- With offset printing, ink is rolled onto metal plates and then transferred onto rubber, which puts ink onto paper. This technique is the most common because it delivers a high-quality image for large print jobs at a low cost. In fact, the more you print, the less your cost per piece.
- Digital and electrostatic techniques don't use plates at all and so require little setup time. With digital printing, the image is transferred from a computer onto paper. With electrostatic printing, the paper is coated with zinc oxide, which reacts to light; light is used to transfer the image onto paper. Both techniques provide a low cost for short-run printing.
- With screen printing, ink is forced through a stencil and a fabric such as silk. This technique delivers a clear image and is usually used for printing on clothing or other fabric materials. If you would like to print your design onto T-shirts, for example, but want to do more than you are able to create at home with stencils, then screen printing will save you much time and money.
- Both these techniques leave a raised image on the paper. With embossing, metal plates with raised letters and images are pressed onto the paper. With thermal imaging, a special powder is spread onto paper that has been printed already with offset printing. Some powder sticks to the images and the rest is vacuumed off. The paper is then heated and the powder melts and makes a raised image.
- The gravure printing technique uses copper plates to transfer ink onto a material. It delivers a high-quality image for large print projects. It is most often used for magazines, greeting cards, wallpaper and large marketing campaigns, but one downside is that it is relatively more costly than offset printing.
- Flexography printing uses flexible plates made of plastic or rubber to transfer an image to a variety of materials. Because of its versatility, flexography is used for packaging materials. If you need to print your label directly onto your delivery boxes, jars, bottles or similar items, then flexography is the technique of printing you'll need to use.
