Death of Paper

One sentence that really stuck with me from Ludovico’s reading was “As for the future of the printed page--”It will be abandoned”, except perhaps for some limited use in business and private communications (actually, what we see happening nowadays is exactly the opposite: since the mid-1990s, personal communication has relied less and less on paper, except in a few formal occasions).” page 18.  These few lines really made me think about the role that the paper note, invitation, and letter play in today’s society.  In junior high, boys ask girls to be their girlfriends by passing notes, just a torn piece of paper with the words “circle: yes, no or maybe”.  In High School, they move on to text messages.  This reminds me of the movie The Notebook.  Noah writes Allie 365 letters.  Once everyday for a year.  In the romantic sense, this is a lot more appealing than texting with abbreviations like “last nite was gr8. Lets go out again soon. ttyl.” The fact that most wedding invitations aren’t “e-vites” but invites.  The thrill of even receiving a letter or package or even a bill in the mail is much more thrilling than a blank email that has your name inserted at the top.  There is no personalization.  I don’t think that the printed page should ever be abandoned.  Especially as artists, we are extremely concerned with aesthetic appeal.  There is so much more to critique and analyze with a formal handwritten wedding invitation than an email from 9:38 this morning. Although I love typefaces and believe that they are all beautiful in their own respective manners, A person's handwriting can tell a lot about a person.