Digital Printing: How Computers Have Changed Printing Forever

Printing was the technology that really kickstarted modern Europe. The effect of hundreds of thousands of books and pamphlets suddenly being cheaply available led to the period called the Enlightenment. Techniques such as moveable type and lithography were developed, making printing presses more efficient and versatile. Our own time has seen a similar jump in printing technology; in the digital age, the integration of computers has changed printing forever. The Origins of Digital Printing Commercial digital printers first began to appear in the 1990s. They work by ‘digitising’ an image – dividing it into millions of tiny parts called pixels. The colour tone and shade of each pixel is then encoded as a number. These numbers can be used as instructions – directions as to where to place what colour ink and in what quantities – that will make as many perfect copies of the image as you require. The Benefits of Digital Printing As the technology got faster and dropped in price, people were quick to see the advantages of being able to print images and text straight from their desktop computer. The whole business of typesetting – arranging pictures and articles on the page – could remain onscreen. Digital printing is especially suited to short printing runs. Other methods of printing are too labour intensive to set up to make a short run worthwhile. A shorter run means your prints can be personalised and we are also starting to see the emergence of print-on-demand for projects like self-published books. It’s all thanks to the advances made possible by the digital printing press. Do you have a project in mind that you think digital printing might suit? Colour Print can meet all of your digital printing needs. Call us on 01603 488001 or email us at sales@col-print.co.uk for a quote. Want to find out more about the printing industry and see our most creative print projects? Follow us on Facebook and on Twitter at @Colour_Print.