What are the different types of printing?

Many people are familiar with terms like digital printing, screen printing, laser printing etc. But do we really know what they mean? We might use laser printers in the office or at home but for marketing such as leaflets, booklets, stationery or flyers we need to use a professional print company.

When it comes to professional printing processes there are three main types:

• Offset Litho printing

• Digital Printing

• High-Volume Printing

So what’s the difference? Below we take a look at all three.

What is the offset printing process?

With offset or “litho” printing the image (your artwork) is transferred to metal plates and then from the plates to a rubber blanket. Then the inked blankets transfer the image onto paper. The process is called offset because the ink is first transferred from plate to blanket rather than going directly on to the paper. Because of the time and costs required for set up, plates and ink before anything is actually printed, offset isn’t cost effective for smaller amounts and is usually only used when very large volumes are required.

What is the digital printing process?

Digital presses use powdered toner instead of traditional inks and with the digital printing process, your artwork goes straight from your pdf to print. Early digital presses couldn’t compete with the quality produced by full-color printing. However, huge technological advances in the last couple of decades have resulted in digital print that’s impossible to tell apart from litho. Because there’s no setup cost or minimum quantity, digital printing is also perfect for smaller amounts (whether it’s nine or 900) and when you need customized or personalized marketing.

What is high volume print?

High volume refers to large print runs with quantities of tens or even hundreds of thousands. The price per copy printed goes down when you get into these quantities. (It’s worth pointing out that we’ve never heard of any printer with a refund for returns policy so if you print 10,000 leaflets and realize you can only distribute 1000, you’ll need a bigger recycling bin.)

Get great print the easy way

Printing is our business but we know it’s not yours. We know that your time, deadlines and budgets are of great importance. We’ll get on with your print so you can get on running with your business. Let’s print!