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Digital vs. Offset Printing

Do you know, some people are still confused to make the final decision to see which printing technology is more commonly using globally or which printing method is better? In short, offset printing is a more traditional printing method, also commonly known as printing press method as compare to the digital printing method.

Offset Printing

This is a kind of printing that is commonly using for high volume commercial jobs; think likes of newspaper, magazines and book printing. This is printing process whereby ink is rolled onto paper to allow it to rest on the surface as well as being absorbed into the paper. The design is transferred from the plates onto rubber rolls and colors of ink are spread on the rubber and paper will run between them and layered on the paper in order to get the final image.

Benefits of offset printing

• Better colour fidelity, which refers to accuracy and balance of the colours in the design. 
• Works equally well on almost any kind of material
• Large amount of copies can be reproduced with extreme speediness
• Superior image quality which is clean, distinct type and spotless without any streaks or spots.
• Suitable for large volume jobs
• Allows the widest range of colour re-production. Pantones, metallic, foils, bright florescence and varnishes can be produced with this printing.

While offset printing is not suitable for low volume jobs, required more attention to ensure acceptable quality of results, color drying time, creation of plates etc.

Digital Printing

This is method of printing as compared to offset printing, where proofs, plates and rubber bed are not required and design directly print on the paper with liquid ink or powdered toner. This printing method provide faster and more precise printing quality as compare to the offset printing process. This is an alternate printing solution designed to emulate the final printing press results to give customers an idea of what their final printing press project would look like. Due to the familiarity with the process, many will favour digital printing.

Benefits of offset printing

• Faster turnaround time as there is no dying time for inks
• Lower cost for low volume jobs (less than 500 copies).
• Large format printing can be done (exceeding 10 feet in diameter)
• Can be printed on a variety of mediums which include paper, glass, metal and marble.

So in comparison, this printing process possesses less color fidelity due to use of standard inks, higher cost for high volume jobs, lower print quality, sharpness, crispness. On the basis of the above discussion, you can make a right decision on the best printing method for your project.