Litho vs Digital Printing: Which One Would You Pick?

 Printing

There are two types of printing, digital and litho. Promoting your company can be a hard task, but, how can you make the most of your printing and offline media? To create a good impression, your printing needs to have the best quality! It’s down to you to create or hire great professionals to produce valuable content. However, there’s no point in producing good content unless you choose the appropriate printing method. What’s it to be, litho or digital printing?

Here’s our guide to lead you in the right direction:

What is Lithography?

Originally known as offset litho, litho printing is the traditional way of printing. Litho Printing was invented in 1976 by a German author and actor, to publish theatrical works which suited his budget. Since the late 70s, litho printing has developed from oil, wax and fat and still dominates the print industry, as it has for many years! So, let’s cut to the chase! What is litho printing? It’s the process whereby an image is applied to either flexible plastic or metal plate. There’s a choice of publishing the image directly from the plate or it can be offset, by transferring the image onto a flexible sheet before printing onto paper.

Why choose litho printing?

There are many great aspects to litho printing. It’s been highly popular for many years, there must be a reason for that, right? So, what is so great about litho printing?

• The most cost-effective method to produce a long print run
• Eligible to print on a wide range of material heights and texture
• Accurately reproduce the entire range of pan-tone spot colours
• Brilliant quality
• Apart from the initial setup, it’s exceptionally fast

On the other hand, the only obstacle in the way is the setup cost to create the plate and prepare the press. Therefore, it’s ideal to choose digital printing for smaller print runs if you’re looking to save time and money. However, if you are looking to print a high quantity, litho would be the most effective.

What is digital printing?

Using a digitalised image, made up of pixels. Digital printing directly impresses the image/s to a variety of media. This form of printing usually has a higher cost per page than litho printing. However, there is no cost for technical steps to create a plate. The technology has developed rapidly allowing very little time for the initial setup which gives consumers the freedom to experiment in a creative manner.

Why choose digital printing?

Even though the quality is not the same as litho, there are so many reasons why you should choose digital printing. The best thing about digital printing, is tight deadlines are easily met as results are instant! So, what else is good about digital printing?

• It’s very cost-effective. You can print smaller quantities instead of printing thousands
• You can change your company information or marketing leaflets as often as you like by printing smaller quantities
• Each individual printed item can have different content
• You don’t have to wait days or weeks to receive your print

On the contrary, if you’re looking to print a generous amount of media, digital printing is probably not the best solution. Also, certain types of paper cannot be printed digitally, whereas, litho can.

Written by Phoebe French

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