Digital and Vintage – Can they really work together? – ASSESS

It’s not ‘new’ news that we are growing up in a digital age. The fact we are growing up in a digital age but still clinging on to life before technology existed – is something that many are subconsciously taking part in.

The rise of photo manipulation apps such as Instagram, has made us notice that some of the styles created in the pre-digital age are things we still want to love. This progressively grew due to the rise in popularity of the term ‘Vintage’.  Vintage clothing, vintage home-ware – it’s suddenly become ‘cool’ (using that term loosely) to be seen to love all things vintage.

Is it actually about creating new things or is it trying to recreate old things? This can be linked to the publishing industry and the growth of eBooks. Publishing houses are not only releasing new books in a digital format but they are also converting old books in the same way.

Effectively creating new from old.

Is it the same though? This is a difficult question to answer. Everyone seems to be jumping on to the digital bandwagon at the moment – even the likes of David Beckham who recently took part in a digital book signing in partnership with Facebook. The sports icon said this interactive event, held in London and broadcast globally, was all about  “reinventing the traditional format of the book signing” with the help of “groundbreaking technology”.  But again I stress the point, is it really the same? Do people want digital versions of a signed book or has technology really reached the stage where the once normal book signing at an independent book shop has become too boring and no longer seen to be valuable?

Although I’m not in an age group that necessarily grew up without technology, I still feel the need to take part in these nostalgic routines – probably in the hope that they don’t disappear forever. I think this is the case for many people, and for that reason, I don’t think the pre-digital age will ever disappear from our memories completely. Although I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of platforms taking on this ‘reinventing’ idea, trying their very hardest to turn anything ‘old’ into a ‘new’ digital format, sooner rather than later.