Digital Printing Brings Digital Images to Life in a Variety of Forms
Digital printing has made it possible to reproduce digital images on a physical surface. Have you ever wondered how a poster was made or how they got a unique image onto an envelope? It was probably accomplished through the process of digital printing.
Digital printing differs from other printing methods you may be aware of like lithography, flexography, gravure and letterpress printing. Unlike these printing methods, each print that is produced in digital printing can be different and unique because there are no plates required for the printing to be done. Traditional printing requires a plate for every single image. Digital printing does not use plates, and is also more environmentally friendly and economical because less chemicals and paper are wasted. Unlike traditional printing methods, there are not a lot of press runs required to make sure the image is exactly the right color and you don’t have to check for positioning. This saves time and money, which is a consideration if you are a business that is looking to do a short run of printing on a very limited budget.
Digital printing uses both toner and ink in the printing process. With digital printing, the toner or ink does not seep through the paper or substance that you are printing on like a conventional ink printer does. Digital printing forms the image on the thin surface of the paper. There may be additional processes used to adhere the image onto the paper including using fuser fluid with a heating process for toner or using an ultraviolet curing process if you are using ink.
Digital printing is perfect for short printing runs like personalized books, business brochures and special presentations. Because the nature of digital printing is for short printing runs, businesses and individuals can have professional looking printed materials done for a fraction of what it would cost using a traditional printing method. Say you wanted to have a children’s book done with personalized photos and text for your child. To have this done using traditional printing methods would be exorbitant, but it would be relatively inexpensive to do using digital printing. The printers would simple digitize any images that would need to be in the book and then print the book out and bind it according to your specifications.
Digital printing has revolutionized the way businesses and individuals are getting their printed materials produced. It has made printing much more accessible to people where it was once a very expensive proposition. If you can think of something that needs to be printed, chances are it can be done with the process of digital printing.