Lithographic Print
What is Lithographic Print?
Lithographic printing, also called offset lithography, is a widely used printing technique in which the inked image on a printing plate is printed on a rubber cylinder and then transferred (i.e., offset) to paper or other material.
Ink rollers transfer ink to the image areas of the plate, while a water roller applies a water-based film to the non-image areas. This image is transferred on to the rubber blanket, which then transfers the image on to the material.
CMYK colours
The lithographic print method colour separates images and text in to Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (CMYK), which allows for a high-quality reproduction of images and text. When printing in CMYK the operator has control in balancing the overall colours to ensure the best results.
SPOT COLOURS
The use of Pantone or ‘spot’ colours allows for vibrant colour matching. This is particularly useful with ensuring brand continuity across all printed collateral. The Pantone range also offers metallic and fluorescent colours which cannot be achieved when printing in CMYK.
LARGE VOLUME
Offset printing is generally used for larger volume print requirements as it becomes more economical once the initial setup and preparation of the machine are complete. Litho presses can facilitate a larger paper/sheet size allowing items to be printed in multiples reducing the time taken to print larger quantities.
QUALITY CONTROL
At Printstore we use industry leading Heidelberg technology with our Speedmaster Presses. Lithographic printing allows for the highest quality image reproduction and colour management, with the operator having control over levels and densities of ink.
Prepress
In conjunction with the Pre-press software provided through Heidelberg we can take your design from Computer to Plate (CTP)
from a PDF file.
Does your project require
smaller volumes?
Smaller volumes are better suited to a Digital printing process
which does not require the initial setup.