Why 4-color process printing?

Offset printing method is still used by about 90% of all the materials being printed – newspapers, magazines, maps, books, business forms and most particularly showcase printing such as fine art printing. It is the most commonly used printing technique because of one simple reason: it still yields the best output when it comes to color printing quality.

Four color printing uses the same method as offset printing. They are based on lithography printing technology which uses stones to write on a sheet of paper. In lithography printing, the stones are the flat plates where images are engraved. These plates are then inked and pressed upon a sheet of paper, thus the term press. Water is used to wash away the ink on the part of the plate without engraving before that press is done.

Modern offset printing, however, has some improvement. Instead of direct to plate printing, there is now another element added – rubber blanket. In this method, the image from the plate is transferred to the rubber blanket, which in turn, is used to transfer the image to the sheet of paper. This technique results into smooth and even appearance with less ink on the paper’s surface. There is also more control in the image quality.

The offset printing method has undergone only few changes through the years. However, more and more companies are integrating digital workflow techniques in offset printing to achieve its flexibility in order to save time and money especially for clients who require huge quantities of printed products.

Projects therefore, requiring smooth finish and with sophisticated graphic designs, skin tones and crisp texts should ideally be printed using the offset printing method. Here, clients have more freedom to choose paper stock whether thick or with coated finish and the printer has more control over the image resolution.

One drawback of offset printing is that it cannot accept files done in programs which do not support color separation, since each color (CMYK) uses a separate plate. Files in RGB formats must be converted into CMYK so as to achieve the best output possible.

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