Basics of Commercial Printing

1041 - Chinese and Koreans used block printing

1440 - Gutenberg, first moveable type printing press

Commercial printing
all types of printing performed in print shops rather than in-house duplicating, copy machines or inkjet printers.

Small print shops
One or two presses with a bed size of 11x17" maximum
and usually prints one or two color jobs.
Will print several thousand pieces per job.

Mid size print shops
larger presses, print four color jobs and some now have digital printing (different than digital press).

Large printshops
Usually owned by large companies and print 100,000s of pieces per job.
Magazines
newspapers
packaging

Some do Direct-to-plate or DTP printing eliminating the negatives.

Digital printing presses where the image goes from the computer directly to a digital press.

Copy shops
Kinkos
Do-it-yourself shops for small quanity printing.

Inkjet printers, copiers, digital copiers.

Different Printing Processes

Offset Lithography
Chemical process where oil and water don't mix.

The offset lithography process works by first transferring an image photographically to thin metal, paper, or plastic printing plates.

Unlike other forms of printing, in offset lithography the image on the printing plate is not recessed or raised. Rollers apply oil-based ink and water to the plates. Since oil and water don't mix, the oil-based ink won't adhere to the non-image areas.

Only the inked image portion is then transferred to a rubber blanket (cylinder) that then transfers the image onto the paper as it passes between it and another cylinder beneath the paper.

The term offset refers to the fact that the image isn't printed directly to the paper from the plates, but is offset or transferred to another surface that then makes contact with the paper.

DTP-Direct-to-plate or CTP-Computer-To-Plate Printing
The printing plate is made directly from the computer file which eliminates the need for film. The production of film costs time and money which is why direct-to-plate printing is so popular for low quantity jobs.

Digital Printing
In digital printing, the prints are made directly from a computer file without film or plates. The image is printed directly to the substrate or paper.This method is ideal for lower-quantity and customized needs but can only print CMYK images and files.