"Litho printing" is just a shorter way of saying "lithographic printing", but that information isn't going to help you very much if you don't know what lithographic printing is. If that's the case, don't worry, because we're here to help.

How lithographic printing works

Lithographic printing is an old technology that relies on mechanical methods to produce the work. It's different to the modern method of using digital printing, but not necessarily inferior. There are certain situations where it is better to choose digital and others where it is better to choose litho. We'll help you out with how to make that decision in just a moment.

For small print runs, lithographic printing can be expensive because plates have to be made for each page that will be printed. These plates are made from a polymer resin that is applied to either a metal or ceramic slab, and it costs a lot to make them, which is why the price can be high compared to digital if you're not printing enough copies to justify the cost of making the plates.

The modern method of lithography uses an offset printing method, a three stage process which separates the page into printed and non-printed areas. The non-printed areas have a special coating that repels ink, and the printed areas don't have this coating. That makes the ink go to the areas where it is supposed to go.

While that may sound overly technical and complicated, it is efficient because it means printing can occur at very high speed. Instead of individual pages being fed through a press one at a time, a continuous feed of paper can be passed through the printing machine at very high speed, making thousands of pages per hour.

This is exactly the same way that newspapers are printed, and you know already how many millions of newspapers need to be produced each day. So lithographic printing is the most efficient printing method when you have a high volume to print.

Advantages of lithographic printing

Modern lithographic printing is a high fidelity printing process. Images are printed with great precision and excellent colour matching. The quality of lithographic printing is generally regarded as being superior to digital printing, though you may need to look closely to spot the difference.

The biggest advantage of lithographic printing is a variable advantage. It disappears entirely when the number of prints you are making is too small (you can ask the printing professional which method is best for your particular job). Once the volume of prints you make reaches a point where the cost of the printing plates is justified, lithographic printing becomes much cheaper per print than digital printing.

In summary, you get the highest quality with lithographic printing, and the cost will be more compared to digital for short print runs, but much lower compared to digital for long print runs.

Disadvantages of digital printing

Well, obviously the disadvantages are the opposite of the advantages, but there is one extra disadvantage which is that it takes longer to set up a lithographic print run because the plates need to be created. When you do digital printing, there are no plates, and your print can commence right away.

So which printing choice is right for you?

We're glad you asked, because this is a really important thing to get right. Here is how to make your choice.

First, you need to think about the quality that you need. If the quality of digital will be sufficient, then you may not need to use lithographic printing. If quality is extremely important, lithographic printing gives better results.

Second, you need to think about the number of copies you need. If you don't need many copies, then the cost of lithographic printing may be too high. If you're printing many thousands of copies, then lithographic printing becomes the more attractive option due to its lower cost for high volume printing.

Finally you have to think about how quickly you need your printed copies back. If time is extremely short, you'll have no choice but to go with digital, because there won't be time to create your printing plates. If you have a few days to spare before your deadline, lithographic printing is an option to consider.

 

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