Mr. Magazine

“Your Brain on Paper” and why we still love print was the focus of Sappi Paper’s Print Creative Manager for North America, Daniel Dejan. Day Two of the ACT 8 Experience brought Daniel to the stage to talk about our brain on paper and how we still love to read in print. Daniel’s discussion was all about the sensory, and his points made were just as magnetic. Touch, smell, sound, and sight are all a part of the experiences magazines create. And we as humans respond to that. Touching the mouse of your computer, while very instantaneously satisfying because, if everything goes according to pixel-plan, rapid information is at hand, it cannot replace the completely holistic adventure that ink on paper gives you.

And nobody can depict and tell that story like Daniel Dejan. He is the voice of paper when it comes to the positive reaction that the platform gleans from consumers.

And Sappi is the company that is as passionate about paper as its print creative director. Research and development is high on Sappi’s priority list as they continue to further sustainable and revolutionary ways to serve their customers in paper, believing that while we live in a digital age, print products are still the core of the publishing industry, and many others. Last year’s report that Sappi released “The Neuroscience of Touch” was an amazing study on the impact of print on the brain. Applying neuroscience to marketing, Sappi’s report helped us to understand why consumers are still triggered by certain stimuli, which in turn can help brands create better experiences for consumers.

At ACT 7 in 2017, Daniel spoke eloquently about the Haptic Brain, Haptic Hand, and the power of touch from that all-important report. This year at ACT 8, he continued the conversation and brought the audience many compelling reasons for why print is still a powerhouse to the senses. From sight to touch, smell to sound, reading in print is an experience unlike anything that pixels on a screen can offer. When we read in print, even the turning of the pages and the crackling of the paper that we hear emits a sensory perception. As Daniel stressed, it’s the complete sensory involvement that helps to make the print reading experience much richer. Even our bodies respond physically to reading on paper as heart rates and blood pressures decrease, and our overall comprehension is much better.

During the ACT 8 conversation, while those of us in the audience were totally engaged, Daniel said that the biggest challenge right now in photographic communication is that financial people are making aesthetic and marketing decisions. There are engagement techniques that many magazine media companies are failing to utilize, a particular issue with some Canadian companies that Daniel works with, such as special effects on covers and/or special inks.

So, in a world where continuous notifications and other digital distractions are a part of our daily lives and something that we’ve come to depend on for instant communication, Daniel Dejan, in his own inimitable way, showed us all at the ACT 8 Experience that the print reading experience is both welcomed by consumers and well deserved.

And the Print Proud Digital Smart way of making magazines continues.

To hear Daniel Dejan’s entire presentation, please click the link below.

To watch the entire ACT 8 Experience presentations please go to http://www.mrmagazine.me and search for ACT 8 Experience.