Moving from China to the west, the paper came to Europe through Muslims living in Spain. However, until two important events occurred - Gutenberg invented the printing press and the increase in the supply of rags as a result of the plague - it did not become widespread as a means of communication. One can argue whether there really was a “demand” for paper as such or whether the reason for this was a reduction in the volume of labor (due to the plague) and the availability of ready-made raw materials (rags), but one way or another, paper appeared.

Due to technical development in the era of great inventions, paper became widespread as an information carrier, which, in particular, was facilitated by:

• the creation of a machine for the production of rolled paper (invented in 1799 by Louis Robert and introduced into production by the Fordrinier brothers);
• invention of the cylinder for making paper (John Dickinson, 1808).

The Industrial Revolution created a paper-intensive education system as literacy became necessary to cope with growing amounts of information. Although the papermaking process remained fundamentally the same, several technological improvements in pulp making and molding contributed to increased production.

In the later stages of the Industrial Revolution, paper began to serve other functions in addition to being a means of distributing the printed word. With increased consumption after World War II (per capita consumption in the United States increased by 20% between 1948 and 1960), paper began to be used in three main areas: printing, packaging, and hygiene products.

Economic factor

Before the advent of paper, papyrus, stone slabs, wax tablets, and parchment served as writing materials. When paper began to spread in Europe, its main competitor was parchment. But the paper won not so much in performance as in price.

To make, for example, a large Bible, 200-300 lamb or calf skins were required, their dressing took a lot of time and was therefore expensive (especially when the number of workers began to decline during the plague). With the increase in the production of paper from linen rags, its price fell. By 1300, in Bologna, the cost of paper was only a sixth of the cost of parchment, and its price continued to decline.

Thus, paper began to act as a substitute for parchment in the classical sense of this concept: a decrease in the cost of paper led to a decrease in the demand for parchment. It is interesting to note that there is no particular consumer commitment to parchment (except for using it for official documents) - the main thing is to find a material suitable for printing text and graphics. It follows that paper is optimal for distributing printed information because it is cheap and accessible.

Indeed, based on the five conditions of economic competition—competition, new business creation, purchasing power, supply capacity, and the threat of substitute materials—the ability of paper to serve as such a substitute turned out to be the most important factor. As the economic cycle continues, the greatest danger for paper is that it may have a substitute.

Advances in technology, which made it possible to mass produce and distribute paper, led to paper becoming an everyday commodity. One of the properties of such a product is the slowdown in its technological improvement: it becomes a product whose price is determined solely by the market, and it itself develops in small steps, which only to a small extent affect the current situation.

To this day, paper production uses the same process as in the days of the Fordrinier brothers - filtration, pressing and drying, although now, of course, everything is done faster and better. Paper is not alone in this regard: many other mechanical processes have also seen little progress since the 19th century. Often, inventions that we attribute to the 20th century (telephone, fax, automobile, rockets, electricity) are actually the result of technical and technological development of inventions of the 19th century.

Macroeconomics experts note a significant slowdown in technological progress in the last quarter of the 20th century. Moreover, the reason for the slowdown since 1973 is not the too slow accumulation of capital, but the decrease in the speed of technological progress itself. The most competent explanation seems to be the decline in the productivity of research and development. Precisely fruitfulness, since investments in this area at the macro level have remained the same over the years or increased by a percentage of the gross domestic product. The reasons may also be intangible, such as complacency. From a historical perspective, the effectiveness of research and development is enhanced by devastating events such as large-scale combat.

Electronic media

A remarkable exception to the paucity of technological progress, particularly as it relates to paper, is the invention of the microprocessor. Here the question of a substitute really arises: can the electronic medium, as a means of distributing text and graphics, replace paper? Now computers and writing paper are related to each other as complementary quantities: the growth of the first leads to the growth of the second.

But the mere fact that the object of research is the psychological aspects of a text medium other than paper indicates a serious shift in public consciousness. The last significant shift occurred much earlier than the transition from parchment to paper (from a consumer point of view, these are, in principle, the same medium). Most likely, it is associated with the transition from “stationary” materials (stone, wood) to more portable ones (wax tablets and parchment). In general, we have not had a reason to conduct such research for a long time.

Arguing that “the media shapes the mind,” the famous Canadian journalist-theorist Marshall McLuhan in the 1960s advanced ideas about promising and obsolete media, about the media as an extension of human capabilities, and about the global community shaped by the media. His ideas prompted psychologists to study the question of how these tools influence the interpretation of information. In society, various methods of transmitting various information are practiced: one is oral, the other is written, the latter usually pursues the goal of adequate assimilation of information. Does paper have any unique properties that the electronic medium cannot provide? And more importantly, will consumers lack these properties to stop using paper as a writing and graphics material?

If technological advances bring the graphical user interface to the same usability as paper (that is, laptops and their displays achieve the portability and clarity of paper), the major qualitative difference will be interactivity.

The advent of “electronic paper” is just around the corner. Developers at MIT have created a sheet of E-Ink electronic paper that is about 80 microns thick. Such an electronic notepad can store information in its memory and has the ability to interact with a stylus. The first electronic posters for store displays will be easy to read, their content can be changed using a keyboard, and because they last a long time, they will be cheaper than paper posters. New companies such as E-Ink, as well as current giants such as the American Xerox Corporation and the Japanese NOK Corporation are developing their own versions of electronic ink and paper.

Another psychological aspect is “spatial encoding,” by which experts mean the following: text on paper is perceived linearly, that is, the reader approximately remembers on which pages this or that passage is located, while electronic documents are usually viewed not sequentially, but selectively, with jumping from one place to another using links. The degree of psychological preference or benefit of these methods is not yet clear. The research is further complicated by the fact that only the first generation of people who gain serious experience working with computer text sources are subjected to psychometric testing. Both library and home reference books are switching to computer text (the Encyclopedia Britannica is no longer published in print - only on CD-ROM), and it remains to be seen what psychological effect this will have.

In our opinion, the ability to “manipulate” the written word (move, delete, insert, search, etc.) in electronic form is significantly superior to what can be done with text printed on paper, allowing only notes in the margins. Thus, the economic and technological realities of the substitute indicate that the future of paper as a universal medium of the printed word and graphics is rather bleak, unless, of course, it loses its psychological advantages.

The role of paper in the future

There are, of course, more optimistic forecasts regarding paper as an information carrier: a certain shift from paper to the electronic medium will still occur, but the latter will not completely replace paper. In many situations, both speakers will get along well with each other. Digital materials will be delivered to the office or home via the telephone network, Web television or satellite communications. But despite further developments in technology, the use of paper as a means of communication will not decrease, but increase - thanks to the demand for printing on demand.

Improved production and logistics of paper products will help reduce costs, and all operations will be carried out electronically. In business, paper will be almost completely obsolete, but book printing will never cease. Larger print-on-demand libraries will offer facsimiles of classics and rare books.

It is expected that paper and computer will continue to complement each other in the field of print on demand. Moreover, the same technology allows for on-demand loading of e-paper sheets, which will eliminate the need for regular paper.

Historical and economic experience suggests that the most promising role for paper in the future will be in hygiene products and packaging. The need for them may lead to an increase in local paper production. Thus, in the field of packaging and hygiene, technology will continue to improve, while in the field of writing paper production it will decrease.

Packaging, Substitutes and the Environment

An area in which electronic communication competes with writing paper may give rise to the development of paper packaging. Internet trade and related supplies are growing at an accelerated pace. And as long as paper packaging is preferred, its growth will continue.

The only thing that threatens paper as a substitute is plastic packaging. The current advantage of paper in terms of its environmental impact will likely not remain decisive for too long. Indeed, the latest comprehensive report from the Union of Concerned Scientists notes that the differences between paper and plastic bags or cloth and disposable napkins are not particularly alarming. Ultimately, sustainable material management, such as recycling, will still create other problems due to consumer waste. So while the ability to reuse paper as an energy source gives it some environmental benefits, paper packaging is likely to compete only on functionality and price.

New developments

In the field of paper packaging and local paper production (a significant part of which will be dedicated specifically to packaging), know-how will come to the fore. An example is recent developments that will have a significant impact on the growth of paper production. The new materials in question are Condebelt (originally developed as a material with quick-drying properties, but now used to change the characteristics of the internal partitions of rolled cardboard) and micro-corrugated (a lightweight corrugated material made from a special type of paper). Such innovations will maintain a high level of competitiveness of paper as a packaging material.

The ability to produce packaging and hygiene products from pulp waste promises significant benefits. Recent advances in the dry forming process should also lead to promising developments, especially in geographic areas that are not traditional paper producers.

Paper hygiene products are now beyond competition. There are no substitutes on the horizon, and the industry is looking forward to further adoption of these products in the developing world. You can expect improvements to existing products and the introduction of new ones (such as disposable wipes). The experience of economic development suggests that equipment used for the production of writing paper can be repurposed for the manufacture of new products that will burst into a new world, where paper, of course, will remain, but in a different quality.

Conclusion

So, based on the above, the following conclusions can be drawn:

• paper as a universal material for writing and graphics will give way to its substitute - “e-paper”;
• the future role of paper will be determined by psychological preferences associated with using it rather than “e-paper”;
• The best prospect for paper is its use as a raw material for packaging and hygiene products.

It follows that:

• future technological breakthroughs and inventions will be concentrated in the areas of packaging and hygiene products;
• Greater local paper production will provide competitive raw materials for these products.

This paper was first presented by Brian Attwood at the PAPEREX INDIA conference in December 1999.

Literature:

1. Attwood V. and Clark D. The case for the small paper machine (1998).
2. Attwood B. Invention, innovation and pilot plant (1999).
3. Blanchard O. Macroeconomics. Prentice-Hall, N.J. (1997).
4. Burke J. Connections. MacMillan Publishers. London (1995).
5. Porter M. Competitive Strategy. Free Press. N.Y. (1980).
6. Maurice S. and Thomas C. Managerial Economics. McGraw-Hill. N.Y. (1995).
7. Onabe E. Etude mediologique sur le futur des papiers, de l"impression er de l"ecriture face aux multimedias Revue. A.T.I.P. 52:2 (1998).
8. Daviss B. Paper Goes Electric New Scientist. May (1999).
9. Wiseman N. Printing papers in an electronic world - the paper industry: a safe investment? (1999).
10. Sundberg M. The long-term competitiveness of paper. Revue A.T.I.P. 52:3 (1998).
11. Brower M. and Leone W. The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists, Three Rivers Press. N.Y. (1999).

In the next 10 years, the physical appearance of the book will change dramatically. People migrate to the electronic environment because it has a number of undeniable advantages. Traditional book products are giving way to electronic media, and this process is developing so rapidly that many experts come to the conclusion that the printed book we are accustomed to is living its last days.

It will be replaced by electronic books (they can already be downloaded in huge quantities on the Internet), which will, in turn, be downloaded to electronic reading devices.

Of course, such a massive transition to a new standard has a number of valuable advantages: it will be great to stop carrying heavy volumes of Tolstoy or Balzac with you on the subway, you will no longer need to cut down trees for paper to print masterpieces, and what a savings on means for cleaning dust from shelves and bookcases - after all, there won’t be any of them either, because there will be nothing to put there (this is a blow for Ikea with its space-saving eternal shelves)... Electronic books are much cheaper than traditional ones, and if you use free Internet resources, then they are absolutely beautiful!

Many people have already appreciated the benefits of e-books. Proof of this is the latest sales statistics provided by Amazon.com. They reported that over the past month, 180 electronic books were sold for every 100 regular books.

The turning point in the transition to e-books will be the massive transition of schools to them. The e-book for schoolchildren will be designed for 3–5 years of use. Every year, new textbooks, teaching materials, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and tests will be downloaded to devices using the Internet. After schools, universities will switch to e-books. On the device you can not only read books, but also watch training courses, as well as take tests both online and offline...

Only from one psychologist I heard a concern that children who have gained experience with an e-book will no longer accept the paper format. And for some reason, when advertising a new idea, no one talks about the obligatory vision problems - already now we already spend several hours in front of the screen of our love-I-can’t-leave-it computers.

No one, however, will dispute the idea that people do not like revolutions, especially those imposed on them, and I am sure that my negative attitude towards the transition to mass electronicization of the good old book is characteristic of many more. in English there is a word luddite- a person who has a dislike for new technologies. Probably, in this story with books, I am exactly him.

And yet, man is a creature that gets used to everything, and in a couple of years we won’t even notice how it happened that every second person has an electronic “reader”. After all, habit is a powerful thing.

But I am sure that the printed book will not disappear completely, just as theater did not disappear with the invention of television. It’s just that the relationship between printed books and electronic books will be the same as in music: opera is for connoisseurs, and the pop music industry is for everyone. And most likely the book will become something rare, like pre-revolutionary Christmas tree decorations, and a large home library will become an indicator of the owner’s luxury. After all, what is rare and very dear to the heart and costs accordingly.

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When thinking about the role of paper, one cannot avoid talking about the prospects for the development of paper as a cultural phenomenon. It is difficult to predict to what extent paper as a material, as a technology, is justified for tomorrow's civilization. Having rich artistic and historical roots, it is a living, ever-evolving element of the cultural life of society. Ideas about what a printed publication is, what it should look like, what kind of future it has, are especially susceptible to transformation in recent decades, as multimedia provides us with new opportunities for information media. Traditional books are now increasingly becoming digital. Magnetic, magneto-optical disks, CDs, DVDs, flash cards and other multimedia information storage devices are already an integral part of our culture. What does tomorrow hold for printed products? Can a book that has become the richest tradition of world culture over several centuries disappear?

These questions have been worrying graphic designers and printers, as well as fans and lovers of printed publications for several decades. Back in 1982, in the book “New Books and Experiments,” Elmar Faber wrote: “Looking at the history of the development of the book, one can note the presence of certain turning points, which were often sources of gloomy forecasts. To begin with, Gutenberg's invention negated the work of copyists, and one can only assume that the printed letter was not only enthusiastically received, but also criticized against the background of the beautiful handwriting. Even today, after the rapid technological development of recent decades, there are many voices that assign only a peripheral role to the printed product in the future. People rely too much on the capabilities of electronic media. Today it makes sense to think about the following: when photography was invented, the future of painting was immediately predicted to die. Fundamental misconception! Despite all the technical innovations, printing will retain its enormous potential in the future. However, product developers must be open to any new inventions - technical and social, computerization, scientific transformations and mass demand for intellectual material" [, p. 5-6].

Print is a medium that reflects a certain way of understanding things, it is a space of life that has not changed all that much since the days of Gutenberg. Materials and technology may have come a long way in their development, but the essential interface of the printed format has largely remained the same. Today, despite the fact that many alternative media have appeared, printed materials are still preferable for us; they are usually lightweight, allow convenient, random access to text, are much cheaper and more accessible to a wide audience. Printed materials are the medium for presenting information that a wide audience has today.

Siegfried Salzman in the publication “Book. The book-object" argues that "when communicating with the anonymous mechanisms of the "age of electronic multimedia", the printed original reflects an individual yearning for the opportunity not only to "receive information", but also to fully experience, see, and also feel, explore by touch "[, p. 9].

In the early 1990s, when electronic publishing was still in its infancy, science fiction author Bruce Sterling also noted that “electronic text lacks the ritualistic, sensory elements of print. Convenient places for visual stops, the gradual movement of the reader towards the denouement - this is what could be called the body language of the printed text. The loss of these sensory cues has a subtle but profound effect on the relationship with the text" [, A, p. 55].

Paper, to a greater extent than any other element, shapes the appearance of a printed product, providing tactile, sensory impressions of the product. Format, volume, quality of paper, interaction of sheets in a single publication - all these are important factors that influence the quality of communication with printed information.

The valuable qualities of paper as a material unit, which determines the figurative principle with the help of its own plastic means, are ignored in digital media. That is, physical qualities in this case are not the subject of creative activity. Digital media unifies the appearance of a message in many ways. When displaying new information on the screen, the computer does not change its shape, size, color or geometry. For digital media, information differs only in the amount of memory resources consumed. However, this is not enough for a person, just as it is not enough to consume food in tablets, just as it is not enough to live in caged apartments... Such unification suppresses interest in the physical world of things. The desire to experience the physical world is a natural desire, not a whim or a desire for luxury. John Orelli, in his book Experimental Formats, notes that “print is an object of fetish. For a person who inherits a written culture, books, booklets, brochures and other printed materials maintain balance in civilization" [, A, p. 54].

Nowadays, the idea is often exploited that the only role of paper printed products in the future can be decoration or positioning of printed products as luxury goods, and that digital media can implement all other functions. This time would become the era of those designers who are interested only in unusual materials and unimaginable formats. However, it seems very likely that even the most ordinary books, magazines or brochures will be part of our subject space for many years to come. Printing does have certain advantages over fragile electronic devices, not least because of the fragility of the latter. Thus, we live in a time when print is almost ubiquitous, largely due to functionality in the presentation of information.

Katherine Fishel in her book “Paper Graphics: The Importance of Paper in Graphic Design” says: “When David Carson’s book The End of Print was published in 1995, this event created a slight nervous tremor in the world of graphic design” [, c . 4]. The gloomy theories and forecasts presented in the book made many designers think about what arguments could protect the tradition of printed publications from extinction. Almost immediately, design conferences and sessions appeared, the topic of which was the question: what can allow print to maintain its position? Designers responded to pessimists predicting the end of printing by visually presenting paper products: envelopes, stationery, business cards, executive folders, packaging, etc. Predictions about the death of printing, and, consequently, paper, are a heresy, refuting which, designers organized movements proving the opposite state of affairs. Of course, the predictions of a paperless society, most of which were disseminated by “predictors” on paper, looked ironic and unfounded mainly in the eyes of graphic designers, for whom paper is as natural an element of this world as water, fire, earth and air...

Creatively, the warning about the end of printing instantly caused many designers to re-examine paper, a tool they had long taken for granted, basic and simple.

Thus, the “paper Renaissance” began, expressed in a huge number of types and grades of paper, its manufacturers, types of printing and printing devices that are becoming more and more actively developing every day. Designers could already implement everything they could think of. The narrow circle expanded: when designers needed a wider and qualitatively new range of artistic solutions, production provided hundreds of innovative technologies. Printing houses learned to work with unusual materials. Spurred by advances in printing technology and the production of new grades of paper, designers began to create even more incredible graphic designs on paper. Production has flexibly adjusted to proposals coming from designers, varying a large amount of color, an expanded range of paper quality characteristics and an increased service life of products.

David Carson's gloomy (or perhaps jubilant?) prediction of the end of printing inadvertently provided an impetus for the development of graphic design that professionals never knew they needed so much. Today, a truly creatively thinking designer, printer, or advertising developer understands that paper is much more than a simple information carrier. This is part of the message. Like the elements of the natural world, paper must be used wisely to achieve maximum effectiveness. It is as precious as the earth from which its components grow and the water that contributes to its production.

Today, more than ever, printed products are open to experimentation and the search for new ways and forms of their existence. Masters of world design are full of innovative ideas in this area, and the experience accumulated by world practice is of significant interest to those who are professionally involved in the design of printed materials and the development of advertising products.

The materiality of this world will not go anywhere; it will always work more actively, more closely with our perception than many other forms of information transmission. It is assumed that the meaning of printing is realized in the appearance of printed products, however, the smell of glue or ink, and the rustle of pages have an impact on our perception of a sample of printed products. One of the most obvious aspects of printed matter is its physical weight, its tactile characteristics, because books, magazines or brochures are things that we pick up. The meaning of printed matter as an object, along with its meaning as a repository of a message or visual representation, is reflected in the fact that we perceive brochures and booklets as material property, we store them and take care of them, especially if they are unusual. “There are some basic elements that are familiar to modern life. The pizza is delivered warm. If you save documents periodically while working on your PC, your work is less at risk in the event of an accident. An idea contained in a printed product will never end up in the dustbin of history because of the tactile quality of the product. Its material quality is closely connected with tradition, in which there is something of the English monarchy" [, A p. 66].

Never before have designers had access to such unusual, diverse and even conceptual grades and types of papers. Almost every image implemented in printed materials can be visualized and effectively conveyed by the texture of the paper, its color, and thickness. The paper itself already contains a certain figurative beginning. Offset paper can convey a sense of elegant restraint and natural beauty; sand-colored laid paper gives a feeling of soft, pleasant to the touch, warm comfort; glossy coated paper immerses you in a world of brilliant, shimmering splendor, etc. Printing products, in which the figurative beginning of the paper itself is maximally involved, have significant advantages over others, since they are based on the special qualities and properties of paper and with the help of these qualities alone they achieve the goal.

Varieties of colored paper have vivid figurative expressiveness. Colored paper captures the image of those days when the concept of paper was associated with play and fun, and not with the increasing business documentation day by day. It is impossible to deny the special energy of joy conveyed in publications printed on colored papers. When color is conceptually and physically justified, it brings such a vivid feeling to a printed sample that it can only be compared to a feeling of celebration.

Products that use transparent and translucent materials are especially attractive. An image or silhouette placed under tracing paper remains visible (how visible is a matter of the density and opacity of the tracing paper), but, nevertheless, covered as if by a veil or haze. Tracing paper resembles compressed air, which, as a rule, separates objects standing at a distance from each other. Thus, tracing paper itself gives rise to images of space. Several sheets of tracing paper with an image superimposed on one another create the illusion of depth in the illustration. Elements of a landscape, printed in a specific order on sheets of tracing paper, can create the illusion of a field or forest immersed in a haze of fog. Such effects invite the viewer to move deeper into the form of the printed product. A mystery, a riddle covering subtle silhouettes, awakens the imagination, encourages action, and provokes guessing.

Fully transparent materials serve as rich means of expression, conveying the idea of ​​openness in printed products. The concept of transparency and openness was popularized in the late 90s with the release of the iMac. The popularity of the iMac project was not simply a reflection of a sudden taste for stylish, candy-colored computers. The transparency of the machine was consonant with the transparency of communication that Internet technology then brought. By allowing the proud owner of a brand new iMac to see the machine's hardware, the transparent box thus demystified computing technology. Transparency contains both the aesthetics of the new space accessible to the eye, and the structure of the interaction between the external and the internal, and the motives of multi-component layering in the illustration, and the visual, tactile qualities of the transparent material.

Such qualities of paper and printed products, which were little noticeable just yesterday, such as their tactile properties and tactile characteristics, have recently increasingly become the object of close attention of designers who find in these characteristics a special area of ​​expressiveness. Tactile qualities and objectivity increasingly appear as the object of special design activities. There is an ancient, unshakable union between our perception of space and its real objective existence. And in addition to the fact that with our eyes we “read” information about the distance separating one object from another, we also have simple tactile, tactile sensations, and our hands, touching objects, perceive their texture, format, weight...

One of the progressive trends in modern paper production technology is the creation of materials with a surface that conveys tactile sensations characteristic of leather, velvet, velor... We are talking about the “peach skin” effect, a suede-like surface, approaching the texture of natural silk... Fibers and materials that “deliver pleasure”, pleasant for all senses, are called high-touch in foreign specialized literature.

Visual effects are not able to have a comprehensive impact on the reader. The script in printed materials can develop not only due to the visual aspect, but also tactile qualities. Pages can be sticky, slippery, shaggy, for example, to convey sensations in a children's book, have a thin pile in booklets advertising fur, or openwork embossing in an advertisement for lingerie... Even not so pronounced, however, a thoughtful and appropriate tactile effect forms a new high-quality product level, increases our abilities of spatial orientation and understanding of the objective world.

“We contemplate and experience the physical world, never ceasing to be amazed by it... Although many graphic design professionals' attention is primarily 2D focused, they always try to add a tangible element to their designs when they want to make a really strong impression... However, graphic design with clearly expressed tactile characteristics are the exception rather than the rule in modern practice.

Few designers can allow the tactile element to lead their aesthetic (artistic concept) - corporate clients are often afraid to work with the unruly third dimension of tactile graphics, and tactile elements are sometimes difficult to mass-produce. In most cases, the tactile qualities of products are actively manifested only under favorable conditions, and even then, these conditions are constantly changing. However, the tactile element is graphic design's trump card, and such projects often become the most prominent objects in a portfolio" [, p. 8]. Given freedom, designers create objects with such finesse, tactile acuity, that our first reaction is, “I want that,” even when we're not sure what “that” is. Such objects seem to contain a magic that the viewer dreams of possessing.

The paper industry has a significant influence on the design of printed products, on design solutions that use the full range of materials offered by wallets. But this process is not one-sided. The paper industry often seeks the impetus for innovation in an environment of independent creative experimentation.

The modern pulp and paper industry is a dynamic system, actively developing and offering today's consumers a wide range of products that can satisfy the most demanding requirements. New collections of paper grades appear every day, largely following the latest trends in the field of graphic design. Marc Gielen, sales director at the Favini Group, says that “when developing papers, we first take into account trends in graphic design and pay particular attention to the latest colors and surfaces. In addition, the tactile characteristics of the product play a big role, and attention to paper quality ensures a durable product with excellent printability. In our catalogs we provide customers with information about the quality of the material, its capabilities and properties. In addition, the attractive design of the catalog makes it especially easy to combine density, texture, color and other paper characteristics. Favani Group has developed a special technology that allows you to combine color palettes and paper textures - we called it “Mix”. The advantages for our customers are obvious: they can design the paper completely individually. No matter what density, surface or color they require, we can provide any combination. When developing design projects, therefore, there is no longer any need to be guided by available materials; on the contrary, we can produce suitable paper for a particular project” [, p. 42].

In Russia, a similar technology for the production of cardboard, based on an individual project, appeared in October 2004. The ability for the customer to independently select the texture, color and other design ingredients of paper or cardboard from a catalog is a promising commercial area. Cardboard laminated with colored and metallized films, the result of a joint project of the Regent Group of Companies and the Line Graphic printing house, acquired its own name - “BeautyPak”. “The creators of the unique packaging material had no doubt about the success of their project, but the results exceeded the wildest forecasts. In just six months, “BeautyPack” became the main sensation of the luxury packaging market. The unusual nature of the material itself, the ability to create cardboard at the request of the client, including exclusive colors to order, its ideal packaging properties were appreciated by both manufacturers of luxury products and designers.” Paper grades like “BeautyPack” and “Mix” reflect the paper industry’s desire to individualize its products and to be in two-way contact with the consumer already at the product design stage. For the consumer, in turn, the use of such materials provides a chance to highlight their products on the market, find new aspects of communication with the consumer, bring a note of exclusivity to this communication, and also expand the range of searching for an adequate visual sound for the product being released. For manufacturers of any kind of printed products, especially packaging, paper created according to an individual project provides protection against counterfeiting.

This trend in the formation of paper sheets can significantly affect the emergence of completely new sheet materials created on the basis of paper. These types of paper are valuable not only for printing, they can give impetus to a new stage in the development of various areas of papermaking and design.

The search for manufacturers of printing materials often goes beyond purely paper products. The desire to create an ideal material that has not only the advantages of paper products, but also unique mechanical properties, is especially relevant in the presence of such alternatives to paper as durable and water-resistant and, if necessary, transparent plastics. However, when working with plastics, there are certain difficulties and inconveniences when printing, which is carried out on non-absorbent surfaces with special foil or UV inks.

Several years ago, new products from the EnDURO line produced by the German factory SIHL, part of the Italian DIATEC GROUP, appeared in Europe, and in 2010 in Russia. EnDURO is a line of materials with high strength, printing and heat-resistant characteristics, which are achieved by combining materials: a film polymer base and a double-sided paper-forming coating. Pikofilm material is a heat-resistant film base with a coating for inkjet and laser printing: a unique combination of the strength properties of plastic and the printing properties of paper. For special occasions, the EnDURO line of materials includes unique grades of paper that allow the production of envelopes that can protect cards with RFID chips from being read.

In the EnDURO material, paper-forming layers with a thickness of 25 microns allow offset printing, as well as digital laser printing and silk-screen printing. The cellulose surface makes the material visually indistinguishable from paper, giving it naturalness and tactility. The inner layer of plastic allows the material to be tear-resistant, waterproof, and impact-resistant. The material is stable when passing through a printing machine, with changes in humidity and ambient temperature, does not require special inks or additional drying during printing, is heat-resistant, which allows for quick and short-run printing on laser printers, and folds perfectly, providing high aesthetic values ​​for folds. EnDURO ICE, a material with a transparent polymer base of PP and PE films and a paper coating reminiscent of tracing paper, has a particular visual appeal and noble surface. Strength inaccessible to tracing paper and other transparent paper materials, even with a grammage of 60 marks ">E-Ink, known for its developments in the field of flexible displays, has developed a technology that allows the production of electronic paper. E-Ink's own technology, called "electronic ink", originated in the media laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).The principle of operation of the E-Ink system is as follows: a layer of microcapsules, divided in half by white and black pigments, is superimposed on an electronic board that generates a scan of electric fields, forming an image on the display. from the potential, the capsules become either black or white. Already in June 2005, a color book based on “electronic paper” was presented to the audience.

Of course, the new “paper” is a direct competitor to other digital media, however, some experts think differently: “These devices are much more suitable for reading texts than existing pocket computers. They are more pleasing to the eye, consume an order of magnitude less energy, weigh much less, and do not need to be loaded (the text is always on the screen). Electronic paper does not compete with handheld computers. It competes with regular paper - both in technical characteristics and functionality. Perhaps e-paper with RSS import is the future of the printed press" [