. Customers should keep up with these trends so they can produce items that will look fresh and modern. Look to these 7 trends for inspiration before starting your next project. 

Sustainability 

Commercial printing services providers use lots of ink and paper. Understandably, this creates sustainability concerns. Customers can, however, ask about materials and processes that reduce waste and improve recyclability. Natural-fiber papers, for example, often come from more sustainable sources.

Online-Ready Print Items

Companies used to only focus on what a print item looked like when it was in a person's hand. However, items often end up online these days. A CEO might need to consider how the papers in front of them will show up in an Instagram post, for example. Generally, these products need to feature bigger, glossier, and more colorful on-page content to stand out in photos.

Minimalism

Most modern print designs actively avoid noisiness. A minimalist approach to logos, text choices, and even photos can go a long way toward letting the audience focus on your message. This also means steering clear of complex or ornate typography, wild color palettes, and aggressive textures.

Direct-to-Consumer (DTC)

Many print items now go directly to consumers based on a company's mailing list. These commercial printing products usually need to hold up well to machining during the mailing process. Consequently, heavier card stocks are popular choices for organizations producing DTC items.

Data

Similarly, many companies more heavily integrate their marketing and commercial printing efforts. Businesses frequently create multiple campaigns so they can target different groups based on the available data. This can make up-front printing costs higher, but it often yields a return on investment that more than offsets the expenses.

Retro

Every old is new again, and a heavy cultural tilt in recent years toward nostalgia has made retro designs appealing. Screen-style prints with limited colors and simple designs, for example, are frequently emulating '70s advertising and '90s garage band aesthetics. Study some of the best campaigns from those eras if you want to dive into the nostalgia trend.

Increasing Quality

Glossy, colorful, and full-bleed printed items are becoming more common as more printers have access to the machinery needed to produce them to high standards. These are products that use photographic-quality imagery all the way to the edge of the paper. On the customer's end, this means providing higher-quality images to ensure the printing company can achieve the desired results.

Contact a local printing company, such as Printmaster LLC, to learn more.