In the current world of packaging advancements, offset printing holds a distinctive position with high-quality images, fine detailing, and appealing typography. The premium printing highlights the product quality and helps the brand earn a competitive advantage. This printing technique ensures color consistency for large packaging orders to elevate the brand image.
Offset printing holds a higher setup cost while efficiently decreasing the price per unit. This is used on a wide range of materials with special finishes like varnishes, coatings, embossing, or foil stamping to deliver eye-catching packaging designs. Offset printing is often used for food, beverages, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical packaging.
What is Offset Printing?
Offset printing, also called lithography printing, is a popular printing method used to transfer the inked text or image from a dieline to the rubber blanket and then to the material’s surface. The term “offset” is used due to the indirect printing of artwork, brand logos, or other elements from the dieline to the chosen material.
Offset printing is widely used for its high-quality results, attention to little details, and incredible color management. This is quite economical for manufacturing bulk orders of printed packaging materials, books, magazines, newspapers, etc. The lithographic printing technique is versatile and works well with luxurious finishes.
Offset Lithography vs Digital Printing
Offset lithography and digital printing are quite different. To understand them better, let’s have a look at the table below:
| Feature | Offset Printing | Digital Printing |
| Technique | Transfer ink using dieline to the rubber blanket and then to the material. | Print directly on the material using inkjets or toners. |
| Dieline | Required | Not required |
| Cost | Cost-effective for large order quantities. | Cost-effective for small order quantities. |
| Quality | High-quality, gives attention to little details and color contrasts. | Considered high-quality but fails to meet offset printing standards for certain materials. |
| Materials | Applicable for a wide range of materials including kraft, paperboard, corrugated cardboard, fabric, etc. | Not suitable for thick materials. |
| Variable Data | Not suitable for variable data printing | Best for variable data printing. |
| Turnaround time | Take a bit long time to produce dielines. | Fast turnaround time |
| Cost per unit | Decrease in bulk orders | Consistent regardless of quantity |
Stages of Offset Printing
Offset printing is a multi-stage process used to ensure that the final product fulfills the desired set of requirements:
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The Pre-Press Stage
The pre-press stage is the base of the entire printing process, as it prepares the artwork design, logo, and text elements before the next stage. During this phase, the designs are created using graphic software with accurate printing resolutions, color modes, and file formats. Then the digital files are checked to identify the errors regarding the file size and dimensions. Proofing is performed to review the design and colors. The dielines are then crafted to smoothen the printing stage with high quality, cost-efficiency, and client satisfaction.
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The Printing Stage
The printing stage gives prepress working a realistic transformation by transferring the artwork design, brand logo, and other elements to the chosen material. The dielines are placed in the printing press with proper alignment of colors, inks, and water. The material is then loaded in the machine to transfer the inked elements to the rubber cylinder called a blanket. The blanket is then pressed against the material to create the required design with color accuracy.
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The Post-Press Stage
In this stage, the printed material is passed through the drying process to prevent smudging. Ultraviolet radiations are mostly used to instantly dry the printed sheets of paper, cardboard, or fabric. These are then trimmed using the guillotine cutters to cut the large stacks of materials. Then comes the folding and assembling of printed materials to form the desired book, packaging, etc. Different finishing techniques like embossing, lamination, varnishing, foil stamping, etc. are applied to give the packaging an appealing outlook. The finished products of the desired shape, size, style, and quality are then shipped to defined destinations.
Types of Offset Litho-Printing
There are different types of offset litho-printing but the selection depends upon the specific printing needs to ensure premium quality and cost-effectiveness:
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Web Offset Printing
Web offset printing is known for creating massive quantities of printed materials. Such a technique eliminates the need for individual paper loading and offers high-speed printing with a continuous roll of paper through the press. This is perfect for manufacturing bulk orders as it efficiently decreases the price per unit. The web offset machinery has heating systems that instantly dry the material while preventing the risk of blurring. It also holds finishing capacities like cutting and folding to shape the material into the desired format for delivery to the worthy clientele.
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Sheet-Fed Offset Printing
Sheet-Fed Offset Printing is a popular printing method, that uses pre-cut sheets of paper to be individually fed in the printing press. It allows a wide range of paper types and thicknesses to produce sharp images and high-quality prints with color accuracy. This is preferable for small to medium-order quantities. The printing process remains the same with the transfer of elements from the dieline to the rubber blanket and then to the material. This is mostly used for brochures, catalogs, posters, packaging, and business cards.
The Pros and Cons of Modern Offset Printing
Modern Offset printing is a reliable printing method for the bulk production of printed packaging materials. It offers high-quality artwork designs in quite a competitive market. Here is a table demonstrating the pros and cons of modern offset printing:
| Pros | Cons |
| Offset printing produces sharp and clear images with consistent color contrasts and fine detailing. | Setup cost is high as the creation of dielines is expensive and time-consuming. |
| Cost-effective technique for bulk orders as it decreases the cost per unit. | The process has a longer turnaround time. |
| Flexible for a wide range of materials and thicknesses. | The offset printing process produces waste during setup, which ultimately increases environmental pollution. |
| Suitable for various finishing options like varnishing, embossing, and die-cutting. | Not suitable for variable data printing. |
| Durable as compared to other printing methods. | Not suitable for small order quantities. |
How to Prepare Dielines for Prepress Printing: Role, Creation, Software
Industries That Benefit from Offset Printing
Following are the industries that benefit from offset printing:
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Retail and E-commerce Packaging
Offset printing is an excellent choice for retail and e-commerce brands looking for a strong impression in the competitive marketplace. This is ideal for optimum designing on folding cartons used in retail packaging to protect and store cosmetics, food, or pharmaceutical products. This is also used on rigid material for crafting luxury packaging like gift boxes or display boxes. Offset printing generates high-quality labels with clear and concise information for product packaging.
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Food and Beverage Packaging
Offset printing creates visually appealing custom food boxes to attract potential buyers and maintain product quality. This is widely used for printing folding cartons for cereals, snacks, and frozen food products. The beverages and canned food products also have high-quality labels printed using lithographic techniques. Offset printing generates high-quality wrappers for chocolates, snacks, and confectionery.
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Custom Bakery Boxes
Offset printing is considered best for custom bakery boxes with high-quality printing, color consistency, and various material options. The technique gives bakery packaging a professional appearance while generating a positive brand image. This allows printing on both sides of the material to include information regarding the allergens, ingredients, and precautionary measures.
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Luxury Cosmetic Packaging
Offset printing makes the luxury cosmetic packaging stand out with high-quality printing and a sophisticated outlook. The technique crafts a desirable image for the brands aspiring to offer an impressive unboxing experience to the target customers. This enhances the perceived value of products and delivers amazing packaging designs to highlight the brand identity.
Why Use Offset Printing?
Brands should use offset printing to produce sharp and clear images with brilliant color consistency. The technique is popularly used for paying attention to fine details in quite a cost-effective manner. The printing for large order quantities efficiently decreases the price per unit. This is suitable for a wide range of paper materials, thicknesses, and finishes. This is durable and considered often prone to smudging or scratching.
How Offset Printing Boosted Branding for a Cosmetics Company?
Offset printing boosts the branding of cosmetic companies by enhancing their product presentation with high-quality images, color consistency, and special finishing methods. It is ideal for companies ordering product packaging materials in bulk quantities. The offset printing technique is cost-effective and incredibly increases the sales volume. To understand it well, let’s have a look at the case study:
Lustrous, a cosmetic company launched organic skincare products and wanted premium packaging to highlight the natural ingredients. They selected offset printing with soft earthy tones, a matte finish, high-quality images, and sophisticated typography. This helped the company to stand out on retail store shelves, efficiently convey the brand values, increase the perceived value of products, and attract eco-conscious customers.
How long does the offset printing process take?
The time for offset printing can range from a few days to several weeks depending on the order size and brand requirements. Offset printing is a multi-step process that involves digital file preparation, dieline manufacturing, printing, and post-printing operations. The setting of offset printers is also time-consuming for high-volume packaging production.
