This is the second in this series from The Odee Company about printing videos.
Right now we’re gonna talk about offset printing vs. digital printing. We do both here, so we kind of have an advice to you as to which one is better.
Neither one is better, it depends upon the situation into which one is actually the right one to use.
With digital printing you can do both: black and white and color. And there’s a wide range of quality based upon color laser, toner base, liquid ink, that kind of things.
On black and white we’ll do Docutech, which is toner base, the screens would be very coarsed. It’s not really made to do halftone or such: it’s pretty much done for, you know, manuals or text.
Our color digitals are going to be done on HP Indigo 3050. It rivals offset quality in the reason that it does has liquid ink technology. It’s also the only digital press that can print true pantones or spot colors.
Another advantage on digital printing is that you can customize it or do it variable. Which means that either the text or the picture can change from sheet to sheet in the run. You also can do collated sets to where what comes out the press is right to be back, while in offset printing you don’t have that situation. It’s static, it’s not gonna be customizable, at least not in the offset process, and you’re gonna have to go through a bindering type situation and need to do folded or collated or do something like that.
Digital printing is primarily made for short runs, short runs being five, one and up to say a thousand press sheets. That’s what has made the digital revolution, is that small range of quantity can now be done economically.
The digital, as it goes higher in quantity, the purposed price it’s not dropped. That’s when offset comes in. Offset is done with plates, blankets and true ink and basically it’s done on a number of different substrates that you can use. It would come in multiple units of presses. You can do CMYK, you can do spot colors, you can be anywhere from a one color press on up to say a twelve color press.
The reasons that you do offset vs. digital: offset would be larger quantities, perceived qualities are higher and those are the reasons that you will use offset. Offset has a water-ink balance. You are going to have a little bit more variability and intensities. In another word, your variations during the press runs will always be there on offset. Digital is going to be more stable, each sheet it’s going to be very similar to the other
But again if you’re doing ten thousands brochures digital it’s not going to be the most cost effective way to do it. That is why both of these processes are here: it’s that they both fit different niches of the actual printing business.
If you have any question you can contact us at the odeecompany.com. We are more than willing to help you.
