Looking for an inexpensive, accessible way to print posters or pictures? Digital printing is the answer to your prayers.
Since the early days of the first digital printing presses in the 1990s, digital printing has come a long way. These days, digital printers are commonplace. Sleek and minimal, they've been compacted to fit your palm, desktop or home office, enabling everyone from stay-at-home-moms to five-year-olds to create short-run, personalised, high quality prints in an instant.
Before digital prints became the norm, printing was done using the offset method. Offset technology used plates, usually made from aluminum, which were used to transfer an image onto a rubber "blanket", and then rolled it onto a sheet of paper. It was called offset because the ink was not transferred directly onto the paper. Its use has been phased out for the most part, but it's widely used for mass printing jobs. Because offset presses run so efficiently once they are set up, it's considered the best choice when larger quantities are needed, and provides accurate color reproduction, and crisp, clean professional looking printing.
While offset printing is a fantastic way to produce great-looking print projects, many businesses or individuals do not need large runs of 500 or more, and the best solution is digital printing. Digital printing doesn't use plates the way offset does, but instead uses options such as toner (like in laser printers) or larger printers that do use liquid ink. The power of digital printing really comes through when lower quantities are needed - small batch flyers or cards, for example. Another benefit of digital printing is it's variable data capability. When each piece needs a unique code, name or address, digital is the only way to go. Offset printing cannot accommodate this need.
Digital printing works by assembling each image from a complex set of numbers and mathematical formulas. These images are captured from a matrix of dots, called pixels, and this process is called digitizing. The digitized images are then used to control the deposition of ink, toner or exposure to electromagnetic energy to reproduce the data. They use an in-built colour management system to keep images looking the same despite where they are printed. This also allows for on-demand printing, short turnaround time, and even a modification of the image (variable data) used for each impression. While traditional digital printing does have a higher cost per page than more offset printing, these days the savings in labor and the ever-increasing capability of digital presses are coming in a close match to offset's ability to produce larger print runs at t a low price. The only downside is the slight loss of some fine-image detail that most commercial digital printing processes incur.
If you think digital printing might be right for your home or business needs, here's a handy list of local experts, stockists, and dealers that can help get you on your way!