A Quest for Innovation Leads to PRINTING United

Javier Pedro, product designer, MOO

A first-time visitor to a SGIA Expo, Javier Pedro, product designer with London-headquartered MOO, is looking forward to attending the three-day event. “Our team is passionate about printing and very curious about new techniques, innovations, and new potential projects in the industry,” he says. “PRINTING United merges all of this in one place, which makes our task much easier.”

Pedro is a relative newcomer to the graphic arts, with two years in at MOO. In fact, MOO, an online print and design company, is itself only 12 years old, having launched in 2006. From the get-go, its mission was “to disrupt the trillion-dollar global print industry and make great design available to all by combining professional design with the accessibility and reach of the Web.”

Its plan is working. From rather humble beginnings and one office in London, it now has 570 employees, with four offices in the USA — in Boston, Providence and Lincoln, R.I., and in Denver) and two in London.

MOO looks to bring “great design to everyone,” embracing an innovative approach to business cards, postcard, greeting cards, flyers, and stickers. It looks to upend the typical e-commerce offering, by setting a new standard for print. Digital technology, including printing, is more than just a tool for cost-effective production — it’s the opportunity to make print better than ever before.

MOO prints millions of cards a month and has hundreds of thousands of customers in more than 190 countries. The company has won three Webby awards, has been profiled in the Financial Times, and was ranked in the top 10 U.K. start-up companies by the Guardian newspaper. And, according to an article in the Independent, “ If you spend enough time in the creative, startup or design scenes, chances are you’ll collect a MOO business card, also known as the ‘secret handshake’ of the Web community.”

MOO’s quest is in perfect sync with the offerings of PRINTING United.

“There is so much to see at SGIA 2019, we are really keen to find and update ourselves on new machinery and technology within the printing industry,” says Pedro. “We also have spotted a few talks that look very interesting, so we will definitely be attending those.”

Adds Pedro, “PRINTING United is the perfect show for connecting businesses. It’s worth taking the trip to Dallas to see the 724,000 sqft of printing expo. I’m sure that it will leave us inspired.”