Print On Demand – Digital Printing

Digital printing machine is made for on demand printing order. It is designed as efficient as possible to supply around 1 to 1000 print per design.  However theseday developement in this technology grow significantly because of digital trend in all industry sector. I try to create a list of advantages aand disadvantages of digital printing versus Offset printing / lit9hographic printing.

Pro:

1. Short run printing: you can print alower than 1000 print order in full color cheaper than offset printing.
2. On demand printing: print as you need, anytime, plus, you can change your design and it will almost add no cost on your production.
3. Personalization: you can create each print using diffrent design, diffrent color, flat production time (as long as the design process is not count).
4. Distributed Printing: you can print in several places in the same time,

so this is what you’ll get: faster proces, no need separated film, plate, and that is cost efficient, exact print number, no minimum printing order, cheaper in small amount of printing, you can design easily at no cost.

So.. why i still use offset printing even if i only need 500 print ? such as wedding invitation, etc?

1. the quality is lower than offset, the presition is okay, but the color is not as bright as offset ink. besides there’s alot offset printing ink type that are not available for digital printing, like flourescent ink, security ink, uv ink, etc. (well, actually it’s available, but you can’t easily find it).
2. it cost more if you print more than 1000 print
3. you can’t use all kind of paper.

i still prefer offset printing to print high quality small / short run print like wedding invitation, but for other short run printing like name cards, giveaway brochures, or book sample (less than 500 books) i ‘ll use digital printing.

note: this is about “traditional” digital printing, not about digital offset, and other newer technology