FAQ
What is the difference between litho and digital printing?Litho printing is a traditional printing format that uses four process inks. These are commonly referred to as CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black) when printed together a four colour image is created. A fair proportion of the price in a litho job will be for setting up the press, and then washing it down. Once these costs are covered the unit prices of each consecutive run begin to reduce substantially. This is often referred to the 'run-on' price. This is why litho printing is much more cost effective for printing longer runs (from 500 upwards)
Digital printing is a modern technique that doesn't use plates to print with. These machines are very useful for printing short run work where the minimum run is one! Digital printing presses have evolved massively over the years and now print using vegetable based inks - not toners. The move to vegetable based inks was key to our choice of the iGen 3 machine. Its competitor the Indigo has a reputation for using oil based toners and is very environmentally unfriendly.
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What is a special, or 'spot' colour?Special colours or "spot colours" can be added to four colour printing. Special colours are mixed especially and are essentially for printing large smooth area's of colour, or very fine text as there are no dots to mesh together across the four process colours. |
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