What Is Litho Printing?
Litho printing is when an image of the content you want to produce is placed on a plate which is then covered by ink and used for printing. This process makes it easy to print on paper, cardboard and many other materials too. The material which you would like the ink on is then placed on the plate and the ink will be absorbed accordingly. Litho printing takes great skill and making sure the colours are mixed in correctly and in the right order is a challenge but the results are worth it.
Litho printing is used for a range of applications such as printing books, catalogues and posters due to their high-quality results and rapid turnaround time. It is the perfect solution for printing high quantities too.
What Is The History Of Lithography?
Litho printing has a huge part to play in history with the term lithography originating from the Greek word “lithos”, which means stone and “graphein” which translate to “to write”. Starting in the 18th century and invented by German author and actor Alois Senefelder as a cheap way to create theatre productions.
What Is The Difference Between Litho And Digital Printing?
Both litho and digital printing have their benefits and are suitable for a huge range of applications. Digital printing uses inks and a press whereas litho printing uses wet ink and printing plates.
What Are The Main Advantages Of Litho Printing?
Litho printing has been around since 1798, for larger products this method is a lot more cost-effective for companies who require quantities with superb quality. An example of where litho printing is best used is magazines, books, brochures, catalogues, leaflets and much more and will be available in a huge range of styles, sizes and finishes.
Litho machines are able to print out up to 50,000 sheets per hour. The speed and convenience of litho printing is why this type of printing has been around for so many years. The main advantage, however, is the fact that it can be used on a huge variety of surfaces which offers a fantastic alternative from just paper. Other surfaces include cardboard, plastic, wood, metal, cloth and even leather.
To Summarise the advantages are:
- High-Quality Images
- Clean and clear finish
- Affordable
- Fantastic Quality
- Clear printing even on textured materials
What Is The Litho Printing Process?
An image or text is burned onto a metal plate which is later loaded onto a printing press. The image or text will then be transferred onto a rubber blanket and then will be transferred onto the printing surface whatever your material of choice may be. The process of transferring the image to the rubber sheet is known as offset. You can use litho printing for a range of applications including:
- Newspapers
- Leaflets & Flyers
- Posters
- Brochures
- Maps
- Letterheads
- Business cards
And much much more …
Is Litho Printing For Me?
Litho printing is perfect for bigger jobs because once the plates have been made, creating the prints is affordable and easy to achieve. High quantity print jobs such as leaflets, flyers, brochures, packaging, books and much more can be completed with ease with litho printing.
The team at Trilogy Print Solutions will always make sure that you are getting the best value prints for your money. For more information on Litho printing for brochures, flyers, posters or more please get in touch with Trilogy Print Solutions on 020 7739 2001.