Graphispag 2019 promotes digitalisation, personalisation and design

Graphispag goes one step further towards attracting professionals from user sectors and prescribers of all kinds of printed products. At next year’s event, which will be held from 26 to 29 March, the Graphic Industry and Visual Communication Fair will project digitalisation, personalisation and graphic design as the core features of the sector’s transformation. There will be a greater range of technology, innovative printing media and applications, new experiential areas and a significant increase in training content. 

Organised by Fira de Barcelona in partnership with the Graphispack Association, Graphispag 2019 seeks to bring together more than 200 direct exhibitors and occupy 9,000 m2 of Pavilion 2 at the Gran Via exhibition venue.

With just four months to go before the exhibition, the healthy procurement rate (65% of the planned surface area has already been reserved and leading brands such as HP, Roland DG Spain, Epson, Heidelberg, Konica and Agfa have confirmed their attendance) bodes well for an excellent fair representing the entire graphic ecosystem, together with the recovery of the economic activity within the sector.

In this edition, the sectors with the greatest presence at the fair will be those producing printing machinery and equipment and those specialising in finishes and transformation. The participation of printing material and media companies is also expected to increase, as well that of those producing inks and other consumables. Tools for colour design, capture, editing and management, printing services, signage and symbols, textiles, advertising and digital signage, functional and 3D printing, consultancy, training, the press and professional associations will complement the fair’s commercial offer.

“At Graphispag we’ll gather together all the printing formats and the forthcoming technologies that will converge with the graphic and visual communication worlds. We want to showcase innovation and trends, give prominence to finished graphic products and promote the numerous possibilities currently provided by printing to all kinds of users”, explains Xavier Armengou, President of Graphispag.

New user sectors and more prescribers
In keeping with the strategy initiated in 2017, Graphispag will give greater prominence to graphic products and specific printing applications for sectors such as packaging, retail, interior design, textiles and publishing in the exhibition zone and the activity areas. The fair will also include the industrial sector, given that printing forms an ever-greater part of the production processes of all kinds of goods.

In parallel, in order to meet the demands made by technology and media suppliers to increase the number of prescribers attending the fair, Graphispag will also invite graphic designers and end customers to find out more about the latest printing developments. A greater presence of these groups is expected, and they will find content tailored to their needs. We should also mention graphic service companies, commercial and large-format printers and graphic art professionals, who make up the bulk of visitors to Graphispag. “We’re creating an inclusive fair, at which all professionals interested in printing can find their space, expand their network of contacts, be surprised and learn new things, do business and experience the latest innovations”, highlights Jordi Magre, the fair’s director.

New opportunity vectors
Graphispag 2019 has identified three core areas of transformation that will transversally affect the different specialities of the graphic industry, regardless of the printing techniques used or to which demand sectors their graphic products are oriented towards, opening up new business opportunities. This involves digitalisation (productive, organisational, communicative and commercial); the practically unlimited personalisation of any object, material or surface; and design, which is currently ubiquitous in graphic and visual communication. These three core points will take on relevance in the four new areas and in the content and activity schedule proposed by Graphispag 2019.

The first large area will be the Graphispag Experience, welcoming the visitors, which they will not be able to miss, and that will enable them to see, touch and interact with new forms of communication to complement graphic applications. Thus, there will be examples of augmented reality in interior design, interactive mapping, conductive inks and functional printing products seeking surprise effects, in addition to graphic products such as books, packaging, floorings, furniture, etc. which stand out for their innovative nature.

The second area will be the Graphispag Process, an area for demonstrating comprehensive graphic production processes for industrial sectors and for viewing the latest equipment, technologies and solutions in operation.

Moreover, the Graphispag Village will be the networking space designed for the various professionals in the graphic chain, enabling them to find partners and colleagues or simply expand their networks of contacts in the field of graphic and visual communication. It will also host meetings between manufacturers, printers with specific investment projects, prescribers and end customers from different demand sectors directly invited by the organisation.

Finally, Graphispack Talks will hold around fifty lectures and panel discussions and presentations by exhibiting companies, technological centres, startups and associations, along with other sectoral entities. The topics debated will be digitalisation, personalisation and design, but also graphic solutions for specific user sectors and success stories, as well as technology, media, inks, finishes, new business models and opportunities. Similarly, Graphispag will conduct workshops devoted to the vinyl decoration of vehicles and interiors, textile printing, the personalisation of all kinds of objects and the use of software and colour design and management tools, among other subjects.

Grada, the Barcelona Graphic Congress
A new feature of Graphispag 2019, in partnership with the Official Association of Graphic Design of Catalonia, will be the organisation of Grada, an international congress aimed at professionals related to the arts, image and visual creation, set to be attended by around fifteen design experts and grand masters from around the world, who will address topics such as infographics, scientific illustration, concept art, technical graphics (architecture, engineering and cartography) and typography. Talks, panel discussions, workshops, demonstrations, master classes and networking lunches will dynamically unfold over three days in a programme whose core features will include the current state of training and emerging talent; image and society; editing and visual communication; and art, culture and technology.

Similarly, the range of exhibitions at Graphispag will include a stand area with products, materials, technological solutions and services for designers, a collective which accounted for 17% of the visitors to last year’s fair, a figure which is expected to increase this year with this initiative. The Congress is also aimed at illustrators, architects, engineers, researchers, students, creators, and those who use and love images.

Barcelona, 12th November 2018