Research shows that MagClouders are fun, smart and have a lot to say about design, photography, publishing – you name it. We think that’s pretty awesome and want to hear even more from you. Starting today, we’re launching a monthly giveaway for three $25 PayPal MagCloud gift cards. You can enter to win by answering the question below in the blog comments. All comments posted between 3:00pm PST on Wednesday, February 15 and 4:00pm PST on Wednesday, February 29 will count as an entry (max of one entry per person, per month). The questions and prizes will change each month so if you don’t win this round, check back in March for another chance.
So let’s get started.
With the new year comes new projects and new ways to show off your business in both print and digital format. So we are wondering: Print or iPad? Which do you use for your portfolio and why?
The details:
- Post your answer to the above question in the comments section below.
- Responses must be posted by Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at 4:00pm PST
- Winners will be announced via Twitter, Facebook, and our blog on Monday, March 5, 2012 by 12:00pm PST
- Questions? Post in the comments below
- And don’t forget to follow @MagCloud on Twitter and/or ‘Like’ us on Facebook for the latest MagCloud news and future contest details
Now, get to it!
The contest opens at 3:00 pm PST on Wednesday, February 15, 2012. Entries must be submitted by 4:00 p.m. PST, Wednesday, February 29, 2012 and the winner will be announced via Twitter, Facebook, and our blog on Monday, March 5, 2012. The prize will be one $25 MagCloud gift card. Three unique winners will be selected at random. All entrants agree to be contacted by Hewlett Packard for prize fulfillment. The drawings are open to MagCloud blog readers, Twitter followers and Facebook fans that reside in the United States and are at least 18 years of age at time of entry. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Entries in this contest will not be carried over into subsequent giveaways or drawings.
Print, absolutely. But there must be a tonne of care taken in the production and to be environmentally conscious you should only give them out to carefully considered recipients who you know will treasure them.
iPad or print? This is a question that should make people smile today because you’re really picking between “pros” rather than trying to weigh the “cons”. Done well, both solutions can leave your client drooling for your work. For me, it’s about the print. The smell of ink on paper and the tactile and auditory response of pages flipping can be truly amazing. As funny as this is going to sound, print has become the “new toy” in my otherwise digitally submerged world and most clients I meet are now more delighted that you can print your own magazine rather than swiping a digital screen.
Print. While the iPad may perhaps be the wave of the future, it’s currently an exclusive commodity (in the sense that it excludes those that are unable to afford it). A print portfolio may be somewhat old school, but until iPads are an avenue of majority, then it doesn’t seem practical. Print may be a dying art, but as long as it’s done conscientiously then there’s no reason to quicken its end.
I will begin by saying that I do not have a website. I do not have a computer. This 3G Samsung Gravity Smartphone is all I have for the time being. My answer would have to be PRINT. I recently had to delete at lot of stuff (articles & photos) from my phone so I could download a game. I have books and magazines about Fibromyalgia, I remember I read something about it here, on MagCloud just last week. It is very important to me, the info that I read, to save it, becausee I find myself looking up certain things I have learned, This terrible illness struck me in 2001. The pain & lack of sleep was so unbearable, I found myself applying for disability. While browsing through MagCloud an article about. Fibromyalgia caught my eye, I read everything I can about this illness. because it gives me more info than I get from my doctor! I do know that I. can purchase all types of magazines here, and I plan to. Money is so. very tight right now, & while browsing I saw the magazine I want to. purchase. The March/April issue of Fibromyalgia Chronic Pain & (NEPA). Anyway, I hope to win because I will be able to buy the magazines about my illness,(I SAVE ALL BOOKS & MAGAZINES BECAUSE I DONT HAVE A COMPUTER). Hence my answer, PRINT!
Print, it allows the person viewing your work get a deeper understanding of what the work is all about, if its done on an ipad those emotions intended by the artist will not show as much as printed work. With printed work all the hard work will pay off.
i would like to my works on all platforms because im coming up with subjects to be covered in a magizine subscription that has not used the angles im approaching to useever before !
almost to the point of report at an entirely different view than has every been done before…
Print, as a publisher of a Model magazine the print offers my models to have a physical copy to add to their portfolio or when going on casting calls. I would love to add please add a gloss option for printing
Both. I have two print books that are used for ad agency visits and call-ins. I keep the iPad at the ready to show after the print books for work that does not belong in the book – personal projects in progress, outtakes from shoots, behind-the-scenes and of course motion projects.
I mainly produce bound portfolios of my photographs. Therefore, my comments will focus on photography publications.
“Photographs,” to me, are physical objects; printed either singly or in bound format. They represent a final, committed, completed ideas. Printing, especially when it is distributed, irrevocably ties the photographer’s ideas to the tangible product, a magazine in this case. What I cannot do in print, such as a slide show set to suitable music, I present on my Web site and that covers sharing my work in the digital domain.
I also believe that the content creation for print is different from content creation for digital consumption. In addition to the dimensional differences, each offers unique abilities to the publisher. Print, for instance is a high resolution medium where digital is still in the low resolution domain, yes even the retina displays. On the other hand, print is static digital presentation can offer animations, videos, music which may enhance the content if appropriately applied. So, one content does not do justice to both presentation mediums.
I occasionally offer digital versions of the printed magazine content. In those instances I create a separate digital presentation layout and present it exclusively for digital consumption. For instance, if you visit the following link and look at the last two products there you will see an example of this dual format presentation.
http://www.keptlight.com/shop/magazines/
In short, I enjoy holding a magazine or a book in my hand, touching the paper and feeling its physical qualities, flipping the pages and sometimes quickly going back and forth, and perhaps satisfying my old-fashioned habits.
PRINT HANDS DOWN MAKE IT COME TO LIFE. I ALSO TRY AND DEVELOP A MULTI FORMAT (WITH SLIGHT PAGE CHANGES) THAT DON’T APPLY FOR MY I PHONE AND I PAD VIA E BOOKS.
Although the only pad item I have had in my hand has been a Kobo, and I understand a lot of the advantages of “Pads” but at the age 54, I have a life long love affair with paper, new or old, think or thin, I think that paper is so important to solid unchangeable, stable records of who, what and where we are in today’s world and in the past, so I choose publish everytime. I will admit however, to a website, a webstore, facebook, and art sharing sites and email, but I will always always love, the fonts of paper and the strokes of another’s hand writing even just as a dedication in the front of a hundred year old volume of verse from one dear friend long past to another. Print, cursive writing and in the last 140 yrs, portable cameras have humanized us to each other. I am afarid that looking up a photo of that same old book reproduced faithfully page by page on a screen, keeps me at a distance of the sound, touch, smell, the real 3D and feel of this solid living mind, weighting my hand and speaking to the word pictures in my mind from another’s gifted mind, from a time and a place and their imagination.
A good example is the L—-ong awaited to come movie,” The Hobbit “, being made now ( an into 2 parts, I understand )……….in 1972 my Grade 9 class was the first to read and discuss it in our classroom. There in my hand , in paperback form was J.R. Tolkien’s imagination, that I can and have returned to many times. As an artist, my mind even at that time was encouraged to dream and imagine. J.R. Tolkien died in 1973..but I met him and meet him each time I want just by holding that book and simply opening it, and if the power goes out and the batteries fail, I can just move to a window, get a flashlight, or……..light a candle.
Absolutely print! I think a tangible object has such a larger impact than something in digital format. Not to mention the quality of digital format can differ greatly from device to device (I used to email my portfolio quite a bit), but with print you know the quality is going to be amazing no matter what!
I use Print!!
Print. Any reader can thumb through a magazine or book, but an eBook file requires a $500 investment for the iPad. (Or $150 for a minimal eReader.) Not to sound old-fashioned, but I prefer a format that doesn’t require further machinery to read and enjoy.
Print – in magazine form to give my clients an idea of what my images will look like on the page.
And
Ipad – to give them an overview of my whole portfolio.
So my answer really is BOTH. There is a time and place for both.
i use print-it goes well with slow networking which is being revisted — now, because of magcloud, print is more affordable !
Both! iPad offers ability to customize what is shown
As a reader I prefer print but also view (very few) on my tablet. As a publisher, I have to say both. I have been publishing The Fit Christian mag since 2003. It started as an online only publication, then I started to offer it in print in 2008 through MagCloud for those who prefer the printed version.
The digital version, whether as a downloadable PDF or on our web site, is by far the most popular, I sell very few print editions, but will continue to go the extra effort in making that an option for those who prefer it, including myself ;)
I would have to say print after what happened this past weekend. I designed and printed a MagCloud book (106 pages, perfect bound) of my daughter’s work as a leave behind at college interviews. http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/320427
We had our last two this past weekend in Boston and Pittsburgh, four total (previously Chicago and NYC). The book went over well at all four, especially when they were told they could keep them. Extras were requested for other department heads, as well. But at the last college, in Pittsburgh, she was accepted “on the spot”! And this is a school that she didn’t even think she could get in to!
That said, I think both are relevant today. The nice thing about a book is that you CAN keep it, and hold it, and smell the ink, and go back to it whenever you want.
Print! You are able to see in detail the projects, size and quality. I have a newspaper background and I know the digital world has taken over and you see more digital portfolios. But can you really see the quality of the work on little iPad screen?
Print, there is nothing better than opening a magazine and reading it. It is a complete experience from the feeling of turning the pages, the visual information you receive, and the smell of the paper be it new or old.
iPAD. I just bought one and finally I am enjoying reading again. Also, my magazines are art related and the colors just POP out at you on the iPAD. You are able to zoom in and really get into the detail of the work. I would love for Magcloud to have subscriptions available on the iPAD just like Vanity Fair, GQ and others have in the ITunes store. I would LOVE that and Magcloud more.
Thank you.
Well, magcloud actually does offer a digital version, however, it would need for the producers to explicitly specify it while publishing it.
I use print. The size of the ipad is limiting, and I think showing your work printed imparts a level of seriousness (it demands more seriousness in the decision-making process of putting together a portfolio layout, from image selection to papers, size, cover, etc), and people linger on each photo a little longer when it’s slightly more physical work to flip to the next one via page turn than finger swipe. I also still read physical books, i prefer reading on paper over screen as well. Call me old school, i just like it better and I think it presents one’s work in a more professional way. Any kid can throw some photos they stole from pinterest on an ipad and call it their portfolio (and sadly i’m sure some do), but printing large crisp and beautiful images sets you apart and shows the quality you can deliver.
ipad…easy to carry…and environmental friendly…xooxoxox
Print. It’s a totally different experience to hold something and view it however you want. iPad is easy and portable, but print still gives a unique viewing/reading experience.
Print. That’s what I specialize in and that’s what I enjoy the most.
I use PRINT!! Many people are very impressed when I pull out my portfolio (printed by MagCloud of course). They like the feel of it. It’s also a lot easier to give the portfolio to people. They appreciate the physicality of it.
PRINT!!!! No contest. Apple has been caught using child labor and seriously abusing their factory workers, resulting in thousands of suicides, for chrissake’s, people!! Don’t support such an unethical company!
Print. My potential customers like the tactile experience of exploring my work while holding it in their hands. Although the iPad has lots of bells and whistles that I enjoy, for my customers, it seems to create an extra barrier of what they think they are “really” getting.
I prefer Print. I use a combination of both. Certain clients/places are better using print, certain ones are better using digital. :0)
Paper rocks. feel the reality. Print.
This really depends on who the view is and where we are at. I love my print portfolio but my Ipad version is easier many times to share.
Print… it just seems more real.
Though I prefer print, I think it’s important now to have a digital portfolio as well. Clients want the ability to see your work immediately and you can really control every aspect of what they are seeing with a digital portfolio.
Prints naturally !!!
It gives the feeling of touch and feel and closeness to the people who admire art, rather than flipping art through the touch of a finger.
But iPad can be useful too in the long run to store more under a portfolio.
So my answer is depending upon the situation I would use both.
Everyone is clearly a fan of print but I’m sticking my neck out to say iPad/Digital books are the future. Books will never die, but there will no doubt be a growing trend to offer books on digital platforms. From my experience on using MagCloud, my early learning kids mags, there has been an over-whelming interest and demand to supply information in a digital format. Young kids are already very comfortable with technology. My twin, 8 year old boys have no problem using pcs, iPads and actually are thrilled to read a book on such platforms (tablets). Partly because it makes them feel grown up and the other aspect is that boys, of course, love gadgets. School kids are fed up to carry, heavy, expensive books and so Apple’s new push to have text books on the iPad is the way to go. There is the cost and environmental angle to also consider. Again, many of my customers have remarked that it is cheaper for them to buy a digital copy than have mags printed and shipped (many of my clients are outside US). Finally, the complex environmental cost equation: digital versus print (trees/print/energy/transport etc) needs to be factored into decisions. I recognise that the cost of iPads is high for many, but like mobile phones, these prices will fall over time. I anticipate this will be the year that much more content will be available in digital format. As schools/homes seek ways to reduce costs, more and more schools will secure content electronically to share via electronic white boards. MagCloud can help those who seek such content but offering, as already, digital format for pc and now iPad.
Sandra
Wow we were really impressed with all the responses. Lots of great comments on the value of both print and digital. Thank you!
We’ll be randomly selecting our winners and posting who they are next week so be sure to check back.
Thanks again and be on the look out for our March Giveaway Question.