Digital Or Litho Printing - What is the Difference?

To the occasional buyer of printed items, selecting which process is most favorable for their print project is not necessarily high on their agenda and as a ensue of this, it is not uncommon to here tales of citizen buying a small amount of copies of a brochure for immoderate amounts of money. This is partly because their print provider probably isn't adequate with both litho and digital technology and partly because the buyer doesn't understand the distinct technologies available to them.

I hope that the data below will give a basic frame as to the distinction between the 2 technologies and the unique benefits they each offer. In short, if your provider only has one technology, find a provider for the other or find a provider that can offer you both.

Litho Printing

Lithographic (Litho or Offset printing) is the most coarse form of high-volume commercial printing, due to advantages in potential and efficiency in high-volume jobs. While modern digital presses (Xerox Digital Presses, for example) are getting closer to the cost/benefit of litho for high-quality work, they have not yet been able to compete with the sheer volume of stock that a litho press can produce.

A good example of litho printing would be letterheads with a quantity over 2,000. Multi page Brochures 16, 32, 48 pages from 1000 copies upwards.

Digital Printing is generally used for short print runs, and or for the customization of print media. If you are routinely ordering low-quantity stationery, then digital might be the way send as this should save you money. With digital print, personalising each copy (Variable Data Printing) is easy and cost effective as there are no printing plates used in the process unlike litho. The personalisation could be a involved mixture of distinct text and images. An example might be a postcard advertising a car with an offer personalised to fit the recipient's profile.

Digital printing in large volumes only occurs when Vdp personalisation is the most important aspect in the project, so think mail order catalogues with buyer definite offers and special enhancements to entice new customers to buy.

Otherwise think 1 off copy for the new 100 page book so that the boss can approve it before it goes to the Litho Printer for a much bigger print run.

Digital Or Litho Printing - What is the Difference?

Litho Printing