The are a few different printing processes used in commercial printing today. It is helpful to have a basic understanding of printing processes if you are looking to place a lot of print work with a printing company, so here’s a basic introduction to two commonly used printing process, the offset printing process and the digital printing process.

Offset Printing Process

In the offset printing process, the ink is not pressed directly onto the paper. Instead it is distributed from a metal plate to a rubber mat where it is then set onto paper. Offset printing is the process of indirectly transferring ink to paper through the use of a metal or paper plate. This printing process uses CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yello and Black – aka Process or Full Colour) and Pantone spot colours (PMS). This printing process is widely used for the production of magazines, brochures, flyers etc. Generally speaking, the longer the print run, the lower the cost per 1000. This is because the majority of the cost of the printing process is tied up in the setup, rather than the actual production. The offset printing process produces high quality cost effective results for long print runs. Most print runs need to be at least 1000 to justify the cost of the setup. Usually, a colour proof is generated prior to the printing process commences, however colour matching is often still made ‘on press’ as the job is run.

Advantages Of Offset Printing

• The offset printing process provides consistent quality and produces sharp and clean images and type.
• The offset printing process conforms to many different textures thanks to the printing surface used
• Production of offset printing plates is fast and easy
• The printing plates used in the offset printing process have a longer printing life than direct litho presses.
• If you are printing high volumes of materials you will save even more money. With offset printing the more your print the more you save.

Digital Printing Process

With the digital printing process, both CMYK and RGB can be used, although colour shifts may occur with RGB content. The digital printing process is good for short runs of any quantity less than 1000 copies. The digital printing process also requires no printing plates so there is less time and expense involved in setting up a file to print. This means that the digital printing process can be turned around in a very short period of time, from approval of artwork, to a proof be produced, through to the final quantity being run. Unlike the offset printing process, with digital printing, proofs can be printed on the final stock choice for accurate colour checking. The digital printing process is done using a computer. The basic technology has made many things possible that would not have been otherwise. By utilizing the latest innovations in technology digital printing can help your business save time and money.

Advantages Of Digital Printing

• Digital printing gives you more options of substrates such as fabric, exceptionally thin paper and even ceramics
• The digital printing process is fast and economical and has a great turn around time
• Digital printing is cheap

Which printing process?

Ultimately in boils down to the time you have to complate the job, and the run quantity. The offset printing process tends to be better for larger runs however this printing process takes longer, whereas the digital printing process is good for short runs and takes relatively little time to complete. So price based on quantity required and available time are obviously key considerations, but the offset printing process offers the ability to specify PMS colour, so this may actually be the better choice to achieve higher quality results. The final printed effect of solid areas of colour can also be an issue to consider, as the digital printing process can appear less impressive than offset, especially within certain colour ranges.