There’s been a cultural shift back to printed content, fuelled by digital fatigue and rediscovery of print’s advantages. Students especially appreciate the tangibility of the content and ability to focus without distraction. Additionally, there have been pivotal changes in publishing technology through digital print — enabling nimble response to market needs, emerging trends and economic factors.

Nearly three in four employees say working from home has increased their sense of “digital overload”
50+% turn to paper to give their eyes a break and alleviate stress

Key segments trending up

While overall gains are exciting, publishing has made a big impact on educational markets. Ignited by a switch to hybrid learning, parents and educators turned to print to support learning and witnessed the positive impact. Despite a return to the classroom, early education, children’s books and juvenile literature have all continued to expand at a rapid pace.

The global education market is expected to grow 6% from 2021 to 2026
The children’s book publishing industry is US$2-billion in 2021
Juvenile nonfiction has grown 23%, and juvenile fiction has grown 11%

Brains prefer books

Print delivers in ways that digital can’t. In fact, neuroscience research indicates that printed books and workbooks help our brains process and apply concepts better.

Adding full colour to printed material also plays a key role in how people process and retain information. After all, the human brain engages with printed colour in a much different way than material viewed on a screen.

Colour increases readers’ attention spans and recall by 82%

Reading comprehension is up to 14% better with colour than with bold text
Studies show that complex ideas are best understood when read on a printed page versus a screen
Colour can enhance the clarity of text by as much as 40%
With colour, reading speed can be increased by up to 35%

Demand is straining print providers

The impact is being felt by educational content suppliers the most. Curriculum tracks like Common Core in the US require huge amounts of fresh content on demand and at a faster pace — creating a lot of challenges for educational organisations:

Added cost, limited space, fast turnarounds and manageability make it hard for schools to keep up
Printed materials often need to be versioned for audiences: specific schools, grades, classes or even material specific to the individual
Older, low capacity, legacy equipment and mono-only devices stand in the way of educators printing more work in-house

The tools schools need to keep up

As publishers push titles directly to primary and secondary schools rather than printing and shipping finished material, schools need the ability to:

Balance cost, quality and speed
Consolidate equipment, boost volume
Keep jobs in-house and insource work they normally wouldn’t
Complement current toner devices for time and cost savings
Print colour and K-only on a single device

On-demand publishing – we wrote the book

We’re here to offer print providers the ultimate flexibility. Since books can take on many forms (workbooks, booklets, perfect bound books and more), printers need technology that has the flexibility to keep up and grow with future demand. They need a broad portfolio of offerings that can easily right-size book publishing, allowing them to:

Create a powerful colour print solution that helps students thrive
Go beyond CMYK to increase impact with metallic and neon inks, textured stock and other embellishments that help published content captivate growing minds
Improve workflow with personalisation and the ability to manage versioning, production optimisation, extensible inline and nearline finishing to marry blocks and covers

Xerox – essential for educators

With technology that offers vibrant colour as well as sweet-spot economics, we help schools enhance learning while better controlling costs.

We help print and digital work brilliantly

Xerox digital presses adapt to how people work, think and communicate. Providing the flexibility to customise by school district, grade, class or even an individual all while maintaining emphasis on security, simplified workflows and overall efficiency with best-in-class total cost of ownership.

Automate your physical and digital workflow: Optimise and automate physical and digital processes to be more efficient and productive.
Expand beyond commodity printing: Take advantage of new growth opportunities and position yourself for the long term.
Invest with confidence: Count on future-proof technology and support that lets you adapt to industry change while covering you every step of the way.

About Altron Document Solutions
Altron Document Solutions (ADS) is Africa’s leading document management technology and services company, and the largest Xerox distributor in the world. It is the authorised Xerox distributor in 26 sub-Saharan African countries, offering the complete range of Xerox document equipment, software solutions and services. Altron Document Solutions forms part of JSE-listed Altron.

About Xerox
Xerox Holdings makes every day work better. We are a workplace technology company building and integrating software and hardware for enterprises large and small. As customers seek to manage information across digital and physical platforms, Xerox delivers a seamless, secure and sustainable experience. Whether inventing the copier, Ethernet, the laser printer or more, Xerox has long defined the modern work experience. Learn how that innovation continues at xerox.com.