Brands want to excel in their respective industries, but they often are not familiar with how to do it. Offset v Digital Printing is the main topic today.

It is high time everyone realizes that packaging is an effective way to rise to the top effortlessly. You might come across various products in the store, but you always pick one that feels surreal to the eyes.

Product printing is what puts your brand apart from your competitors. There are several printing types and models to design your vision into reality. It is pertinent to learn that printing results are never 100 percent accurate.

We will talk about two of the most common printing techniques that enhance the Custom boxes printing as much as possible:

1. Digital
2. Offset

This article shows how to choose an effective printing method for your specific packaging. The difference between these two options depends on the design purpose, cost, and qualities to optimize your business branding and marketing needs.

The Difference Between Offset vs. Digital Printing

Offset lithographic printing and digital printing is what you should go for, and we will answer now why:

Offset Print

This process requires metal plates for coating colour onto sheets in brisk sequence and imprinting against paperboard.

Companies print magazines and newspapers using this method because it provides an excellent image quality without costing too much for bigger runs. However, it will not be as cheap and time-saving as you think when printing low-volume designs.

Digital Print

It is the most common type as our home and offices are equipped with printers. It has a fast turnaround time and does not cost much. You will not experience any hassle while making variable data prints with this process.

As compared to the offset printer, digital colour reliability and material flexibility are not as great but still produce superior results.

The digital method covers about 16% of the world’s printing and packaging. That is why it is used for custom printed retail boxes for several businesses, whereas it only covers about 4% of use in the print industry.

It shows that digital printing is the finest process for low-volume choices. It is not only about printing but the packaging should be considered too.

Types of Packaging Materials

Let’s look at a number of different packaging materials for printing:

• Rigid Packaging: It calls for the offset printing method to give you a luxurious feel. It produces high-quality results while making the customer feel premium. It is mainly used for lush products, and similarly, it tends to be costly.
• Corrugated Packaging: This sustainable material supports both offset and digital printing. We recommend you offset for designs that include finishing styles, such as foil stamping or spot UV, and have to be produced in bulk. However, for smaller volumes, digital is your choice for corrugated sheets.
• Paperboard Packaging: This one often demands offset for products like cosmetics, pharmaceutical and retail boxes. It is so because offset printing is useful for creating sharp and vibrant printing outputs for small typeface and artwork. It is important to increase readability and help consumers communicate with the product through its information.

Which Material is Best for Time-Saving?

For effective turnaround times regarding corrugated in small runs, you should go for digital without any second thought. Nonetheless, offset printing is quite influential for larger volumes and will adjust the turnaround time accordingly.

Which Method is Best for Colour Quality?

It has been established in the article that the offset technique is pricey, but the same is justified with its colour depth and brightness. It uses Pantone Matching System (PMS) to get the accurate inks, whereas digital ones achieve the same with colour calibration.

Another benefit of offset printing is that it can also print white ink on the packaging, whereas the digital printing does not support it.

Offset is known for its clear, crisp, and alluring shades that you often see in the supermarket, while digital is great for minimalistic designs, mainly for online ventures and retail.

Types of Finishes

You can also get many finishing options with offset printing to give a more specialized look to your packaging. Kindly refer to the following list to get an idea about various coatings:

• Soft Touch
• Aqueous Coating
• Spot UV
• Matte Lamination
• Gloss Finish

You will not get this experience with digital printing, so make your choice accordingly.

To Sum Up

We want to apprise you that both these printing techniques harmonize each other in the packaging orders. You can use both by creating prototypes with digital and using offset for the production process to maintain price and quality.

You know now how both offset and digital printing methods are beneficial in their own way. It depends on the type of business you are running, and how the apt printing model can be used to reap success.

Author Profile

Manuela WillboldLondon Blogger

Blogger and Educator by Passion | Senior Online Media & PR Strategist at ClickDo Ltd. | Contributor to many Business Blogs in the United Kingdom | Fascinated to Write Blogs in News & Education | I have completed a journalism summer course at the London School of Journalism and manage various blogs.

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