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104 Creedmore Lane ©2008 First Place Publishing Inc |
Offset printing is the norm in the printing industry. This is the type of printing by which our products are printed from. Offset printing involves the use of ink, plates, and rollers in a printing press to complete a printed sheet. Ink is laid on top of the paper using this method.
Most digital printing - a catch phrase in some circles - is a totally different production process. While offset printing uses wet ink, digital printing typically does not. Dry toner and fuser oil are heated at high temperatures to create the image in digital printing. The process is virtually identical to that of a color copier or laser printer. In fact, some printers use the term "digital printing" in reference to printing their files to a laser printer or color copier. We believe the term "digital copying" would be more appropriate to distinguish between actual offset printing with ink and the digital process with toner and oil.
NOTE: recent improvements in technology have allowed some digital presses to use ink (not toner). However, not many commercial printers are using this new technology yet.
Listed below are the three main reasons why you should choose to have your products printed on an offset printing press:
| Quality | Offset printing is far superior in quality compared to digital toner-based printing. If you have the same flyer printed at Kinko's using one of their digital printers and compare that to the same flyer printed from a commercial offset printer, you will see the huge difference in quality. While some digital printing machines are better than others, there is usually no comparison in quality when comparing the two printing processes. |
| Lower Cost | Typically the per piece cost of an offset printed product is lower than that of a digital print. This means that offset printing will be less expensive and will save you money in most cases. The exception to the rule is when there are small quantities being printed. Any quantity of 1000 or more will usually be more cost effective using offset printing. For smaller quantities - such as printing 50 or 100 flyers - it would most likely be cheaper to print digitally. |
| Turnaround Time | The greatest advantage of digital printing is speed. If you are under the gun and need something printed right now for a trade show tomorrow, a digital printer can accommodate you most of the time. Turnaround times for digital printing is generally 1-2 days at the most, compared to a typical 5-7 business days for a commercial offset printer. |