Digital printing has advanced remarkably over the past few years, putting it on par with commercial printing. This introduces a question: should you choose digital printing for your next job, or select standard lithographic offset printing? To answer you first must understand the differences between the two and the advantages and disadvantages they offer.

Understanding Offset Lithography

This is the most common type of commercial printing, used for high-volume jobs. The print image in this case is burned onto the lithographic plate and then “offset” onto a rubber blanket, then transferred directly to the printing surface. This simple technique uses the basic principle that oil and water repel each other- the image attracts in onto the roller, the non-printing area attracts water to keep it free of ink. To accomplish this task a series of rollers are used, both to move the paper and transfer the ink.

 

The above magnified image shows how digital printing uses pixels, and offset uses a dot structure.

The Difference with Digital Printing

Digital printing can eliminate much of the setup process used by lithographic offset printing, often making it a quicker and more economical choice, particularly when time is of the essence. Because it doesn't require an intricate setup, you can easily make small or significant changes to the job if required.

Making the Decision

Digital printing gives you the advantage of time – as print jobs can be quickly set up and executed. The printer doesn't have to continually balance ink and water as with lithographic printing, and each print looks the same from start to finish. Besides being and faster, digital printing is cheaper when the quantities are small. This may not be evident in the per-piece costs that you are presented; once you add up all the setup costs that come with lithographic offset printing you’ll notice the difference.

Since digital printing reads off an electronic file, you also have the opportunity of customizing each piece of print, such as putting a customer’s name on a letter. Lithographic printing does not offer this level of customization, meaning each piece is just like the last – which doesn't let you take advantage of connecting on a personal level with your customer.

Offset printing gives you the advantage of a higher quality print – as well as giving you the flexibility print on a wider range of paper, card stock and plastics. The more pieces you print, the lower the cost per print becomes in relation. For high-volume jobs the cost for offset printing is less than digital printing.

How to Decide

Here are a few items to check through to decide whether to choose digital or offset printing:

What is the quantity?

Smaller quantities are best suited for digital printing, due to the high cost of setup. Large quantities, however, may be best suited for offset printing, since the per item cost decreases as the quantity increases.

Printed material used

Digital printers are fairly limited to the type, weight, and size of paper used, although they still offer a lot of options. Determine if a digital printer can suit your needs first, if that is your primary concern.


Pantone and CMYK Inks

Colours desired

Digital presses use four colours: cyan, yellow, magenta, and black. Even if you are only printing with one or two colours the digital press still uses all four inks. Offset printing can utilize one and two colour Pantone® printing which can result in a lower up-front cost if this is the desired effect. CMYK process colour with additional Pantone colours can be used on offset presses for high end corporate pieces.

If a particular colour is your desire, offset printing can help by using the Pantone® Matching System, where you can print using the actual Pantone ink colour you wish to use. Digital printers may not be able to offer an exact match for your brand.

Time to delivery

If you need your job printed quickly digital printing will be quick, offset printing may take some additional time, as drying time may be required before your project can be sent for trimming and folding.

Proofing your job

It’s easy to proof digital printing; as a proof can be output on the same device that will complete the project. Proofing in offset printing usually involves outputting a proof to a large format inkjet device or thermal sublimation printer that has been calibrated to match colour from the press. Accurate proofs for offset printing are usually more expensive.

Customization of the piece

Offset printing does not provide an easy way to customize your printed piece but if the quantities are high enough it will lower your cost per piece. Digital printing is much more suited for customization and quantities under 1000 pieces.

Still not certain whether to choose digital printing or offset? Talk to a professional graphic designer or printer about your next print job; they’ll have recommendations.