Understanding the Pros & Cons of Digital Printing

Digital presses have revolutionized printing: they’re fast, flexible, and high quality. They’re ideal for short runs (say, 2,000-4,000 pieces), and some digital presses even have inline finishing (folding, stapling, trimming). If your project requires higher numbers of finished pieces, your printer will tell you that it’s more appropriate to run it on an offset press.

There are advantages to digital printing…

• Variable Data: Because each impression is imaged on the fly, each impression can be unique. Using proprietary variable data software, the print stream can switch text and images from one piece to the next. It’s been proven that personalized, one-to-one marketing pieces yield a much higher response rate than generic mailings. Yes, variable data solutions are more expensive, but the results may be worth it.

• Quick turnaround: Not while-you-wait, of course, but because digital presses don’t require plates or long makeready processes, your job may go into production faster than it would if it were running offset.

And there are some considerations when going digital:

• Paper choices: If you’re printing a brochure or sales sheet, most of the HP Indigo presses are limited to 13″ × 19″ (although the higher-end Indigo 12000 takes up to 20″ × 29″), and not every single oddball glitter-flaked textured paper will be appropriate. That said, there is a wide array of papers for digital presses, and the offerings are constantly increasing.

• Spot colors: Most digital presses can’t print spot colors, although some offer a very limited palette of spot inks. But here’s some good news: because the pigments used on digital presses have a wider color gamut than offset printing inks. That means that digital presses can do a better job of approximating spot colors than offset presses. There are still some limitations—navy blues are still a bit of a challenge, and you can’t fake metallic. But it may mean that your corporate color fares better as process on a digital press than when rendered in CMYK on an offset press.

• Large format and billboards: Large format and grand format inkjet printers can print enormous pieces—16 feet wide and up, and long enough to cover the height of a building. If you’re creating artwork for huge displays, consult your printer for the appropriate dimensions and image resolution; you don’t need a 16-foot-wide image at 300 ppi. (And check out Alan Gilbertson’s article on Big Design)