There are a number of misconceptions on digital colour printing that need to be cleared up. A handful of urban myths continue to warn many creative There are a number of misconceptions on digital colour printing that need to be cleared up. A handful of urban myths continue to warn many creative designers and print buyers about digital printing pitfalls that either no longer exist or are easy to avoid. Fortunately, these urban myths — grounded in what was reality less than a decade ago — are easier than ever to dispel.

The image quality isn’t good enough
In reality, several digital colour presses released in recent years successfully complement offset output. Digital print quality compares to offset as digital photos compare to analog shots. Each technology has distinctive characteristics that affect output, but the quality achieves professional standards in nearly every application.

From a technical standpoint, today’s premier 4-color digital presses typically achieve a larger colour gamut than 4-color offset presses. Xerox’s iGen3 110 Digital Production Press can match about 80 per cent of Pantone colors, compared to about 67 percent on the Heidelberg Speedmaster.

“Digital print quality is equal to or better than offset, and most of my clients don’t notice a difference,” said Linda Dickinson, director of print production and purchasing at Lexington, Kentucky-based advertising and public relations firm Meridian Communications.

“For me, deciding between digital and offset printing is more about turnaround time and costs — and other factors, like printing variable information. We print more jobs digitally all the time because the quality is there, the fast turnaround time is there and, often, the cost is equivalent to offset.”
Digital print quality holds up on a wide range of applications. At the 2006 ADIM (Art Directors Invitational Master Class)—a four-day conference surveying the latest computer-based design tools for designers, illustrators, art directors and photographers — participants digitally printed wine label design comps, final labels and promotional posters. In addition, organizers collected photographs of the class’ work in a personalized book produced on a Xerox iGen3 110 Digital Production Press by Xerox Premier Partner ColorCentric Corp of Rochester, New York.

“The print quality is stunning,” said Russell Brown, senior creative director, Adobe Systems Incorporated and a founder of the ADIM Conference. “The personalized book is a powerful reminder of what this technology can do.”

Digital printing is too expensive. Besides, our run lengths are too long to run on digital presses.
Offset will always have a cost advantage on longer runs. But as digital technology improves, its cost advantage extends to increasingly longer “short” runs. And many are willing to pay a slight premium for the improved workflow efficiency, faster turnaround, elimination of warehousing, and personalization of every piece in a production run that digital printing provides. In many cases, these benefits compensate for the higher cost of digital printing by delivering big cost savings and better results.

Heritage Education Funds reduced the cost of acquiring a customer by 21 percent with a digitally printed one-to-one campaign, despite a 36 percent higher print cost than the traditional method (72 cents per piece versus 53 cents).

Increasingly, more creative designers recognize these advantages, and more of them than ever before are specifying jobs for digital print. According to a 2006 Graphic Design: USA readership survey, the percentage of creative professionals who specify, recommend, approve or buy digital printing tripled in the four preceding years to 72 percent. In addition, the vast majority of them report using digital printing more often or the same amount as the previous year. Graphic Design: USA publisher and editor Gordon Kaye states unequivocally, “Digital printing’s use among creatives now is mainstream…and the trend doesn’t appear to be abating.”

The available papers for digital printing are way too limited.
In 1999, most of the available papers for digital colour printing were uncoated white stocks in a narrow range of weights, which were about all the leading xerographic printers could handle. The industry has come a long way since then.

The iGen3 ,for example, sets new standards for printing a wide range of coated and uncoated substrates from the very light to the very heavy (60 to 350 gsm for uncoated stocks, 90 to 350 gsm for coated stocks). Also, the full line of Xerox DocuColor digital printers – especially the new DC5000 and DC8000 AP – expand paper handling capabilities and productivity on heavier paper stocks.

Paper manufacturers have continually developed new substrates for digital printing. In recent years, many print needs have been met with coated one- and two-sided papers, parchments, off-white graphics stocks for text and covers, and specialty products for ID cards, labels, transparencies, photos, transfer to textiles and other applications. And innovation continues. Today’s wide choices of stocks enable digital presses to produce some of the most elegant and demanding applications in the graphic arts.

We don’t have the sophisticated data to leverage variable information (VI) printing, which is digital printing’s real value.
In reality, many of the most effective one-to-one marketing pieces make creative use of the most basic data sets. Pantone recently promoted its Spyder2 colour monitor calibration device with the company’s first personalized direct marketing campaign, using data points for name, title, company, address and industry served. The result: an 81 percent increase in sales over the previous year’s promotion. “It accomplished what I was trying to do better than anything I’ve done in the past,” said Doris Brown, vice president of marketing, Pantone, Inc.

Similarly, Lorraine Press worked with H Theory, both of Salt Lake City, Utah, to create its first variable information piece to invite customers and prospects to an open house showcasing its new digital color press. The invitation incorporated a flipbook animation of a magician conjuring up the recipient’s name. Fifty percent of the invitees attended (150 out of 300) and the piece won the Best of Show award in the 2005 Printing Innovation with Xerox Imaging awards. “The open house was a grand success,” said Robert Miller, president, Lorraine Press. “We got a lot of people in here, and everyone wanted to know how we did the flipbooks.”

Today’s vanguard digital presses, breadth of paper technologies and professionals who know how to apply them to generate business results are busting urban myths about digital color printing every day.
And that’s not an urban legend.

© 2007 Xerox Corporation. Excerpts reprinted by permission and edited by Indian Printer and Publisher.