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For Position Only: Digital Printing's Unfulfilled Promise
Ten years into the digital publishing revolution, printers see great promise in the technology, but designers? Not so much.
Written by Anita Dennis on June 12, 2002
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Help me out here: Something doesn't add up.
According to recent research by WhatTheyThink.com and CAP Ventures, digital color printing is going to eat away at the offset print market in the next few years. Among the 206 print providers surveyed by CAP, 6.2 percent currently make money from digital color printing, but the percentage jumps to 29.1 percent for those expecting to do so in the next two years. Conversely, 55.5 percent of print providers surveyed by CAP currently derive their revenue from offset printing -- it's by far and away their Number One source of revenue -- but that drops to just 33 percent in the next two years.
Clearly the people who do printing for a living are hip to digital presses. But what about the rest of us?
What's on the Radar
I buy into the fact that commercial printers believe digital printing holds great promise for the future. Indeed, there are lots of great digital printing technologies out there now that are providing solid results. Devices have been on the market for a decade -- toner-based web presses from Xeikon, "liquid ink" sheet-fed presses from HP-Indigo, and direct-imaging presses from Heidelberg, to name a few -- and these technologies have found their way into thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of print shops globally.
More digital printing advances are on the way, too. Xerox, for example, is taking orders for its forthcoming DocuColor iGen3 Digital Production Press. The fruit of a $1-billion investment and more than 300 patents, the iGen3 is capable of printing 100 color pages per minute, which Xerox believes will revolutionize the digital printing world. And the iGen3's imaging technology -- not first, not second, but third-generation imaging technology -- purports to render excellent print quality thanks to single-pass imaging along a straight paper path and newly developed toners that Xerox calls "dry inks."
But enough free press for Xerox, here's what doesn't jive: Surveys I've seen of creative professionals, such as designers, ad agencies, and publishers, show that digital printing barely registers on our radar as a sales or growth opportunity. TrendWatch Graphic Arts, for example, routinely surveys creative professionals and regularly finds that fewer than 10 percent of respondents have plans to produce digital print jobs. When asked about variable-data jobs -- variable data is supposed to be the "killer app" for digital printing -- creative professionals are even less enthusiastic.
So how will printers possibly experience growth in digital printing if creative professionals barely know it exists?
Why the Lack of Interest?
I can't say for sure why creative pros aren't interested in digital printing, but I'll hazard a guess. First, we've been preoccupied -- no, obsessed -- with the Web: First we switched gears and practically abandoned print and went whole hog into Web design; then it we realized that the Web should just complement, not replace, print design. Now the dust has settled and the Web, like print, is simply ubiquitous. Whether we use it to email proofs to a client or to make annual reports available for PDF download, we have at long last learned how to effectively use the Web for content delivery. Trouble is, we've spent so much time figuring this out that we haven't been paying attention to how new press technologies might add value to our print messages.
"Designers are grossly unaware of the technology, but that shouldn't matter," says Joe Webb, founder of TrendWatch Reports. "No one has told them about the benefits and worse, no one has demonstrated a continuous flow of benefits. It's just yet another tool in the creative's bag of tricks, but not one that they take to the bank every day for every job."
I think it's time we change that. Digital printing yields excellent output quality with fewer hassles than offset printing. For example, it doesn't entail the cumbersome makeready process associated with offset printing, so you can turn around last-minute jobs quickly, or plan appropriately and spend more time on design and review cycles. And because digital printers rasterize PostScript data and produce images on paper without going through the intermediary film or plate stage, your job gets finished faster than offset. Speaking of finishing, today's digital printers offer a robust selection of finishing options. Of course, digital printing is optimimal for shorter press runs than offset -- typically, runs are fewer than 50,000. But again, with proper planning this will let you target your pieces more directly to the intended audience: You can use it to convey your message more precisely.
It's time for designers to start considering all the digital color printing has to offer. It isn't right for every job, but it can, for example, add pizzazz to short-run projects that perhaps you're used to producing in black and white. Or maybe there are inventive ways that you can customize print projects -- maybe not rush headlong into variable data printing, but perhaps segment a larger job into a few smaller, tailored runs. I can't say what exactly might work for you, but I do know that we're creative professionals, so it's time we start getting creative about finding a place for digital printing in our job jackets because the technology is there, and it's ready. It's robust, it's high quality, it's fast, and it's just waiting for you to take advantage of it.
Read more by Anita Dennis.
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Offset is still the domain of the professional
I think one aspect of appreciation for offset printing compared to digital is that in this day and age of everyone scooping up copies of design software and calling themselves "designers", those of us in the professional level jobs have exclusive access to offset printing, and are usually backed by a company or client with the money to do such work. I have seen digital quality progress in the past 4 years, but not enough to dissuade me from using offset printing. Every joe schmoe can design a web page and it doesnt cost them a thing to put it on the web for thousands if not millions to see, but if you have the money, or clients money to print your design and distribute it from offset, then that gives you a bit more credibility, and in this day and age where anyone and everyone has a computer, a printer, and software, its nice to have something that sets apart the pros from the wannabe's.
Knowledge (or lack of) by the designer is not the problem
The biggest problem that I have encountered is cost--unless one is printing fewer than 1,000 pieces (or needs _specific_ customization of each piece), most companies' pricing per digital printed piece is way out of line/too expensive when compared to the traditional "film/plate" type of printing. When the cost of digital printing (typically 50 cents-$1 per "letter-sized" printed side, similar in price to a color copy from one's local "Kinkos"/copy shop) drops down to the level of traditional printing (typically only pennies for a similar-sized piece printed on __both__ sides), only then will more clients "jump onto the digital bandwagon."
Otherwise, major differences in these two types of printing (besides cost and workflow issues) that I have found in my printing experiences relate to color and "dot" coverage. Regarding colors, solid colors frequently have odd lines running through them-similar to the two lines one sees on a Trinitron-type computer monitor. Depending on the specific press, some of these colors can also have a "wax" look to them due to toner useage instead of ink. Also, some digital presses do not allow the use of non-seperated, metallic, neon, etc. Pantone colors, as they are only set up to print CMYK inks/toners.
Regarding "dot" coverage, traditional film uses a halftone dot/rosetta pattern while the digital printing uses a differing method (maybe a stochastic pattern??). I typically notice this bug/feature in photographs and color gradations/blends. I imagine that some digital presses have or probably will allow one to use a traditional rosetta pattern if desired, but I have yet to encounter one yet.
These differences require the designer to be knowledgeable about how a specific digital printer handles their specific job-be certain to always ask your vendor for print samples from the printer in question!!
On another topic, a benefit to digital printing (in many cases) is that you can proof your job on the paper stock that you will be using for the print job without the expense of makeready, films, and plates!
Right on
We have had and Indigo for about 3 years and still do very little variable print.
RE short run digital 4 color printing
I agree with this article but wanted to offer some of what I have learned. I have been dealing with Xerox for about 2 years. I run a dc12 color machine with splash rip. Here is the problem. RE ad agencies and designers. Some have the attitude I don't want to be a printer. Fine. It would help them in proofing. Printers I have tried to work with so they can have the new technology simply do
not or will not mess with short run 4 color printing. 1,000 qty or less. Out of all the printers in the Lexington, KY area only 1 understands me and Xerox. He has a heidleberg di press and we run things exactly the same. I did a test from his file in which I loaded on my computer and hit Print. No adjustments in color and etc. They flipped and could not believe the quality. I print their small stuff for them because of the set up cost involved in traditional printing. We work together because it is not cost effective for me to do large runs. I run the Xerox DocuColor 12 with a splash rip which is on a Mac. I have never 1 time had an issue over color or screens and etc. The most valualbe thing I learned from Xerox is, and before I finish, they don't pay me to say this, It was and is 100% ME. All how I set it up and what I do on the front end. My mac. I have done all of my printing on this equip. and use Xerox 100%, the reason is they are cool to work with and they learned from their customers. The quality I get for my customers they love.
My customers can't afford 100 graduation cards for their kid from conventional printing. My customers don't care that I use Xerox. My world cares they can have 4 color business cards, and etc. and they don't have to pay a fortune for them. I learned every single thing I do is about me. Calibration paper and such. I learned it working with Xerox. The printers I tried to work with don't even want to mess with short run stuff for everyday people. They don't get digital at all or want it for nothing. My customers are so varied now because of Xerox and I love their technology. The most important thing I learned from Xerox is about color dependant devices..and it was me the know it all who had the problem not the press as I call it and a million other issues. As far as screens and paper go. Screens for me are done in photoshop on the Mac if necessary, no problem with dots for conventional printing, paper, I have worked on this too! I run all kinds of stuff. Some it likes same as ink some it does not. PMS Xerox in the Splash Rip fixed that too! Xerox said to me. You did not print this on our stuff and I said yeap I sure did. No one believed it at first and I was their worst nightmare. I am also the biggest fan of Xerox. RE Ad agencies most have never done or worked for printers and design things hard to do or impossible to print. As for printers they do not want to push short run stuff meaning 1,000 or less. I run everything like a press 2 up and all. The only mistake I made was the word Xerox and the stupid word copier that came with them. We fight over this every day. Glad I found this site and love all the help you give me.
Love the design tips and all. But for me I am the woman who fell in love with Xerox. They stepped in and helped me when NO one else would.
Right for the wrong reasons
While the author is correct that designers don't seem to have taken on to color digital printing yet, I think she missed the point of why this is.
The bottom line is that desingers are not willing to take responsibility that is required for full digital printing.
The reality is that digital printing offers printers the ability to "potentially" print jobs at a lower cost.
Digital printing also gives printers the opportunity to broaden the number of jobs that they can print as the quantity required to print color jobs comes down.
But designers are into coming up with "great print ideas" that require lots of different hoops for the printer to jump through. From double hit spot color accents to custom bindery and finishing techniques that give the finished piece it's "unique" look.
I have sat with MANY "designers" who seem to relish in the fact of making a press operator jump through hoops trying to "come up to color" on a press check, only to end up back where they were at the beginning. It is not an exageration that some press operators will intentionally have their presses out of color so that the designer can come in and say "let's add some more yellow to this..." then the press operator brings the yellow into the density that he knew it was going to have to be at in the first place.
Also, digital printing makes the designer much more responsible for the finished product, and that scares them. There is no press operator, proofer or color separator to demand performance of.
My point is made by the fact that there is an amazing amount of technology out there that allows the designer to calibrate, scan and create color that only the top shops in the country could do a few years ago, but few designers are willing to take on the responsibility.
If designers were smarter, they would take full control of their jobs. From scanning to building the files, to proofing. They could very realistically then go to a printer and demand the best price for "X" qantity. This could give them phenominal control. But of course the files would really have to be "correctly built."
Also, it is often NOT the designer that is responsible for paying the bill for all the hoops that need to be jumped through. Either the end client or the corporation that the designer works for pays for all this additional attention that the designer gets. So what motivation is there for the designer to actually become more responsible when that responsibility can be pushed onto others?
This process is compounded by the "Sales Rep" at the printing company that does everything they can to "make the designer feel good." The rep rarely comes back and says, "...hey, your files are not correct, this is going to cost you another $500 of work our prepress department had to put into it."
The rep makes money on the overall cost of the printing, so doesn't want to risk losing the job over the pre-press work that needs to be done.
Unfortunately many designers would rather be taken to lunch by their "Sales Rep" and wined and dined and treated more like the "artist" they think they are, than simply take control of the full print job.
Printing For Less.com
This site, "creativepro.com a service of PrintingForLess.com" is presented by a very good digital printer. So how can you say professional designers are unaware of the benefits of digital printing?
Benefits: Good Quality, Low Cost, Quick Turn
Digital printing offers good quality, 4-color results for low cost (because there is no film cost) and quick turn around (no film, no wash-up, no make-ready). As stated in her article, digital is an excellent choice for short run jobs.
At this time, digital is not a good choice for PMS matches because it is a CMYK process and because there are limitations in paper choice.
If you are printing a short run, 4-color job, try digital, but don't go to your local established offset printer. They don't make their money from digital yet and they are used to longer turn-around times and higher pricing. The surveys referenced in this article asked the wrong questions of the wrong people and drew the wrong conclusions.
There are great digital printers in use by designers all over the country including the one I use most often... PrintingForLess.com
And no, I don't work for them, I just like to see a good vendor get good word of mouth.