What is Offset litho Printing? How does Offset Litho printing work?
While the term Offset Lithography may or may not be something you are familiar with, let us help paint the picture with some products you are familiar with that are made through the Offset Litho Printing process.
| Blister Cards | Branded Marketing Campaigns | Brochures | Business Cards | Bookmarks |
| Calendars | Catalogs | CD / DVD Inserts | Case Bound Books | Door Hangers |
| EDDM Brochures & Postcards | Envelopes | Flyers | Gift Cards | Greeting cards |
| Hang Tags | Influencer Kits | Labels | Letterhead | Litho Labels (For Corrugate or Turned Edge Products) |
| Look Books | Menus | Notepads | Parking Passes | Promotional Packaging |
| Pop UP Standees | Postcards | Posters | Presentation Folders | Rack Cards |
| Retail Packaging | Retail Signage | Table Tents | Trail Maps |
- *Synthetic / Plastic Stock can be used on many of the above products.
Special UV Processes
- Inline Spot UV, Strike Through and Spot Reticulating UV
Now that you know a few products created by Offset litho printing process let’s talk a little more about the process itself.
To understand offset lithography, it helps to look at each term individually. The word lithography origin means “writing on stone” and is based on the principle oil and water do not mix. Modern lithography uses a thin aluminum printing plate (the “stone”). When the plate is processed, the image area on the plate is ink receptive (the “oil”), and the non-image area is ink repulsive (the “water.”)
When the lithographic printing process was first discovered over two hundred years ago, ink from the stone was transferred directly to the paper being printed. This brings us to “offset,” which is transferring ink from the stone to an intermediate surface and then to the paper.
Today, this means transferring the ink from the printing plate to a rubber blanket and then to the substrate. While printing technology has developed significantly over the last hundred years, the fundamental process of offset lithography has remained mostly unchanged.
We encourage you to check out these videos to learn more about the offset lithography process steps and check out what our CEO has to say after winning the 2019 PIASC Best of show award.
Lithographic Printing for Packaging and explaination of the process.
There’s litho printing. And then there’s litho printing DVC Style.
We would love to be considered next time you are in the need for some litho products. We enjoy creative challenges and look forward to helping out any way we can.
