Some of the direct mail campaigns we manage and produce for clients involves full color digital printing — so let’s talk today about what exactly this print technology is.
As you can see above, a digital printing press is like a glorified copier machine. In technical terms, the process involves the reproduction of a digital image(s) on a physical surface like paper.
Unlike traditional printing — like offset printing — digital printing doesn’t require plates. As a result, the set-up costs are less making it more economical for short-run projects. More importantly, this enables very detailed personalization. i.e. every piece can be different…or the recipient’s name spelled out in the artwork like written in sand, etc.
From an environmental perspective, full color digital printing wastes less chemicals and paper because the set-up doesn’t involve adjusting the color, registration and positioning. Less paper is also wasted because digital printing is perfect for on demand projects — meaning, you only print what you need.
The two main downsides to digital printing, however, are quality and price. The quality is not yet up to par with traditional printing…but this is quickly changing. And second, the price on large-run projects is usually cost-prohibitive…but this too is improving.
If you have any questions, please let us know!
7 comments ↓
Digital Printing is still the future and the quality is better than everyone thinks. But your right its just a glorified copier. Great Post!
Would you agree that digital printing is inevitably the only future, or do you think that traditional methods will always have their place?
We think digital printing is going to continue to grow, but we don’t see it ever fully replacing long run sheetfed or web printing because of price.
Which digital printing technology is going to win: toner based or ink?
Richard,
That’s a good question. I think there are several external factors that exist in that equation. As the green movement becomes more mainstream, I think there is potential for soy-based ink products to emerge adding a boast to the ink industry. Conversely, toner consumption may decrease as the VOCs in many toner solvents could become alarming to the environmental conscious. In the long-run, I believe ink will conquer the digital printing battle.
Digital printing is terrific for fast turnaround, limited quantity runs – I do believe that digital printing also depends on how well the individual that ‘runs’ the machine (copier) can make it do what it needs to do to get as close as possible to the offset product. This can be manupulation of the file (scary), using appropriate calibration profiles, choosing the best paper, etc. I am pleasantly supprised when I get an order, print it digitally, and then see the hard copy the customer has from the previous offset order – many times my product is much more appealing. It really is a case of price first, but then whether the Designer, pre-press person, substrate purchaser, estimator (in my case it’s one person doing all of these things) understands the process and purpose of the piece being printed. Whew!
[...] common printing methods are sheetfed offset, web offset and digital printing. Today’s post is going to discuss sheetfed offset printing. It depends on the size of the [...]
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