For research I want to look at printing processes used in commercial graphic design, to see the impacts and issues of each process as it will further my knowledge of the techniques but also help me consider each one for this brief.
The first process I looked into was Offset Lithography, in offset an aluminium plate with a image of the content is used, then inked and placed onto the printing surface. The process can be used to print on paper, cardboard, plastic or other materials, but these have to have a flat surface. Today it is the most commonly used printing technique for a range of products such as books, newspapers and posters. It is extremely flexible with a short set up time and cost effective for most jobs but a higher set up cost than digital.
The second was Digital printing which can be done two ways, Inkjet and Xerography. I decided to focus on Inkjet as its available here at the college. An inkjet printer prints the image that needs to be printed by creating small droplets of ink that are from one or more print heads. Inkjet devices can print on a wide range of materials such as paper, plastic and canvas. Inkjet printing is used a lot for posters and signage. It is also economical for short run publications such as photo books or small runs of books.
In the commercial world of printing, digital printing is increasingly used for print jobs that were previously printing using offset, flexo or screen printing. In short run small sizes such as A3 and A4 are now printed using digital printing, digital is taking over from offset for both colour and black and white printing. This is mainly down to print shops and studios offering print on demand digitally printed to publishers etc.
Another process I looked at was screen printing as its available at the college too, this technique relies on a screen, which is a piece of fabric. Certain areas of this mesh are coated with a non-permeable material. In the remaining open spaces ink can be pushed through the mesh onto a substrate. The advantage of screen printing is that the surface of the recipient does not have to be flat and that the ink can added to a wide range of materials, such as paper, textiles, glass, ceramics, wood, and metal. Another advantages are that its a non impact process and versatile but one common disadvantage is being unable to print small type size. Similar to Offset, screen printing is being replaced by Digital but with digital you can't achieve a certain style that'd you'd only achieve with screen printing, plus you can print onto numerous type of materials.
After some initial research into printing processes, I wanted to know the best way to determine a print job, which process would be best suited for this brief if I was to commercially print it. I started with the run length of a job, digital printing is the most available and cheap option because other processes such as offset have a bigger start up cost, which makes it a larger job. The run length of a job links to a possible deadline in commercial print, digital is good for when you need something urgently becuase it has a small start up time. On the other hand larger web presses have integrated folding and cutting machines that makes it more efficient, unlike digital printers. Each process has a price, some processes are expensive which makes them only viable for big jobs but digital print can offer a large print job at a small cost.
No comments:
Post a Comment