Printing has undergone so many changes over the past 20 years that it is often hard to keep up with them.
When digital first emerged on the scene, the costs were high and the quality was poor. Each page printed would vary in color and quality and heavy coverage or solids would produce obvious hot spots (hot spots are areas where the printing is more intense than others. Hot spots are most often found in big solids) and inconsistencies that most people could not live with. But the industry kept at it. Innovators worked on the equipment that would ultimately take over the short run market and today many people say that offset will eventually go the way of the dinosaur. But will it or is there a place for both?
What is digital printing and how does it work.
A digital “press” is not a press at all. It is a printer. Your inkjet or laser printer attached to your desktop PC produces digital printing. But most people associate digital printing with commercial quality. Commercial digital “presses” are much more expensive pieces of equipment and produce a higher quality of print.
Digital printing can allow every print to be different because plates are not required as they are in offset printing. This is called variable data.
Digital printing allows for less waste in chemicals and paper because you don’t need to run a number of sheets before the color and registration is exactly as you want it.
Digital printing uses toner rather than ink. This toner does not permeate the sheet; rather it forms a thin layer on the surface and may need a fuser fluid and heat process or UV curing process. Many people have complained that the toner can flake or scratch off the sheet, so often times a laminate is used as a protectant.
Because there is less initial setup, digital printing is useful for rapid prototyping and is cost effective for small print runs.
By the same token, digital printing costs use what is called a click charge, making longer runs more expensive than conventional offset printing. What that means is that, where the costs for offset printing are more expensive for the lower quantities because it includes all of the costs for set up; digital printing costs remain the same regardless of the quantity. So the higher the quantity, the lower the per piece cost is for offset.
Digital printing is terrific for manuals, brochures and data sheets that may have information that could change. Gone are the days when you would have to print 5,000 -20,000 of a piece in order to get a reasonable per piece cost; And with the speed that technology changes these days, that converts into substantial savings for the consumer.
So why print offset at all?
Well, for one, Digital printing prints in 4 color process. That means if you want to get a specific pantone color, as most corporations do, you will most likely not be able to. Most spot colors look very different when printed in 4 color process.
Spot colors are more vibrant than 4 color process colors and digital presses can not print metallic ink colors.
Digital printing is only economical for short runs. That means if you require more than 1000 pieces it may not be practical to print the piece digitally.
Many digital presses can only print on paper that is 100 lbs or less in weight
Digital presses largest sheet size is typically only 14 x 20
Digital printing often “flakes” off the sheet or scratches making a rather thick coating a necessity
Digital toner lies on the sheet when it is printed giving the piece a “sheen”. If you are printing on an uncoated sheet, you may want a more subdued look than can only be achieved when the ink actually absorbs into the sheet.
Quality – although the gap is narrowing, the quality of offset printing is still superior to digital printing.
So what does this all mean? Should you print digital or offset? We believe there is a place for both and that it definitely depends upon your project.
Our expert team can point you in the right direction.