What are the different types of digital printing?

With the advent of the computer age, printing options have become nearly unlimited. While options such as embroidery, patches, and transfers are still widely used, computers have provided a new form of printing: digital.

Digital printing maps out an image onto a chosen surface – a shirt, a mug, a hat, a bag, etc. – and using minute droplets of ink transfers that image onto it. Its simplicity and minimal use of equipment make digital printing one of the most cost-effective printing forms out there. It is also ideal for small batches of products, making it one of the best Print on Demand services options.

Digital printing technology does away with the usage of traditional inks & uses digital technology. You can directly print the matter that you would need from your pdf/jpg file, without transferring it to a metal plate & then on to a rubber blanket, as in the case of earlier offset printing.

The content that you would want to take a digital print of, will adopt a binary code, i.e. the process will digitize it for ease of storage & also reproduction.

Technological advances in digital technology over the years have ensured that the print quality is as good as, or better than, traditional litho print. The cost of digital printing is also lesser than that of traditional processes & it is easier to personalize the content before printing it.

Digital Printing Devices

There are the following types of digital printing devices:

• Inkjet Printer – This machine copies an image from a digital device & then prints it on plastic or paper. This they do by implanting countless tiny ink pellets onto the paper/plastic to create the image that you desire.
• Laser Printer – This device uses laser technology to print an image sourced from a digital device. The laser movement within the printer creates static electricity that helps to print the image by releasing the toner.
• Digital Press – This is what you get when you completely digitize the traditional printing press. This is viable only when there’s a huge order size that justifies this digitization, as the cost involved is substantial & the printers are also way more expensive.

Different Types of Digital Printing

There are primarily three types of digital printing. They are:

1) On-Demand Printing – Also known as Printing On Demand or POD. If you are planning to do small amounts of printing, then this will work well for you. This is suitable in those cases where the organizations continuously need to update their printed materials.

Normally, for such printing, one can use a Digital Color printer. However, if you are looking for prints with better quality, then you can go for a Direct Imaging (DI) Press.

2) Variable Data Printing – This is also known as Variable Image Printing. This is a type of digital printing that is much more customized & personalized. Suppose, an organization has a database that contains specific information, pertaining to each customer. And it wants to personalize the same mail to each & every recipient.

E.g. you often receive marketing/promotional mails that address you by name but the main content is standardized. It is quite evident that the sender has utilized Variable Data Printing technology. Thus, this technique works best for those organizations that want to address each customer individually while keeping the main content generalized.

3) Web-to-print – Organizations use this technology to customize & personalize mails online within a print management program.

Thus, there are different types of digital printing, according to the requirement of the user. Technology in this domain is undergoing constant improvement, so you can expect the quality of your printing to go up on a continuous basis.

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