Poster Printing: 4 Pros and Cons of Choosing Digital or Offset Printing

Large poster printing for either promotional marketing or simple home or store decoration can be had affordably with either digital or offset printing. These two printing systems enable you to print big or large quantities of posters for your different needs.



When to have your posters printed digitally?



• You need to print digitally when you only need to have one or two posters printed. You can print as much as 100 pieces, but because digital printing cost more, it is advisable to choose offset printing for bulk orders.



• Rush print jobs can also be printed digitally. With the digital printing process, the ink dries up as soon as the ink is exposed to air. The computer to printer technology also cuts through plating saving you even more time. With this setup you can pick up your prints within the day. Of course, shipping may take additional time.



• Digital printers use a different ink that adheres to materials other than paper such as vinyl, fabric, and plastic. Although coated paper is durable, it is easily damaged with water and is unsuitable to outdoor weather. Vinyl and plastic are ideal for the outdoors as it receives minimal environmental damage. Fabric is a choice for those who want their images to look like paintings.



• Extra large posters are only printed with digital printers. You can specify the exact size you want your images to be printed with half inch increments. You can choose to print in large sizes of more than 50 x 100 inches. Your vinyl posters for instance can be printed in floor to ceiling sizes that makes a great wall wrap or a truck wrap.



When to print offset posters?



• When you’re printing bulk quantities of a hundred pieces to several thousands you need to print offset. Its high velocity rollers can output large numbers of posters easily. And because the prints are done en masse, you can expect bigger wholesale discount with your increasing volume.



• Although ink in digital posters dries up fast, the printing process itself can take several minutes for each piece. When you print in thousands, printing may take you forever. In offset printing once the setup and plating is done, you can print thousands of pieces fast and wait a little while for the ink to dry so even if you need 10,000pcs you can have them in as short as two days.



• Offset printing comes in industry standard posters sizes of 11x17, 18x24, 24x36, and 27x39 inches. People are already familiar with these sizes, and they can fit in many standard display areas. You can also request for a custom sized poster, but it may have additional cost.



• You can choose from two standard materials, the gloss text or the gloss cover. The gloss text is like the inside pages of the magazine, while the cover as the name indicates is similar to the cover. Again, you can also request for other paper materials for your large poster printing but this will entail additional cost.