Let me set the situation… your designer has completed the most beautiful corporate brochure for you and now its ready to go to the printer for production. Typically the designer or printer selects if your piece will be printed digitally or through offset printing, but do you know the difference? With technology expanding and the gain of technical improvements, new features are now available when a project is submitted to a printer. There are currently two common printing technologies used today; “Digital” and “Offset” printing.

What’s the difference?
Digital printing simply transfers a digital image to a material’s surface (commonly paper) via ink or toner. Typical printers include standard home inkjet printers and higher-end laserjet printers.

Offset printing on the other hand, uses a four-color process commonly known as CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) and is more complex than digital printing. Rollers are used to apply each individual ink to the paper or material, and when layered on top of each other, colors are achieved. Special colors known as Pantones can also be added as additional inks which are known as a “spot” color. Spot colors are common with businesses that have specific colors included in their branding that need to be achieved accurately in a printed piece. This 5th or even 6th ink is custom mixed by the printer to get the desired color. Sending a project to an offset press requires more man-hours as specific plates must be made for each color of ink.

Benefits of Printing Digitally:

Cost for Lower Quantities
When printing lower quantities, typically below 250, it is generally cheaper to print digitally due to the lack of step-up needed for digital printing. One of the main reasons is that the process is not as elaborate when a project is sent to be printed digitally vs. offset. This means that there are fewer mechanical steps required for preparing a file which translates into fewer man-hours.  

Turnaround
The time it takes a printer to complete an order from when they receive the file to when the physical product is in your hand is known as the “turnaround time.” When printing digitally, the turnaround time, depending on the printer’s schedule is often much quicker and often times can be finished within 24 hours.

Options
Some other great features of printing digitally is that each piece can feature unique content. For example, if you are printing a series of posters, each poster can feature a different color scheme, have a variation of text, and can be printed on a various paper stocks without extra costs. Doing this on an offset printer would not be effective or cheap, as it would become very expensive due to new plates needing to be created for each poster.

Benefits of Printing Offset:

Large Quantities
When large quantities are needed, offset is definitely the most cost effective option. Many printers can accommodate orders of 250-20,000 or more very easily. Typically, the higher the quantity, the cost per piece is reduced.

Material Selection
When sending a project to be printed offset, the project is not limited in terms of materials, as offset printing can accommodate thick cardboard, plastic, metal, cloth, or standard paper. Often times, larger sizes of the material can also be achieved easier than printing digitally.

Special Features
Many unique elements along with the material selection can be added to a project. Diecuts (special cutouts) can be added to covers, edges, or throughout with ease. Spot varnishes (think of a cover being a matte finish and the logo being glossy) is another special feature that can often be added to provide a unique element to the printed piece. Other special features include printing in metallic ink, printing in white ink, application of special top coatings (if something will be handled a lot), and unique shapes (business folders).

When trying to decide whether to send a project to be printed digitally or on a press, consider the quantity, material, size, and if piece needs to be customized. Do you have a project that needs to be designed and printed? Contact us today to learn how we can provide you with endless graphic design solutions!

R2F Creative LLC provides graphic design + branding and web design solutions for clients nationwide and locally in Ankeny and Des Moines, Iowa.