Printing has been around for a long time. The oldest printing technique was woodcut. It involves carving images on wooden surfaces. Up till now, printing has moved to an advanced level by making several amendments over years. To design your packaging solutions, you can choose from a variety of printing techniques. Each of them is popular in the industry and produces an amazing result to give an attractive display. The customers can enjoy a tactile experience by getting their products delivered in well-printed packaging. In this guide, we will have a look at some of the most common boxes printing methods used frequently by the designers and experts along with their important features and where they are suitable.
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Offset or Lithography Printing:
Offset printing is a versatile method. It is very commonly used for the mass production of custom boxes on a large scale. This technique is so multipurpose that it can be used for printing books, stationery, wood, canvas, cloth, and even rough surfaces. It involves printing plates, made from aluminum. They hold the image of the content that is to be printed. These plates then transfer (offset) the image onto the rollers or rubber blankets before printing it onto the desired medium. In the case of designing packaging, the medium can be any type of paper including Kraft paper, cardboard, or corrugated board.
The method gives amazing results even for large order sizes. As the print media does not come in contact with the metallic plates, it extends their useful life. Offset printing is a great option for producing consistent and high-quality images. It is commonly used for high-volume print jobs due to the large upfront cost of printing plates.
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Flexography:
Flexography is the modern version of letterpress printing. It is commonly used for printing on uneven surfaces however you may also use it to design paper packaging products. This style of printing utilizes quick-dry, semi-liquid inks and can be used very effectively for high-volume jobs. In this technique, a printing plate is wrapped around rotating cylinders. This inked plate has a raised image of the content. They are rotated at high speed to transfer it onto the print media. Flexography is a popular choice industry-wide due to its high press speeds. This makes it highly suitable in long run. It is known for its ability to print a wide range of material media including plastic, paper, cellophane, and metallic film.
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Digital Printing:
Digital printing is an advanced printing method that covers a variety of printing techniques including inkjet and laser. In this, the image is sent directly to the printer by using a digital file like PDF. The process eliminates the need for a printing plate, thus making it an extremely money-saving and time-saving process. boxes printing is often used for creating custom packaging solutions along with posters, signage, printed labels, newsletters, menus, and a lot more. Digital printing has recently made its way into the retail packaging sector. It has a quick turnaround time and allows businesses to print their custom boxes of any quantity on demand. Digital printing is best used best for small run jobs as it’s highly cost-effective and produces the best quality prints same as bigger scale options.
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Screen Printing:
Silkscreen printing is indeed the most versatile among all printing techniques. This is because you can use it on a variety of materials including paper, paperboard, cardboard, plastic, glass, metal, fabric, nylon, cotton, and many others. In this type of printing method, a fine material or mesh is used to transfer the image onto another material. The mesh is stretched out to create a screen.
Ink is pressed against it to successfully print the image. Silkscreen printing is most popularly used to print graphics onto clothes and other pieces of fabrics. However, recently it has also made its way into paper packaging. The only drawback of using screen printing is the large setup it requires. On a single screen, you can add only a single color at a time. It means that if you want to print a multi-colored design, you have to add more screens. This feature makes it used best for printing repeated items in a bulk. It is not affordable for a small number of orders. But if you need to print the same image many times, it is a highly cost-effective method of printing.
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Rotogravure Printing:
This printing method is not so common. The main reason is its high start-up cost and the making of printing cylinders that are a bit longer process. It increases the delivery time of your products. Rotogravure printing is mainly used for the printing of wallpaper and gift paper but you can also use it to design printed labels and a wide range of packaging products. This technique gives a unique look to your printing material. It is adaptive and efficient for high quantity orders but due to a large start-up cost, it is being used more for luxurious products. The graphics are made directly on a metallic cylinder to transfer the ink to the printed object. For each color used in the design, a separate cardboard boxes has to be made. This printing process can use CMYK and Pantone colors.
