Hello and welcome to another episode of the AIGA Design
Podcast. My name is Lee Sean Huang, Co
Executive Director of Learning and Programs here at AIGA, the
professional association for design.
Eyes on Design is the new overarching theme for our
programming this year in 2026, which will include this podcast,
our design conference coming up in November as well as
accretives and residents program that will launch shortly.
This season we are building on the legacy of AI GS acclaimed
ION Design magazine, which ran from 2015 to 2022, and we're
looking at design through different eyes, different
perspectives and points of view. Hello everyone.
I'm Julia Donatello, Design Competitions and Event Manager
at AIG. I wanted to turn to our guests
this episode. We have Andy Carson, who is the
Marketing and Business Support Manager at Arctic Paper and Rob
Slow, Managing Director at Arctic Paper UK.
So to kick us off, can you guys tell us about Arctic Paper, its
portfolio, the kinds of products that you work with?
And yeah, let us know more about your company.
I'm Andy. This is Rob.
Yeah, there you go. For folks who are watching this
on YouTube, if you're listening to the audio version of the
podcast, I guess you'll get to know their voices as we go.
That's great. But no, just first of all,
thanks for having us join your, your podcast.
It's it's great, really good experience.
Arctic paper is AEU based paper group.
We have 3 paper mills, we've got 2IN Sweden and one in Poland.
And we're actually quite a unique group because we're not
just specifying one type of paper or making one type of
paper. We work with coated and uncoated
in commodity and also book production and high end design.
So from one group, we're offering the whole marketplace
product offering. When we're looking at where do
we sell our products, we have 13 different offices throughout
Europe, but also we see more and more people working remotely all
around the world since since COVID times.
And so we actually have an overseas team looking for
looking at business outside of Europe.
And one of those key areas for us is the US market.
We've seen more and more requests and demand for monk and
design. So since 2022, we've actually
had a special project looking at the US market to give support to
the brand and just to give like knowledge and awareness of into
the US market, which has been really a great success so, so
far. And also we've got a great team
based in Mungadahl. We call it the dummy shop, and
they look after all the sample requests and all the the live
dummies. So although they're based in
Sweden, they've got very, very long arms and they reach all
around the world with their samples and their dummies.
So yeah, just a quick overview who we are and what we're up to.
Yeah, you guys first came on to our radar because we saw that
several winners of last year's 50 books, 50 covers competition
had listed Arctic paper, Munkin as the paper stock that they
were using for their books. And it's like, oh, wow, we see
something going on here. We want more designers to know
about the paper. But just a clarifying question.
So there's Arctic Paper, which is the name of the company and
then also Munkin design brand. Can you just clarify a little
bit what that the sub brand relationship is there?
Yeah. So Arctic Paper is the group
making up made-up of the three meals.
And then we have Munkadal, which is on the just north of
Gothenburg in Sweden and that makes our Munken brands, which
is Munken Design and Munken Book Premium and Print.
And then on the north of Stockholm, the other side of
Sweden, we have Gritspo who makes coated products.
So that'd be known as the GG range and Arctic volume.
And then just on the the border of Poland and Germany, we have a
Polish mill called Costrin and that makes our inkjet papers and
our standard white offset free sheet paper.
Yeah. So you're truly a European
company in that sense? Absolutely, Yeah.
So and and say that, that that's our, that's our original base.
But we've we've seen the market move so much further outside of
Europe, but still based in Europe.
Yeah, we we have to move with those times.
And so I know that you guys aren't on the design side of
things directly, but you work with a lot of book designers and
things like that. But just to get a little bit
more about your own backgrounds and your careers, could you
maybe introduce yourselves briefly and then we'll come back
to the brand and the paper? My journey starts by mistake
really. I was at school and I was
looking for a part time job after school or at weekends and
I knocked on the door of a local paper merchant to see if I could
wash their their vehicles and their vans just for a bit of
spare cash. It LED from there on to working
in the sample department, working into accounts, working
on inside sales and it really opened my eyes up to paper.
Before that it was saying you drew on, coloured on, printed on
in photocopiers. So it really sort of opened my
eyes. And from there I worked for a
number of other paper merchants in the UK.
And around about 2000 I decided maybe I've had enough and I need
to look outside the industry. And then I got a phone call from
an old boss who had just joined Arctic Paper.
And he said, Rob, I've got a four year project.
We're looking to change the market, change how we sell to
the market. We'd really like you on board.
And I said, yeah, yeah. OK, look, four years Max.
I, I'm really, really looking for a change.
So here we are. So that was 2002.
Here we are in 2026, and I'm still here.
Turned into 24 years. Yeah, absolutely.
So I think, I think it just shows that having a great, great
company and great products to sell, time absolutely flies.
So yeah, it's it's sort of flowing past.
But yeah, that's how I got into paper and I'm still in paper and
I love it, absolutely love it so.
So my background is a it's a little bit more, I don't know if
it's better or worse or what have you.
But anyway, after leaving, well the run up to leaving college, I
really wanted to travel but do it in a, in a constructive way.
And I applied to as a charity. This is more how I got into
sales that then led on to, to paper.
Yeah, I went on selection weekend for, for Operation Rally
and I got chosen to go to Africa for, for three months.
But part of that expedition before I went out to raise £3000
to do that, I'd wrote to different companies close to by
where I live and there was a there's a polythene producer who
I had to present myself to. And they said we like the sound
of this. But rather than give you money,
we what we'll do is print around about 12,000 black refuse sacks
with British Fish Queen sponsors Andrew Curzon on Operation
Rally, to which I then had to go out and sell door to door it.
This was back in 199293. There was no Idi, couldn't go to
the door with an ID card or anything.
It was all presenting myself to a stranger, selling the product,
selling why I was trying to raise the money and within no
time at all that I raised the £3000.
But I got real real buzz from it.
Real. I love talking to people, I love
the connection that if you sell the product well enough they
would instead of giving you the set amount they would give you
more. So this is all all good.
So what when I came back from my year of travelling, knew I
wanted to go into to sales. So from there I worked for a
company called Gilba UK and I started lower down and I worked
myself up to corporate account manager of ICI and Enron, big
corporate companies. And I used to look after their
all their stationary, all office furniture, all the computer
consumables, but that also included printed literature,
their corporate concept work. So then I became involved in
paper printing, that sort of thing.
And it was at that time Rob and his colleague came into Gilbert,
presented the paper, the how things can change through
different specs of paper, grammages, everything like that,
which I found really interesting.
I worked with Rob from an external side when I was spec in
products for the accounts, which I looked after.
And then yeah, over the years kind of kicks, yeah, we, we kind
of clicked, kept in contact with each other, although working for
separate companies. And then 2006, I think it was
and Rob said we've got an opportunity in the North East of
England. He would like to, to, to, to
choose you for that, that role. So yeah.
And then then went from there and again, similar to Rob that
since 2006 to 2026, yeah, still here.
So it's it's a great attribute to Arctic Paper and it's a
company that always is forward thinking of of new products, new
product development improvements.
So yeah, real good. Real good.
It's gone past, isn't it, 20 years?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Wow I love how non linear
somehow non linear careers you've had.
Both of you in different. Ways, Yeah, yeah, definitely.
It's it's been good fun along the way as well.
As we move forward, we learned that Arctic Paper has
collaborated with European design schools for more than 20
years now. So students from Germany,
Norway, Sweden, Poland and the UK.
We wanted to hear a little bit of how the selection process of
these schools and these students work and how was it for you to
work with them throughout all this, this time.
Just to touch on on the The Monk and Agenda, this is this is a a
campaign that we as a company take really seriously.
Collaborating with young creatives is extremely important
to us to give us like new fresh perspectives of the design
generation which is coming through as a campaign itself.
We print round about 14,000 copies of The Monk and Agenda of
that year and that's every year that we we produce that.
So it's something that we take really, really seriously because
of this connection and and that what we do each year within each
country we've got sales teams as Rob said, 13 offices throughout
Europe. We've got sales teams within
each country and they've got connections with our colleges,
design universities already that as well as existing business
that we we do look after. And we do focus on the next
generation coming through the actual finalized choice because
it's the choices through our marketing department that rather
than put everything through Norway, Scandinavia, that side
of things we try. There's such demand from each
country that can we do it because it's such a well known
project and campaign. So we get requests from each
country and from that our marketing team said right, OK,
this year we'll put it through through Sweden, we'll put it
through the UK. And from there the person
responsible in each sales office then picks up the dialogue with
the art college, with the design university.
We then go in to present Arctic Papers company, our product
portfolio and then the concept of the monk, an agenda itself,
the papers that are involved. What if if they wanted to use
any printing effects on that paper?
You know that, that you know what they can, what the
capabilities are, if you like the dimensions, the binding
that's involved. And then basically it's it's
down to the, the, the design students.
They've got a blank canvas and they can just use, use their
creative imagination of how they perceive next year's agenda to
be. And we just let them run run
with that. Because this partnership has
been going on for I think around 20 years, I'm sure you've you've
seen a lot of changes on how design is perceived and
practiced throughout these years and throughout all different
countries. I'm curious to hear from you,
what do you think the current generation of designers?
What is the big shift in the change that you've seen that
stand out to you? I've I've seen within, within
the last two to three years that from from taking the monkey
agenda as as a as a static tool of the agenda as a traditional
split into days, months, weeks. In that in that kind of generic
layout of an agenda, which which happened previous.
But in the last two to three years, the layout is a lot more
flexible. It's almost the gender is more
than an agenda that can be used for note taking.
I mean, for example, the last one, the 2025 copy was Calendar
as You Like It, which was designed by students from Hale
at the university in Germany. And they, they use the concept
of you're free to the way it was laid out there could circle
dates, days within each, each week, each month.
And one week, one month could take 10 pages, whereas during a
quieter month it could take 2 to 3 pages.
So, and that, that would leave enough space to like notice
during meetings, sketches, ideas, scribbles, but then
there'd be no wasted pages throughout the agenda because it
would eventually, you know, fill, fill, fill up.
So, so that's, that's the kind of main switch that it's, it's
more than an agenda now. It's more fluid, more flexible,
which is which is great to say. Yeah.
I. Think also, you know,
everybody's using their phones or, or their, or their iPads or
whatever. So it's not necessarily for a, a
diary or for your making your, your, your meeting appointments.
It's more of a, a working tool. And we've certainly seen that
come through the last two or three years of, yeah, people
just still using paper, but not necessarily just the writing
down meeting with Arctic at 2:00.
It's it's a working tool. And yeah, certainly that's what
I was saying. Yeah.
So you lost cuts.
Absolutely. And I think just another thing
that it's always quite interesting to see the ideas
that come from country to country.
How can a newer new idea, you know, come about and in it was
20/20/21. the IT was in London. Yeah.
So I worked with the University of Chelsea College of Arts
there. It was 2021.
So we were in the midst of COVID, in the midst of lockdown.
And so it was all difficult. Everything was done by digital
meetings. And anyway, the, the theme that,
which they came up with was the power of colour and colour
breathing and checking in with people's, you know, kind of
well-being during that period. And it was just really
interesting of this, this technique that psychologists use
of this breathing technique. And it was checking in at the
end of each week, each month. And it was, it was, yeah, it
was, it was great. And I mean, certainly from the
monk inside, it was a great illustration as well because it
was a pair of colour that it was a great illustration of how monk
and design can perform with, with all colours, how it
performs prints on paper. So it works, you know, both,
both sides as well. And then, then there's then
there's been fun elements making the agenda quite playerful,
quite interactive. There's gridded systems that
works with typography. So there's all different
elements, which it's brilliant to see how different countries
you know, work with, with a with a blank medium of paper.
Yeah, I love that. My next question was actually
speaking about like living in a digital screen first era and how
what is the biggest misconception of the young
designers about print today? So you mentioned that they were
able to work well, especially like during the pandemic that
they had to adapt on the project that they were working with.
But is there anything that you feel that Monk and Agenda
challenged them to rethink the medium, the paper medium?
Yeah, I mean, I, I, I think like the misconception with with the
younger creatives coming through is that print is quite static,
it's secondary and it's got limited engagement because
obviously the world in which we live, everything is instant,
instant messaging, everything is done on the screen.
But I think the monk and monk and agenda, it's, it's like
we're not, we're not trying to compete against digital media
with it's a different, different kind of solution to the
communication with, with, with the, with the agenda itself.
And I think by involving the younger generation in in the
layout of the the agenda, the print on paper, it's kind of
interaction with using different weights, the tactile side of
things, how how a pen which you're writing on the agenda,
how the pen interacts with the paper, how it falls, how it how
it lays, lays, you know, when you're opening the page up.
So there's a lot of those things which agenda just kind of gives
astute like those things that perhaps we take a second nature
there. It brings to the forefront of
those those minds. And I think it's, yeah, it's
something that digital side perhaps you know, is limited
obviously that we offer students through this, this campaign.
That's great. I think that's a great
opportunity for them to to explore how, you know, the
physical materials still, how they're still very important.
And Speaking of that, as Lucia mentioned, we have AIJ has a
legacy design competition called 50 books, 50 covers that is now
more than 100 years old. And we know that some of the
winners every year, they use Monk and papers and we wanted to
hear from you like we know that they choose the the the paper
because of its quality and the versatility that offers.
What do you think is specially valuable for designers to you to
use Monkham papers? And also, what do you think is
the role that the paper plays in creating a meaningful experience
for today's designers but also readers?
Well, first of all, it's great that some of your winners have
used Munkan in the past. So thank you to everybody who's
done that. That's, that's great.
I think we've flat, flat screen, you know, we live with it 24
hours a day, near enough for personal and for work.
But I think there there is a a point where there's an
importance for a physical book, physical brochure which you can
hold in your hands. You can smell.
You can touch, you can feel the natural product.
It's a little bit like when ebook first come out, they said
it's the end of the physical book, bit like the paperless
office. And that's not necessarily the
case. People's lives are so busy, they
we all need a little bit of downtime and to take that into a
book, stepping away from the screens, it's, it's really
important, but I think it's to have a quality book.
People want to experience the imagery, the text literally
jumping off the page rather than just reading it from a screen.
And that's really where for us, Monk and design comes in because
it's a, it's a natural feeling product.
It's an uncoated product, but it's designed for for colour
printing. So really the the imagery
literally jumps off the page and you can keep it forever.
You can put it on your bookshelf or pass it to a friend.
So yeah, I think that's really the importance of a physical
product, which just gives you a break from the screen as well.
Sorry, just to add on on Rob's point there.
I mean, Rob's, you know, kind of talking about the book side of
things from, from the like your creative or the company
background is, you know that the Internet is, is a great tool for
for getting messages out there. But on the on the web, you know,
you can look at a company, you can look at the information
which you need, but within a click, within a second, you can
click onto another company and another company and another.
It almost becomes, you know, becomes a, becomes a commodity.
Whereas something you know, a great paper, a great print on
paper means so much more. You know, a beautiful piece of
printed literature that is something that's like the brand
in hand. You can, you can, you can see
it, you can feel it, you can touch it.
You get the feeling, you get the, the reaction back.
I think companies and and pieces like this, those are the ones
that people remember, those you want to keep you, you won't
forget them. But I think, yeah, digital side
works well, but then the printed side also is needed to to create
that that reaction. So we've been talking about the
relationship between your paper and with designers, design
education, as well as with readers.
I wanted to pivot a bit and talk about the relationship between
paper and the environment, with nature.
This is important now more than ever perhaps.
But can you tell us about Mookin and Arctic papers, commitment to
sustainability and your relationship with all that?
We are, we are very lucky. We get to visit our meals quite
regularly and they are all in beautiful, beautiful locations,
normally by rivers or lakes or everything in forestry.
It's absolutely beautiful. So, so the environment has
always been at the forefront of Arctic paper, not only because
we're ticking boxes because of what the, the governments are
pushing upon us or what people's perception is.
It's about looking after our own environment and our, and our own
local areas. So it's a bit of a, a win win
really. So we, we have many, many
accreditations, one being cradle to cradle, which reaches across
many industries from housing, house building to paper
production. And it's so important to show at
every stage the finished product is taking the environment into
consideration. So it's the whole process, not
just the end use. But that's just one part of our
journey. Monkadal, for example, was one
of the first meals to offer FSC for a, for a paper choice.
And I, I really see currently that CO2 is the, is the buzz at
the moment. Everyone's concerned about the
CO2 emissions. And with that in mind, Moncadol
has just reinvested into a whole new boiler system where we will
be burning wooden pellets to power our machines.
And alongside that, we've got our other meal in Sweden, which
is a heavy investment into a whole new manufacturing plant,
taking wood dust from the sawmills, turning it into a wood
pellet to power the machines. So it's a real there again, it's
that whole cycle of from a, from a sawmill waste, we're taking it
into energy to power the machine to make the paper etcetera,
etcetera. As you're really using like
every part of the tree. Yeah, Yeah, it is.
It really is closing that closing that loop and I think
the next part and it's really important for AI believe for a
paper production is. Not just to.
Look at what we're doing today or what is, is, is is expected
of us. It's what's coming next.
You know, keep looking, looking forward.
And I personally see water consumption is going to be the
next buzz. How much water?
And water is so heavily used within paper production.
It really matters. Obviously, we're all taking it
from the rivers. We're using it, cleaning it,
putting it back to the river. But if you can use less and less
of it to produce the paper, that's got to be good.
For the environment and. Again, Monkadal has has been a
stand out in this area where the average is about 10.
Ten Yeah, 10. 1010 to 11 cubic litres of water per tonne of
paper. Monkadal uses 3 to 4.
So again, we're, we're looking, we're, we're not just on the
curve, we're looking above the curve and looking at what's
next. So it's, it's vitally important
to us, the environment. I think.
I think as well. Sorry, just from like my point
as well, when I take and users and customers out to the mill,
what comes across as certainly the feedback from from the
customers is that the, the, the knowledge of within Monkadal
paper mill, it's it's not something that you punch in
numbers and get you put in, pull up one end and get paper out the
other end. It's generations of knowledge
that being passed through to family generations that work
there. So therefore that the Mukadal
small town, which is positioned close to the mill there goes to
great lengths to look after the environment surrounding the
mill. So they make sure the water's
clean going out into the fjord, etcetera.
Not, not, not just for like accreditations that side of
things, but more for that. That is where they live, the
fjord where the, the, the, the town is situated next day.
They want to make sure everything is, is at the best
possible level so that weekends they can take their families
swimming. And if you're go sailing, go
fishing, those kind of activities.
And that's that comes across time and time and again from
taking customers out. Perhaps we.
Take a little bit for granted now, but it's certainly the
vision that people see when coming across to to Munkadar.
Well, yeah, you could really feel like that commitment to to
sustainability if you're like, literally, you know, swimming in
the lake, right? Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. Swedish people are so, yeah,
this is what we do. This is, this is our life.
This is. Yeah, why would you want to swim
in a Yeah, dirty. Night.
Yeah, it's like literally your backyard in that sense, right?
And so like, you're going to want to protect it and make sure
that it is sustainable. Absolutely, yeah.
Earlier, we discussed about how design often involves
negotiating between the digital version and the physical
constraints. Uncoded papers offer a unique
tactile so the physicality and its beauty, but it also
represents presents some challenges.
So what do you think are the most common challenges that
designers face when they have to translate the the digital files
to uncoded papers? And how do you think Monkan
papers help bridge the gap to ensure that the final printed
result in the in the physical book is what the designers
actually expected from the beginning I.
Think that's where we as a as a paper company try and try and
bridge the gap between design, printer and end user.
So we try and bridge that gap of expectation and what's needed.
I think the common challenge from from the designer side is
obviously there. The design side is, is on the
screen, it's in RGB, which has got a wide gamut of, of colours.
And for that then to be printed on uncoated paper in CMYK, which
is a more limited gamut of, of, of colours there.
So to ensure that like the images hold true and they're not
darkened or flattened. This is where we, we link in
with the, the printer to use their knowledge and experience
to use their software to then translate what they see on the
screen onto uncoded paper to the best level possible.
So, so we, we try and link in all those, you know, aspects of
knowledge to pull in to bring the best performance from the
paper as from Arctic paper side, we, we've got specific ICC
profiles, so profiling for printing on our monk and design
grades, which give, you know, the correct colours to achieve,
you know, the stable printed material.
So we offer that as a from our side as well.
But yeah, it's a combination of all different segments to ensure
the best print result. And I'll say the Munkin design
is is developed for for colour printing where a lot of uncut is
single colour. So this way it you literally
hold the ink dot the size as in what it should be.
So you get a true colour and a true image.
So it makes it really sharp sharp image which then
translates to what you should see on the screen.
It's so complex that I'm learning so much about paper
paper production. We also learned that in 2020
Arctic paper really released Monk and sons are free to use
typeface and then in 2022 Monk and creator a web-based tool for
animated type of typography experiment.
So it's, I'm curious because it's not every day that we see a
paper company building software products.
So how do you think about these digital tools that the company
created in the past years and that do you consider that they
are like a Trojan horse to bring designers back to print?
Or is it more like an acknowledgement that the future
is of design per SE is certainly certainly somehow hybrid,
Hybrid. I believe that that both digital
and analogue can can can work together.
That's, you know, exactly the, the Monk and Sands font in 2020
and then Monk and creator in 2022 when we tried to kind of
embrace that through, through our, our campaigns.
I mean, just to give you some, you know, some background on it,
the Monk and Sands font in 2020. That was part of our monk and
rebranding and it was kind of an acknowledgement to the to the
Triotex font, which was introduced our design by Cage
Gustafson in Sweden and that that the font itself was used in
Swedish Rd. signs. It's quite a distinct font that
you see in Sweden. So it was almost like a nod, the
monkey Santo and nod to Cage Gustafson and and the Traitex
Traitex form the 48 forty, 488 page book to run alongside the
the rebrand launch, which incorporated the possibilities
of how to use the Monken sans phones, the background of the
mill, it's environment, the people that work there, and also
the actual piece, physical piece as a book to mark the rebrand of
of Monken. Then in 2022, we launched the
Monken Creator, which was another step forward in kind of
working with digital media. And we worked with, you know,
and a designer called Patrick Huber.
And it had both the digital and analogue elements.
And what that entailed was to work as an experimental platform
with creative coding with Jennifer Design and allowed
creators via a free web-based app to playfully experiment with
the sans font itself, such as rotation, letter space, spacing,
background, insertion, size, position, all those, all those
connotations. And then secondly, to run
alongside that, we produced a large printed piece.
So we had digital and analog working hand in hand, hand in
hand together. I think also it shows that we
can't be scared of digital. It's here, it's what everyone's
working with every single day. And we have to, we have to
embrace it and just make sure that people are using both
because there there is certainly a need for both.
So if you shy away from it and you're scared of it, you're
going to be left behind. And that's one thing Arctic
isn't scared of is facing our our challenges and embrace it.
Let's use it. The creators are using it every
single day. So why not have a have a tool
for them to use to promote paper and print and type font.
So it's it all comes together, we're all in it together.
Yeah, I love that. I think it makes sense to think
about the the world needing both mediums.
So yeah, making sure that we know how to navigate and work
with both mediums is essential. On that note, I wanted to also
as as we close this this block of questions, I wanted to check
in terms of when we're speaking about the future of design.
Do you think, do you believe high end book, paper physical
books are going to become somehow a luxury item, so a
niche similar to what the venue records are now or?
Yeah, yeah, I that's, that's, that's a, that's a good point
because I actually dusted off my vinyl records at Christmas.
So they've been in, they've been in the cupboard since the 90s.
So that, that, that, that was quite interesting.
So yeah, that is quite a niche market, especially my music.
So that was I'd. Say that my, my son, he's 20 and
he's, he's got a record player now and he's take my old vinyl
Oasis records, old classics. Now it's back.
Yeah, it's back for sure. Yeah.
So, yeah, with that in mind, I I, I really feel that the high
end book or the high end book club does have that luxury niche
following. We're actually seeing more and
more publishers producing books to follow that trend.
So making it a real masterpiece of like the binding, the covers,
the text, really putting a lot of expense behind it to make it
that luxury feel. And I think we've with any of
these design projects, it's about storytelling and the human
interaction. And that physical book supports
both of those. So I really think that that is
becoming the the niche and I think also with a book and the
reason why it's becoming luxury pieces.
But in the old days, we used to share books and we used to pass
them on and pass them down the generations.
And we've sort of lost that a little bit.
But by having that real quality feel, that real impact piece,
it's, it's nice to share that book again, which I think is
amazing. You know, I'm a paper nerd and a
book nerd, but it is so nice to be able to share, share a
quality book and pass it on. I think with Arctic Paper, it's
it's always been our in our strategy to to promote best
product, best high print results and caring for the environment.
And this change in the book market has really sort of
supported our vision. So yeah, everybody get on to
buying quality books and passing it on to your friends and
families. Wonderful and.
And obviously your records, yeah.
So throughout our conversation, we have been talking about
different technologies for the sustainability of paper
production, book design and and all of that.
But we like to end our episodes with a future facing disposition
and look. So two more questions to wrap
up. 1 is AI, it's a hot topic. I don't know how you all are
thinking about this in the context of your business of
paper and and books Is this Yeah.
Do you have any thoughts on AI and your business?
Again, I can see AI compliments in digital media and the way
that moves ahead. I think we're entering into, you
know, it's an important period at the minute for the younger
designers, younger creatives, education is extremely important
at this period because in a world where everything is done
by through screen etcetera, I think some of the the knowledge,
the experience of transitioning that from the.
Screen to. Print, if the education isn't
there, then a lot of those skills will be lost of what can
be achieved through through, through paper.
As regards the print, print itself, yeah, obviously even in
the last 20-30 years the volumes have have have dropped somewhat.
But I think as regards print working in combination with
digital, with AI, that there'll always be that need, there'll
always be that that need for beautiful print, printed paper,
it's truly important. Yeah, the basics on the
timeless, right? There's a quote We we.
With monk and creator, we, we worked with Patrick Uber, the
creative on the monk and creator.
And he does. I've got, I've just got a quote
from Patrick that I think sums it up beautifully.
If it's OK if I just share that with you guys.
Driven by the question of how the mixture of data, human
interaction, algorithms, artificial intelligence and
storytelling can fundamentally transform the impact of
communication design, I believe that paper can be the answer to
this tension. In a world dominated by
algorithms, an endless stream of content, and the pressure of
immediate reaction, paper introduces a pause.
It doesn't compete for attention through noise or speed.
It offers focus, quiet, and a time for understanding.
I think that's beautifully thought, much better than I
could have thought. But I think that's a beautiful
quote of summing up how how you know things things are moving.
Yeah, that's a wonderful way to land this conversation.
Just one final quick question for both of you guys about just
the the near future of this year, 2026.
Is there anything you're looking forward to, recent developments
or things coming up either in the world of design or print or
creativity in general, that you want to share with our audience?
I think what we've seen over the last couple of years, I want to
see more and more of is the new and upcoming creatives working
with or embracing digital and physical print.
That's absolutely what I want to see in the future and for this
year and of course working with you guys, 2026.
So it's going to be a good year. Looking forward.
Absolutely, Yeah, I just echo what what Rob said.
I think it's, I think the period that we're going through is, is
exciting challenges, but there's excitement there of how how the
industry evolves, adapts. Yeah, I think, yeah, good time
to head. Well, Andy and Rob, thank you
for sharing your time with us today and your insights about
Arctic Paper and Munkin. We look forward to the
collaborating with you all this year as well.
And to our viewers and listeners, thank you for tuning
in to another episode of the AIG Design Podcast.
Hope you'll leave us a review or rating wherever you get podcasts
or give us a like on YouTube. All right, see you next time.
Bye.