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What is the Digital Printing Process?

The term 'digital printing' is thrown around a lot, but do you know what it means or what is involved?
 
Our expert guide will take you through the process and why it's favoured by many UK businesses for all their printed packaging needs.
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What is the Digital Printing Process?

WHAT IS DIGITAL PRINTING?

Put simply, digital printing is the term that defines exactly how ink is printed directly onto a substrate. This method, in a nutshell, is very similar to how your home colour printer works, but in a much larger format!

 
HOW DOES IT WORK?

The digital printing equipment will generally print in a four-colour process. This is made up of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black, with the image being split into these primary colours and then printed as a set of patterns or percentages of each colour. This will then make up the desired image. To give you an example, if you print 100% magenta and 100% yellow, the colour produced will be red. 

The inks used in digital printers are translucent because they can then be blended to create the image. Our digital presses are also able to print white, meaning that if you print the four-colour process onto clear substrates, you can add white to it to underpin the colour, make the image more opaque and reduce the translucency in the process.

The beauty of digital printing is that it is entirely flexible and allows for full customisation of the required image or packaging.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF DIGITAL PRINTING?

The main advantage of digital printing is that the technology is continually improving, with printer heads getting smaller and smaller, print quality getting better and printing speeds getting faster. This makes digital printing one of the quickest and most cost-effective forms of printing available.

With no need for additional pre-press charges to cover plates, digital printing holds great advantages over other printing processes, like litho or screen printing. Plus, there is no need for additional set-up materials that are usually required during other processes of printing.

BESPOKE DIGITAL PRINTING

Digital printing really lends itself to personalised or custom-made print options, so whatever your printed packaging requirements, the digital printing process will allow you to have exactly what you need, without the costs involved with litho or screen printing. It's highly versatile too; the digital flatbed press is also able to print on materials up to 50mm thick, so it's perfect for use on a wide range of materials and substrates.

For first-class digital printing services from the UK's packaging printing specialists at Delga, contact us today.