I often ponder about the industry as I'm pottering along in the car or, even, dozing before I get up in the mornings, and one of my ponderings rests on who else can use which technology and why. No matter what the ink chemistry, there are people out in the big wide world who might not be sign-makers or display printers but are still able to find a use for product decoration or marking.

An obvious example lies with HP's latest batch of latex printers, and who else can benefit from their output. We've got a Question of the Week blog coming up before long which asks the question of whether designers can benefit from their technology. But the fact that now it's easy to print directly to more digital textiles will surely bring value to the interior design fraternity who want to produce wall coverings and other décor, all tailored to a particular scheme.

Interior designers are one group of people who can benefit from digital production capabilities

This type of production must surely be of value to anyone wanting to produce mock-ups of everything, from cushions and curtains to pictures on a wall, bringing a low-cost and repeatable method of seeing an interior concept as it's likely to be in its finished state. For example, hotels which have floors of identical bedrooms all centring on a specific theme now have an ideal way of determining if the co-ordination of all the different elements actually meets the design specification. And this can be approved or amended before the end products go into final production.

As boundaries continue to get blurred within the whole world of digital production, so we find more interesting ideas and opportunities which can be exploited. We now have machines, ink formulations and materials that can handle different types of end application that take us beyond the output of typical graphics and displays.

But not only does ink-jet bring new ideas to the table, it also lets people become more creative at a far cheaper price point. Experimentation is easy to implement, and playing with colours and different media is also within reach of anyone with access to a user of wide-format printing machine.

This year I feel that digital production has moved on again, not so much in terms of new technologies but more so in the different directions that ink-jet production is now able to take us. For an industry which grew up and matured rapidly, this is a great situation to be in – but potential end users of what can be output these days need to be made more aware of what's on offer. And it's down to all of us to let them know about the options and the potential.