Friday, December 17, 2010

Types of Printing


The process of printing is fascinating and interesting and, to some degree, a mystery to most people. Here, briefly (and thanks to the folks at "How Stuff Works"), we'll talk about types of printing processes.

There are nine main types of printing processes:
  • Offset lithography is the workhorse of printing.
  • Engraving is used for fine stationery.
  • Thermography relies on raised printing, used in stationery.
  • Reprographics is typical copying and duplicating.
  • Digital printing has become very common and is high quality able to be used for short runs.
  • Letterpress is like what the original Guttenberg process relied upon.
  • Screen printing is used for T-shirts and billboards.
  • Flexography is usually used on packaging, such as can labels.
  • Gravure is used for huge runs of magazines and direct-mail catalogs and relies on large presses and complex processes.
Each, as we have noted, has a special application. We'll cover the specifics of each process in upcoming posts.

The Executive Pressman

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