But longevity should be acknowledged and marked, perhaps particularly so when your existence has included hard times. So here we are. Since we can’t share cake with all of you, we tried to find another means of engaging you in our moment.

What we came up with is a feature story that taps the accumulated experience and wisdom of individuals, new and veteran, who contribute to these pages or other projects we take on. We asked each of them to share with us a few tips they felt were necessary to make a print shop   successful in the future. All obliged us. Use our handy “30 years, 30 ideas” list to kickstart of few ideas of your own.

One idea that strikes a chord with me is from Joe Webb who says that print must find a way to articulate and define its value if it is to have staying power. Print had value for hundreds of years, when it was the only communications game in town. That’s no longer the case.

We attempted to argue and make a case for the value and power of print in our 25th anniversary issue, in August of 2005. Back then we pointed to print’s portability, its authority, its longevity, its tactile appeal, and its beauty. Sadly much of what gave print its advantage has been eroded by the e-readers, smart phones, social media and other electronic gizmos that awe us. It’s really quite astonishing to reflect on how far digital media has come in the last five years and how quickly it’s become ingrained in our lives.

It doesn’t help the cause for print, and articulating its value in concrete ways continues to be a little elusive as a group exercise. Perhaps it’s something each printer has to do on his own based on his clients’ needs. 

But one area for optimism, as Barb Pellow articulates in our Shop Talk section, is how print is being leveraged by marketers to draw consumers to digital marketing campaigns. Indeed some young marketers who grew up in the digital age, are beginning to look at print as a totally new solution.

We’re also taking this opportunity to revisit another editorial feature we created five years ago. Back then, we compiled an exclusive look at the printing industry, based on the number of print-shop locations across the country.

We repeat that exercise to compare just how much the industry has evolved over five years. Yes, there has been a contraction, but the number of commercial printers has not dropped dramatically. The biggest change you will see is in the number of trade houses, which have taken a big hit.

This issue also marks the introduction of a new writer for our pages. Vince DeFranco, whom many of you probably know from his previous life as editor of another publication, will be writing a new column for us.

Vince moved out of full-time publishing some time ago, but he has retained his connection with it by freelancing. His new column puts a new spin on print buying. Each issue he will get together with a print buyer and interview him or her about subjects that printers want to know about. Welcome aboard Vince.