Thursday, January 14, 2010

A Brief History Of Printing Services

By Sam Smith

When it comes to spreading info to a great number of people, print is one of the most popular media. The current form of the printing services industry is a result of years of change & evolution in printing trends & techniques. Today it can address almost any demand of the clients associated with printing and its ancillary requirements.

With the invention of the first printing press by Gutenberg in the--00's, bulk printing services in the form of relief printing evolved into a full fledged industrial service. A slight elevation of the printed image from the base, like it is in a rubber stamp, is a key feature of relief printing. This kind of printing has however become a rarity nowadays, though not completely dead.

Printing methods have transformed radically down the years, and these changes have been brought about by upcoming of latest technologies. Modern printing techniques are quite diverse and have a range of uses. The sheer diversity of available choices in printing methods in fact greatly confuses the customers.

Offset printing is a well known printing method favoured by most printers nowadays. In this technique, the image is transmitted onto paper from a metal plate on which the image is first printed by the use of limited amount of ink. This kind of printing is quite cost effective and quick, and it is mostly preferred when big volumes of prints are needed.

Other printing methods that have come up with progress in technology are electrostatic printing, which resembles photocopying, and thermal printing, which follows a procedure of selective heating of coated thermal paper.

However, digital printing is the latest printing technique that is getting a lot of popularity. As the name suggests it uses a computer to create an image, which is then previewed and if found to be faultless, printed onto paper. This method is faultless and quick, but it is appropriate only for a limited number of prints. The facility of customized printing with this method has given rise to computer form printing, where a standard format is used to print documents like receipts and invoices whose contents differ in tune with the different needs of each print.

Another vital development in printing has dawned with the arrival of the internet. There are many companies in the market now, who allow you to place orders and customize prints straight through their websites, which is providing great convenience to the customers.

Printing has always taken giant evolutionary jumps with the progress in technology. The good news is that this trend is not going to slow down in the coming years and you will keep witnessing changes slash the costs and improve the process.

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