Emily Duff

About two and half years ago I took a printing class and after spending the semester discussing the history of printing the last week of the class was devoted to the future of printing: e-books, e-paper and e-ink. The concept of electronic printing has been slowly making its way into the print market over the years. I've seen a few demos of e-readers and e-paper, and casually heard people contemplate buying a Kindle for their daily commute, but nothing has gotten me quite as excited as when I saw this demo for Esquire's October cover. Claiming to be the first magazine to use E-Ink, Esquire is celebrating its 75th anniversary in style. I think it came out on Monday (Sept.8) and the chances of it still being in stores might be slim since it's in limited edition, but that's not stopping me from trying to find it.

E-paper can lead to a whole new level of eco-friendly paper products, as it requires a relatively low amount of actual paper to produce. It's also easier to read that regular printed materials. Some are considering e-paper the next major revolution in printing since the printing press, but can you imagine what this is going to do for mixed-media marketing. Games on cereal boxes, business cards, etc. The only drawback is the power source and extending the lifetime of the product. Esquire is encouraging readers to try and hack their cover to revitalize the power source or even change the e-ink itself. And if you do find a copy, don't forget to recycle it when you're done reading it. Tear off the cover and dispose of it as you would dispose of a battery, and recycle the rest of the magazine. All this and more can be found on the Esquire website.