You’ll hear us talking about various printing methods over time.. today we’re going to talk about the two types we use daily, digital & lithographic and why you’re best using either for your print projects.
Lets start with Digital…
Digital is ideal for the shorter run or personalised items that need printing – due to the absence of set ups and the printed sheet coming out of the press dry and ready to finish, digital print is ideal for fast turnaround or small quantities. It’s also ideal for:
Short run books or brochures
As there is no set up cost and your sheets come out ready to finish, not only is the printing efficient and cost effective, the turnaround is quicker as well.
Variable data or Personalisation
Personalised items or items with variable data are ideal for a digital press, where these can be done at the same time as the printing. Nowadays this can be done on a litho press inline, but unless you’re printing a lot, it’s still best to stick with digital. Don’t think you’re restricted to a boring old OCR font – you can personalise images, fonts, anything that you can link to data – you can personalise.
POD (Print On Demand) – think Moonpig or Funky Pigeon!
Both these companies utilise digital printing to fulfil their orders for greetings cards. Ideal as you will only need one copy of the your card and as such, digital print is able to print your order – have it trimmed, creased and folded and in the post straight to you.
Lithographic Print
For larger orders, both in quantity, size & pagination, litho is the way to go. The downside here is that the sheet is still wet and needs drying time before your item is finished.
If you think your job could do with swapping presses, or you’re not sure if what you’re currently having produced is being done economically then give us a call on 01933 698 123 and we can talk through your options.
