The world depends on it. Our lives revolve around it. Your business needs it. What would we be without it?

Without it, nobody would know what was going on… Nobody would make the headlines. Nobody would know the score, in sport, current affairs, or business. In fact there would be nothing to read - no books, no magazines, no timetables. No contracts to scan your eyes over, no reports to study, no application forms, nothing officially in writing. In fact, no hard information at all. The world would be all word of mouth and no reading between the lines.

Without it, nobody would know where they were going… Without some kind of direction, we’d never get anywhere. There might be routes open to us that we never knew about. Or cul de sacs that we could have avoided. If you are going to make the most of your commercial vehicles, you need to read the signs clearly and to have information at your disposal that gets the message across. We’d all be in a jam. And none of us would end up where we wanted to be.

Without it, nobody would know what they were buying… No labels. No brands. No lists of contents or ingredients. No price tickets. No product descriptions or offers. No banknotes to spend on anything. No receipts. No direction signs… no way of communicating to people what they are buying or what you are selling… no purchase decisions… no sales support, no way to compete… no differentiation… no margins… no point in doing business. Life would be packaged very differently.

Without it, nobody would remember the important things… Invitations couldn’t be issued. Events couldn’t be publicised. There’d be no photos for the album or programmes or certificates. Booking forms, order forms and announcements (on paper on in the papers) simply wouldn’t exist. Gathering people and information for any social or business event would have to reply on word of mouth. And there would be no reference material when they got there. In church, in court, in annual general meetings - we’d all be in trouble! Getting together would be very difficult.

Without it, there would be no distinguishing features… In business, people would have great difficulty putting a face to your name. Unable to present yourself, get your sales messages across and communicate the difference between you and others, you would have to do all your business in person or risk being just another anonymous member of the crowded market place competing for customers. Yet with this vital element on your side, you can have a unique image and a voice and be organised, recognised and successful. Nobody would ever make a name for themselves.

It is the UK’s fifth largest manufacturing industry. It is responsible for over £14 billion sales or almost 1.5% of the entire UK Gross Domestic Product. It employs around 200,000 people and it has been growing every year since Why? Because it is a vital medium for all parts of the economy. It enables companies everywhere to share information, report facts, demonstrate value, communicate commercial advantage, create events and make the headlines. Above all it can give you a presence in a competitive world. It is a service provided by people whose livelihood depends on helping you stand out from the crowd. It is fast, flexible and cost effective. It is print. So what is it?

Print It! Is a collaboration between the printing industry, the specialist school and academies trust and the fairtrade foundation. Opportunity to learn about printing industry, the 4 th largest manufacturing sector in the UK. Insight into range of career opportunities. Nationwide competition and opportunity to win a range of prizes.

Design Brief The Fairtrade Foundation would like your help to promote a wide range of Fairtrade foods and drinks in a Fairtrade café while also increasing public awareness of Fairtrade products. The café may be your school cafeteria or refectory, or it may be a high street café or restaurant catering for the wider public. We need you to design a range of printed materials to promote Fairtrade products on sale at the café and specify the best printing method and most suitable materials for the campaign. You must set out your final designs for each product on the appropriate page in the work book and complete the boxes in the Presentation Sheet to explain your reasons for choosing your design, highlight any environmental concerns and specify the industrial processes to be used, along with a technical description of your recommended materials. Very important - you MUST ensure that you use the FAIRTRADE Mark correctly, as per the guidelines on page 8. Failure to do so may cause your competition entry to be rejected.

Research