#paper apps

Printing has become a mature industry, forcing printers to create new applications for their manufacturing process. One such application is printed electronics, a technology that uses printing methods to create electrical devices on various substrates.

For the Printing Future Days 2013 conference in Chemnitz, Germany (http://www.printingfuturedays.com/), me and some of my colleagues at the Bauhaus University, were asked to present a design application proposal which includes the new printed electronic technology. 

My conceptual application suggests an e-friendly book for children with printed RFIDs, OLEDs and Sensors. The design proposal is a book combining classical printing technologies with functionalities of the e-book (Kindle, etc.) in a new interactive approach.

Electronic Paper

Thirty-five years in the making, electronic paper is now closer than ever to changing the way we read, write, and study. Original uses were electronic devices such as e readers, IPads and other products which could imitate paper, newer technologies have allowed designers and creative thinkers to come up with paper that uses small amounts of electricity to play music when the user touches an electronic touch pad buried inside the paper. These electronic papers are not only cheap and easy to produce but convenient and bring more fun and enjoyment to reading.

Printed Electronics is an emerging technology with huge potential to change the way we interact with each other and the everyday stuff that’s all around us. The field is growing and the UK is home to some of the world’s leading researchers. The principles behind Printed Electronics are straightforward, it involves printing basic electronic circuits and components onto pretty much any surface, but much of the current research is focused around flexible display screens and very high tech applications.

The video above shows how the music industry has grabbed the opportunity of using this new technology by creating new ways to listen to music. A couple of these ways shown in the video are music postcards and paper head phones which are recyclable; this is one of the great attributes of this technology.