The wide-format segment continues to be a formidable center for innovation and inspiration in the broader printing industry. It is where we work and, metaphorically, where we live. It is our city. And one of the things that keeps our city strong is the diversity found within its many homes. There are houses of many sizes — from mansions to small, starter homes. There are houses of many styles — traditional to experimental, purely functional to purposefully innovative. And there is a place for all of them in our city.
Our city was founded by forward-thinking people from other industries — screen printing, photo, reprographics — seeking not just a better way to do what they did, but a way to do something more. Wide-format printing was the hub of the wheel that would take them toward what they sought. It was a fledgling technology at the time — slow to produce, difficult to control, limited in application — but that changed.
The founding principles of wide-format, and its early victories, were enough to warrant technological development. People found new ways of prospering, meshing what was with what could be, innovating, expanding uses for the technology by quickly addressing its limitations. And in so doing, it opened opportunities for new avenues, streets, even expressways. And the city grew. Neighborhoods formed…