Going to a printing company with a highly complicated printing job specification is like going to the neurologist for a sprain. They may be doctors, but a specialist is what you need. This drives us to the point that not all print jobs are the same. They require different kinds of technology, different levels of involvement, and even different time tables.

All printing companies that provide their service for profit is a commercial printer. Most commercial printers provide a variety of printing services. Knowing just what or who you need is important if you have a complex printing project or if you are just starting out to explore the printing industry.

Offset Printer
â ¢ This is in every way your traditional printing press. It effectively produces a variety of print products at a huge volume, one at a time.

â ¢ Offset printing is ideal for bulk printing or wholesale printing. It has the ability to customize prints but then again, the flexibility of printing companies varies. Nevertheless, it can easily entertain changes in size, additional color and the most popular changes for popular prints.

â ¢ It is the most cost-effective printing option for paper, card and paper label based printing products. Offset printing produces articles in full color quality, producing high-definition and color accurate prints.

Digital Printing and Short Run Printing
â ¢ Digital printing is associated to the service short run printing and vice versa. Both digital printing and short run printing involves a short amount of prints to be run. It can be anywhere from a single print to 99 prints. This is especially true for wide format print jobs, involving posters, vinyl banners, artist canvas and the like.

â ¢ For other offset products, it can also print an amount higher than a hundred but is not advisable due to the cost.

â ¢ Short run and digital printing may also be synonymous to rush printing at times. This is a common notion for printing companies can have a next-day turnaround time for your printing projects. Because the image is digitally transferred to the printer, plates and a large part of the prepress process can be skipped. The ink also dries up instantly, so prints can be cut, sorted, and bound right after the print is spewed out by the printer.

â ¢ Short run prints are ideal for small printing jobs that needs faster turn around time. It is also best for publishing small amounts of books, manuals or booklets. Short run printing, therefore, is also available for offset materials. The minimum may be 250 to 500 prints.

Large Format Printing
â ¢ As the name indicates, this is best for small orders, large sized print jobs. It can print 11x17 sized posters to as big as floor to ceiling sizes. Large Format Printing can be done through digital printing or offset printing.

When the prints are between 1 to 25pcs this is printed digitally, if it is more than that, it will use offset printing.

Because large prints are used in different places and for different uses, you may choose to print on materials other than paper. Large format print offer posters to be printed in vinyl or scrim vinyl, window cling or static cling, adhesive back and artist canvas.

All of these printing companies can work closely with you to come up with different printing solutions. Not only can you choose to modify the sizes and the colors, you can also ask to emboss you paper, create gilded stencils, invent a new kind of fold, etc. You can also request for different paper materials, or metallic and pearlized inks when needed.

Achieve all these and more. Choose the printing company that best fits your needs. Review and take note of these strengths and get off to a great printing start.