Our Passionate about Stories series looks at storytelling from organisations of all shapes and sizes. The series gives us an opportunity to learn from brands we love and develop our storytelling skills.
The way we consume stories day to day has changed immensely over the past few decades. In most people’s lives today it would be a rare thing for them to read a physical newspaper or magazine, most of what we read is on a screen of some description.
One creative UK company is making waves in the print community worldwide and carving out a space for analogue publications to flourish. Newspaper Club was founded in 2009 by two guys who initially just wanted to print a small run of novelty newspapers as gifts for their friends.
Their Story
After discovering that anyone can get a newspaper printed Tom Taylor and Russell Davis decided to make one of their own as a gift for friends entitled “Things Our Friends Have Written on the Internet”. Initially looking for just 50 copies they soon realised it was impossible to get anything smaller than a 1000 piece run of print, so they went with it and ended up giving away the extra copies as a free zine.
There was a great reaction, all extra copies of the zine were snapped up instantly and they realised they were onto something. To most print seemed like it was dying, but people still desired printed materials even if the content was changing–Newspaper Club was born from the idea of grouping small print orders together to make the process more accessible for everyone.
“We believe that reports of print’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Paper is a timelessly accessible and versatile medium and we believe in the power of newspapers to tell stories, in a way that’s tactile and human.”
How they Share
Since its humble beginnings in 2009, Newspaper Club has grown to become a worldwide printing service. They have customers producing high-quality publications of all sizes, from monthly newspapers to once off props.
These publications are colourful and interesting–full of creative genius from every discipline, one of the best ways to get a feel for them is through Newspaper Club’s Instagram account. There they share snippets and snapshots of what their community is printing–a mirage of storytelling through beautiful design and type.
On their own part Newspaper Club also have an active blog where they publish their own stories about the company, printing techniques and the people they have worked with. Their blog gives creative insight into the visions they have brought to life and inspiration to those aspiring to create.
Theirs is a story of bringing life back to one of the most traditional storytelling mediums–The humble newspaper. For many, they are the beginning of a new age in newsprint.
