Your helpful guide to choosing Litho or Digital print.

We run a small digital and litho print company in Slough, Berkshire with an in house graphic design team and we think we have the answer to pretty much all your print requirements.

We get asked quite often which should I choose, litho or digital so I thought I would post this blog to help people looking to print items the main factors that will determine which you choose:

Run length
Run length is the ultimate decision when it comes to digital print. Anything you want printed in various colours at a small quantity ie: 250 – which in most printers is the minimum run length would be perfect for digital print. We manage to print up to 350gsm which is very heavy board and perfect for business cards etc.

Price
Price is always important, generally you will find that if you only need a few prints then the price will have a lower unit cost when printed digitally. If you go above say 2500 then the job would probably lean towards litho print.

Special colours
Pantone colours and fluorescent colours can not be achieved perfectly with digital printing so we recommend to our clients that you print these litho, as next time you print the job the colours should match using a number reference system.

Environmentally Friendly
Digital print is more eco friendly as it dramatically cuts down on the need to buy more paper ie; a leaflet job of 5000 printed in colour on both sides will require approximately 500 sheets of paper more if you print litho than digital. Each colour needs to be aligned to fit and sometimes if the ink/water balance is not optimally achieved there will also be print problems which will lead to more paper being required. Where as with digital print the colours and imposition is set from the pdf a few sheets are printed then you can go ahead and print, maximum overs (extra sheets of paper) required are 15-20 sheets, the sheets come out dry, no need to wait for the conventional litho inks to dry.

Another requirement of most modern day litho presses is that they require isopropanol (ipa) which is costly and creates waste through its containers, again digital presses do not require these. Litho presses because of the need for ink which are oil and vegetable based require regular cleaning using strong solvent based cleaners, digital presses completely cuts out the need for solvents as there is no need to clean any inks. 
Most digital presses for instance the Xerox docucolur machines most parts are recyclable, again less impact on the environment.

Turnaround Times/On Demand Print
The great advantage that digital has over Litho is the time factor. Digital presses require no plates, no need to wait for inks to dry. Digital is practically instant, send a file over as a pdf impose and print

Personalisation
Another advantage of digital print is the facility to personalise print which has a great impact. This is a marketing form of media which directly reaches the point of contact

Recycling
Another benefit of printing digitally is the growing demand for recycled paper FSC papers (product from well managed forests controlled sources recycled wood and paper) generally 50% recycled. Many large corporate companies are demanding print using FSC papers which currently are not as competitively priced but ethically more responsible.