Webthris Blog

Digital Versus Offset Printing

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 | Design, Printing, Tips, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

There has been alot of question raised recently when clients contact me for webthris printing services, one of the most common one is, “What is the difference between digital and offset printing?” and “Which one do I use to print my materials?”

Let me first start by explaining what are the definition of both terminology.

Digital Printing: If you have your own personal desktop printer at home, then you would understand the meaning of digital printing easier. Digital printing directly produces the outcome without the need of films, plates and so on. It’s design to paper directly.

Offset Printing: Offset printing on the other hand, requires film and plates to be created before the printing process can begin (Modern Offset Printers allows the design to be directly printed on printing materials). Offset Lithography is the most commonly trusted high volume commercial printing technology. As mentioned earlier, the design is first exposed onto the film, which then will be transfered to the plates (which can be in the form of rubber or steel), and finally onto the printing surface. The lithography process is based on repulsion of oil and water. The image to be printed gets ink from ink rollers, while the non printing area attracts a film of water, keeping the non printing areas ink-free.

What are the Advantages of both techniques?

Digital Printing Advantages
- If you’re doing small runs, this method would cost alot cheaper.
- Shorter turnaround time
- Every print is the same.
- More accurate counts, less waste and fewer variations, due to not having to balance ink and water during press run.

Offset Printing Advantages
- Higher quality of image, better resolution, usually do not cause streaks or spots.
- You can use many types of printing surface, for example, paper, wood, plastic, cloth, metal etc.
- Many modern offset presses use “computer-to-plate” further increasing quality.
- Cheaper, the unit price per piece goes down as the printing quantity increases.
- Very effective for high volume jobs.

So when it comes back to the question of “Which printing method do I use?”, we should consider the following key points.

Quantity: Offset printing has a high initial cost, such as the ink, running cost and so on. Offset is usually done in quantity of 1000 rounds per printing. So when the print quantity is low, using offset printing is not recommended (unless you’re looking at a better quality printing). Digital printing would then be a better method to select when it comes to very low quantity printing.

Printing Medium: One of the things you have to consider is the printing surface. Digital printers usually have limited paper types that you can print one, some digital printer may not support papers which are very thick. Offset printing would then be your option as these printers can print on many surfaces such as plastic, metal, rubber and so on. The size also matters, digital printers usually supports smaller size printing (usually A3 or A2 size only). Offset printers can print bigger size.

Colour Usage: Digital printing uses the 4 colors process printing (CMYK- Cyan Magenta Yellow & Black). If you’re looking at printing something that are of 1 color or even 2 colors, offset printing would be a much more effective approach.

Pantone Color Printing: If you’re planning to print using the Pantone® Matching System, offset printing will give you the best match, since it uses actual Pantone® ink. Digital printing simulates the color using a four-color matching process, so some digital printers may offer less accurate color matching on projects.

Turnaround Time: If you need the particular printings to be done at a quicker time, digital printing would be a better approach as they are faster. Eventhough mentioned, offset printers nowdays can also produce the printings fast (Usually costlier machines).

Proofing Of Design: Digital printing would be more accurate to be used for proofing the printing items as what you see on the screen are usually the same when printed on paper (unless the screen resolution is different).

Customization: When you’re looking at printing something such as letterhead, namecards etc that changes very often, then you would want to consider using digital printing as you can print as and when required. Offset printing would be too costly to print a handfull of materials.

As a conclusion, you may use both printing technique, depending on what you require based on the points stated above. We should not take away either printing method as they are both have their own advantages.

Do visit our printing details, printing quotes and templates by clicking on the links below. www.webthrisblog.com is a website powered by www.webthris.com.

Webthris Printing Studio Links
- Namecard Printing
- Flyer Printing
- Brochure Printing
- Bookmark Printing
- Postcard Printing
- Greeting Card Printing
- Sticker Printing
- Letterhead Printing
- Corporate Folder Printing
- A4 Booklet Printing
- Desktop Calendar Printing
- Paper Bag Printing
- Notepad Printing

Tags: A4 booklet printing, bookmark printing, brochure printing, corporate folder printing, desktop calendar printing, flyer printing, greeting card printing, letterhead printing, namecard printing, notepad printing, paper bag printing, postcard printing, Printing, sticker printing