International Print Day

What the day is

International Print Day is observed on October 14. It began as a social media campaign by people in the printing and marketing trade, who encouraged colleagues and customers to post examples of printed work using the hashtag #IPD and to remind everyone outside the industry how much printed material they use without noticing.

The goal was reach. The more people posted pictures of posters, books, labels and packaging on the same day, the more likely the topic was to appear in everyone's feeds, including people who rarely think about print at all.

Origin and background

The day was started informally within the industry rather than by a government or standards body, so there is no single official owner and its details have drifted over time. The idea behind it is old and easy to defend. Print is the technology that made mass literacy possible, starting with Johannes Gutenberg's movable type press in Europe in the middle of the fifteenth century, and it has never really been replaced. Even now it handles things screens do poorly: food and medicine packaging, wallpaper, banknotes, maps, signs, textiles and most of the labels on everything you buy.

Modern print is also much more varied than the newspaper image suggests. Digital presses can produce a single custom copy as cheaply as a thousand, and specialty techniques such as letterpress, screen printing and risograph have found a new audience among designers and artists who value the tactile result.

How to take part

• Post a photo of a piece of printing you like, and tag it #IPD so others can find it.
• Print some photos from your phone and put them on a wall or in an album.
• Visit a local print shop or a letterpress studio, and ask what they are working on.
• Take a close look at a package or poster and notice how it was printed.
• Give someone a printed card or book instead of a message on a screen.