Sometimes new isn’t always better.
We now live in an era of Facebook pokes and Instagram likes. An era where everyone stares longer at a brightly lit screen than a book. An era where print is a dying art.
But now there’s a team that wants to change that.
We got in touch with a business that’s decided to make it all about traditional ink and paper and asked them frankly, what gives? Why move towards printed items when everyone’s talking about going digital?
The Inkredibles is a brand that houses products such as notebooks, stickers and cards.
It’s manned by the creative team under The Techy Hub, a company that specialises in web designs and development.
Although it seems ironic that a tech company is considering such an “outdated” industry to venture into, they are planning to turn the scene around.
As the director and founder of The Techy Hub, Ee Soon Seng was constantly involved with digital work throughout his career path.
It started out with being a web designer and front-end developer for 3 years to freelance programming for one and a half years.
And when the opportunity presented itself, he reeled it in. Collaborating with his former supervisor, the two started up The Techy Hub. But now, he’s trying to venture into a something that’s closer to home.
Raised from a family with background in the print industry, Soon Seng was constantly exposed to the idea of entrepreneurship and print business through his dad’s teaching.
“We had to do typewriting and database entries when we were young. We had a glimpse of how the printing business worked. Moreover, we had to be good in mathematics and calculations.”
“I did not understand why when I was a child, but the exposure of entrepreneurship definitely was there as I grew up,” he stated.
Even as he ventured into web development, he always knew he’d try print at least once in his career path.
The brand’s aim is a simple one: to “relive the print”.
And to do so, he initially decided to utilise our good ol’ friend—the printer.
The reason for that was also close to his heart as he reminisced about his childhood surrounded by printers that were constantly in use.
“I remembered the times when our machines used to run 24/7, being fully utilised. Hence, I decided to come out with the brand called ‘The Inkredibles’ solely to get the printers running again,” he said.
Soon Seng noticed the shift from traditional print design to the digital realm after working in the tech industry.
The printing business was becoming less important to the new generation and he figured it was time to change this method of thinking.
However, during the process, his design team—who consist of 2 art directors and 5 graphic designing interns— noticed that it wasn’t just the ink and paper that they should focus on but the never-ending and limitless possibilities that could’ve been created with just these two items.
Helping youth find the true meaning of connection.
In order to have real meaning to their motto, Soon Seng altered his original objective.
He decided to focus more on moulding the minds of our younger generations, making sure they understood that social media should never take over our lives completely.
“Primarily, get the younger generation to reuse notebooks, send out postcards, and doing paper crafts as their passion. Nowadays, everyone texts and uses social media one of the main forms of interaction. However, because of this, I really feel that the sense of connecting with each other has lost its original meaning,” he mentioned.
But much like any other new business, it’s hard to get the word out.
As for Soon Seng and his team, their biggest challenge thus far is to think of the next big move. Currently, they have an online store built by The Techy Hub team and they have held an event launch last month to create awareness for their theme.
They are already in preparation for future developments to enhance their brand.
“The upcoming plan is to come out with DIY decoration products, and speaking to schools about our latest launch. We had FCUC teachers coming to see our event and they were impressed by it,” he stated.
Their efforts might just play a part in revitalising a dying form of communication and repackaging it for a younger audience, who don’t fully know the beauty and power of the written word.
“We hope to grow into an established brand with a solid online store platform where people can purchase DIY decoration products from us. We also hope to grow a community of great designers who really want to get their artwork produced, showing their skills and talents to the world out there,” said Soon Seng.
Feature Image Credit: The Inkredibles
