If you have not read Steven Heller's delicious piece about his frustration, while in Paris, trying to maneuver around The International New York Times, I suggest you do so. While Heller praises the INYT for the quality of the “smooth” paper on which it is printed, plus the perk of those comics, which still appear daily in the INYT, he says he gives up on trying to read the large broadsheet while sitting at a cafe (especially when the person next to him is reading the much smaller Le Figaro).
Heller, the co-chair (with Lita Talarico) of the School of Visual Arts MFA Design / Designer as Author + Entrepreneur, also writes the Visuals column for the New York Times Book Review.
I admire Heller's courage to confess his frustrations with print and his preference for the tablet. I am sure that he is not alone.
I for one have noticed how my daily reading patterns have changed in an evolutionary way. I no longer make that ritual call to the concierge asking that he save me a copy of the printed newspaper when I am staying at hotels around the world. I have all the newspapers I wish to read—usually The New York Times, El Pais (Spain), La Nacion (Argentina), and perhaps The Miami Herald—in my tablet.
I also confess that the one printed product I crave is the Sunday New York Times. It's bulky. It's sort of unmanageable and it is best read while sitting alone in a large sofa. But, heck, it is one of life's delightful pleasures. I spread all the sections around me, jumping from one to the next with anticipation, saving Weekend Arts for last, and putting the Book Review section on the coffee table to linger with it past Sunday. I have done that for years, and I know that if I am not in the States where I have access to the printed copy, I don't find the same enjoyment reading the Sunday Times in my tablet. Yet, I don't mind reading the daily Times in my iPad, which I do regularly.
Also in the bulky category, Vanity Fair, a real treat in its 700-800 page variety, glossy ads galore, but, oh, delightful to the touch, even decadent in volume and usually with content that was meant for page turning.
I read The Economist in print as well, but don't ask me why. As soon as I convince myself of the reason, I promise I will let you all know. Compared to Vanity Fair, The Economist is an appetizer, rather thin and easy to read.
And so, without giving it much thought, I, like many,navigate among platforms, reading in all of the platforms of the media quartet, with print lagging behind.
I thank Steven Heller for his confessions which encouraged my own. Like Heller, I am a print lover, admittedly just a little less faithful that I was three years ago.
An interview with me from WAN-IFRA for the 2014 Tablet & App Summit: http://blog.wan-ifra.org/2014/08/21/mario-garcia-mobile-devices-are-conquering-the-time-of-our-readers