What if the digital world resuscitated analog?
I’ve said it before: the line between the real world and the virtual world is a fine one that is getting ever more narrow. This new reality has rendered many goods and services that were once an integral part of our lives obsolete. I mean, seriously, when was the last time you bought a CD?
So I am always impressed by industries that despite prognoses on their impending death find ways to stay meaningful through innovating. Here are three cases that give me hope.
The Dutch Postal Service
The Dutch Postal Service, much like in the rest of the developed world, is adjusting to a landscape profoundly altered by email, instant messaging, and social networks. The “paperless life” is a scary prospect for courier services everywhere.
However, the postal service in the Netherlands came up with a nifty operation to promote mail delivery. They created a site that tracks the emotions of the Dutch people by analyzing their tweets. In addition to coming up with some interesting insights (people are most lonely in the evening and are in the best mood on Friday afternoons), the site highlights popular tweets and allows visitors to comment on various tweets through the website. Every day, the most commented on Tweet gets a special prize: hand written transcriptions of the comments on postcards, delivered by a Dutch celebrity. An intelligent way to remind people that nothing compares to getting a handwritten message in your mailbox!
I must also congratulate BDDP & Fils (part of the TBWA\FRANCE group) with their very prescient film done years ago for the French Postal Service, which posits that the promises of Internet will remain “virtual” if no one is there to deliver them.
Polaroid
When was the last time you took a Polaroid photo? Perhaps, during the Clinton administration, you say? Yet, in the mid-twentieth century, Polaroid was the Apple of its day, its founder, Edwin H. Land, was said to be a major influence on a young Steve Jobs. Aside from the novelty appeal of the cameras, digital photography has rendered it all but obsolete. So I was thrilled to see that at this year’s Computer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Polaroid announced that it will be diving into retail with Polaroid Fotobars. With a layout reminiscent of an Apple Store, the fotobars will allow people to print their digital snaps in various sizes, and on surfaces as diverse as bamboo, wood, and metal. The company plans to have 10 of these fotobars across the US by the end of 2013. How often have you meant to get a print made of that great iPhone snap?
Vinyl Records
Logically, the LP record should be dead: after the 8-track, the cassette, the CD, and the mp3, this decidedly 20 century piece of technology ought to be relegated to the nostalgia graveyard. Yet, in spite of it all, vinyl sales have been on the rise. 2012 registered a 16.3% increase in LP record sales.
Unlike scratchy tapes, and CDs in cumbersome jewel cases, vinyl has a distinctive sound, and its larger size allows for bigger and more attractive cover art. A vinyl record is a thing of beauty and serves as a counterpoint to the at times soulless nature of an MP3 file.
Like so many clichéd phrases the “paper-free life” is both impossible and uninteresting. People still want attractive, meaningful objects—whether these take the form of a memorable photo mounted on a wall, a handwritten note, or an LP that you have to take off the shelf to listen to, these material goods will stay with us. Naturally, I cannot imagine LPs becoming more popular than downloads, nor do I see an uptick in post offices or Polaroid film. However, I think that these operations allow these objects to continue to exist in our lives in a meaningful way. The three above cases show intelligent ways that former giants have adapted to fit a smaller, more select audience. Analog products and services living in a digital world can survive, by asking the question: “what would be missing from the world if I didn’t exist?”
Top image by: Geekosystem
There's a middle ground. Fortunately for designers, writers, and illustrators, there will always be need for content. Words and images. Digital is just another instrument in the toolbox. It's not either/or -- we can integrate the handmade and digital. Humans are hardwired for tactility, face-to-face socialization, breaking bread together, postcards, picture books. Mid-century furnishings are hip because they are the last generation made from quality materials -- not disposable Ikea plastic and particleboard. After a decade of flat digital graphics, advertisers are trying to distinguish themselves with images that bear traces of the hand. Barry Blitt's pen and ink sketches grace more New Yorker covers than any other artist. Printed book sales are up despite the surge of ebooks. Etsy is pretty hot. Analog is not the dominion of the Luddite. It need not be relegated to small niche markets. The middle ground is in adaptation. Cyclists no longer ride highwheels, but bike culture is experiencing a renaissance. The bike is still here. Serves the same function. High-end bikes are still handmade. Cycling is as analog as ever. And it's still here.
Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Professional
12 年Analog is golden, we as people would need to "slow down" to appreciate it !!!
Great article, you cannot get rid of paper...because we need it as evidence of purchase, etc..
Head of Business @FLIP Africa
12 年This article took me through a couple of centuries of colorful inventions that paved the way for technology of today. It is rich in content and i like the point of view from which he approached it. After all some of us are still hopelessly in love with the old.