Take a moment to think of all the printed materials you encounter every day. The list could be extensive: billboards, brochures, direct mailers, business cards, flyers, etc. These printed materials come in all different sizes, thicknesses, colors, and all types of creative designs. But how did all of these things come about? How did they go from an idea, to a design, to the final product? You’ll find out below.
The fairly new concept of commercial printing is the process of going from artwork to a piece of paper or card stock. Most companies today use a form of offset printing that transfers to paper four separate colors to make the final color image. These colors are cyan, magenta, yellow, and black; also known in the industry as CMYK.
So what is the definition of commercial printing? The overall process of printing is actually quite simply and it hasn’t changed much over the last 100 years. It begins with aluminum plates that are created (pressed out) from the artwork. Most of the time there is one plate for each of the four CMYK colors. Each plate is then wrapped around large cylinders that allow the ink to fill up the cut or pressed out shape of the aluminum plate. Ink is then poured into the cutout and then transferred to a rubber roller. This roller is called the blanket cylinder, which is used to let the paper roll within to retrieve the right level of ink. And finally, the impression cylinder is a roller that pushes the paper along the process at around 10,000 sheets per hours to absorb the necessary amount of ink. There are four presses – one for each of the four colors. As the paper moves along each press, it retrieves one color at a time and eventually ends up in a heated area, where the paper can dry before printing on the back side.
To sum up the process, commercial printing involves determining the proper levels of water and ink for each color. The aluminum plate determines how much ink the paper can absorb, and the rollers press the image onto the paper, one at a time.
Commercial printing has many advantages over standard desktop printing. It can create professional and outstanding results that many people can use and enjoy. Many, if not most, companies utilize this form of professional printing. The key, however, is to ask your printer the right questions and understand how their process works. Chances are, CMYK offset commercial printing will be the best method for you to print amazing marketing materials.