Where & When

This year's Expo will be held at Olypmia 2, London

Wednesday February 11th –10.00am – 5.00pm
Thursday February 12th – 10.00am – 5.00pm

Once again Denmaur will be sponsoring seminars at the Expo and hosting on Wednesday 11th

14.15: FROM GREEN PAPER TO RED LINE – DOES THE CREDIT CRUNCH KILL ECO CRED?
How easy is it to stay true to your new environmental standards when the market is affected by rising paper costs and a supply squeeze?

and on Thursday 12th

11.15: SURVIVING RISING PAPER COSTS – TIME TO GET RADICAL!
Failing manufacturers, curbed production capacity and rising prices make it look pretty bleak for paper. What can publishers do to weather the storm?

Sponsored by

When digital imaging presses first became accessible about 15 years ago there were some serious issues with quality and a general lack of understanding about where where it belonged in the world of commercial print. But technical advances have meant that for the right job it can't be beaten.

Modern printing methods such as laser and ink-jet printing are known as digital printing. In digital printing, an image is sent directly to the printer using digital files. This eliminates the need for a printing plate, as used in offset printing, which can save money and time.

Digtial presses can be both sheet or web fed. The web varieties are generally mono rather than full colour and are used, for example, to produce very low quanitities you can start at one!) of high pagination books and directories.

Whilst the quality of the print particularly in terms of images, gradients and subtle colours has improved immeasurably over the last five years, there is still a noticable difference when compared to a litho produced version.

A word of warning. Digital print is not an economic way to produce letterheads that are later to be run through an office laser or ink jet printer - the ink will lift whe re-heated.

On the plus side however the unique advantages include the facility to produce very specific numbers of copies. As a rule of thumb litho will become more economic between 300 and 500 copies depending on the type and size of the job although larger runs are becoming more and more realistic. This allows for very tight stock control.

You can also personalise each individual copy by linking the press to a database. Personalisation need not only be text, providing the database has been set up to facilitate it, bespoke images can also be inlcuded something which has been used to great effect by car showrooms to show you your current model and the latest upgrade.

Advances have also been made in finishes. It is now possible to laminate digtial print without the ink lifting.

Speed is also a great advantage. As there are no plates to be made, make-ready is comparatively minimal and drying is instant digital printing is much quicker that traditional processes. And as single copies are perfectly feasible jobs can be proofed on the actual material being used. The equivalent in accuracy of a traditional wet proof.

So although digital imaging still has its limitations it can provide real creative opportunity.

Next month: gravure,
how it works and when to use it