1. The Annual Report

Once the 'darling' of graphic designers, photographers, printers and other assorted creative professionals, these printed homages to a corporation's recent successes have gone the way of the Bernoulli Disk. Heck, back in the wild and crazy 1980s, design firms were built around these beasts. Graphic Designers flocked to annual report exhibitions, and award shows to marvel at the overarching design, beautiful photography, engaging illustrations, innovative typography, creamy paper stock, and more layers of ink than a seven-layer Mexican dip.

2. Software Packaging

Back in the day, software came bundled in a rigid wedge-shaped box that was covered by an equally reinforced slipcase. The interior of the package contained at least one perfect-bound manual, a smaller "getting started" brochure, and several floppy disks (later CDs). Each of these pieces was meticulously designed to match the coffee table eligible outer shell. Just as the video killed the radio star, the web-based downloadable software revolution has led to software packaging's early demise.

3. Custom #10 Envelope

At first, I was going to list #3 as the entire corporate stationery package but have backed-off for the time being. Although the traditional Rolodex business card depository has become nothing but a boat anchor (for tiny ships), business cards are still dealt out at large meetings and dropped into fishbowls at Applebee's. Letterhead is still viable although surviving primarily in the virtual world as a cocooned Microsoft Word template which eventually molts and flies away as a beautiful PDF.

As a frontline carrier of "the brand," old #10 has been on life-support for some time now. Primarily a vehicle for printed documents, as they leave a recipient's mailroom and are delivered to a staff member's desk, they are then slashed open, have their contents removed and are then either deposited directly into the circular file or go headfirst into the shredder.

By the way, for outgoing business snail mail, this marketing communications firm recommends a plain envelope customized with a brand standards-friendly mailing label.

Has The Void Been Backfilled?

The quick answer is yes. Advances in computer technology, the Internet, the Cloud, and shrinking marketing budgets have driven these three dinosaurs off of the nearest cliff. As graphic designers, we now have websites, microsites, social media campaigns, web banner advertisements and a plethora of on-screen challenges to wet our creative appetites. 

However, I still love the smell of printing ink in the morning! – Doug.