Online advertising the way of the future

Newspaper Association of America reported online ads growing at 35% compared to only 0.3% for print ads. While the print ads are still eighteen times the size of online ads, the future is clear. Ads are going online, an article in a US real estate newsletter shows this trend in that industry, and job ads are probably even more online than real estate.

I've been wondering for sometime much of the distribution price is paid for by newspaper sales. No-one should be predicting the death of print newspapers, but the one's who aren't adapting to this new age are going to go the way of the dodo, which makes the AFR's new venture much more interesting.

Design pricing

Some very good comments about the price of good design at the Pearsonified blog.

The comments are quite right: Good design costs. The problem is that most users don't understand this. But it's not just a design issue.

The problem is right across the technology based industries. Pretty graphic interfaces make everything from web and database design to computer networking look easy. The fact doing properly is a skill just like a plumber's or a carpenter is lost on many users.

Unfortunately I don't see this attitude changing in the near future. All I can suggest to Chris Pearson and other designers is to just hang on in there and find those customers that value service and good content. Let the other guys fight it out for the cheap charlie customers.