Monday, December 28, 2009

Chronicling The History Of Printing Services

By Beth Smith

When it comes to disseminating information to a great number of people, print is one of the most popular media. Over the years the printing services industry has grown immensely & has reached its present form of a diversified industry. Today it can address almost any demand of the clients connected with printing & its ancillary requirements.

With the invention of the first printing press by Gutenberg in the--00's, mass printing services in the form of relief printing developed into a standard industrial service. In relief printing the printed image appears elevated from the base, just as you see in a rubber stamp. Relief printing is rarely in use these days, though there are still some instances where it is used.

The industry has seen major changes in the printing methods used, and these changes were usually propelled by advancements in technology. Modern printing techniques have developed to a great extent, and each method has its own role and function. In fact, most clients now feel overwhelmed with the printing options available in the industry.

One of the most popular printing techniques in the market today is offset printing. In this method, minimum ink is used to print the image, which is first applied on metal plates and is then transmitted onto paper. This cheap and fast technique of printing is highly favoured and used when mass printing is required.

Other popular forms of printing that have evolved over time are electrostatic printing, which can be compared to photocopying, and thermal printing, which creates the print by heating coated thermal paper selectively.

However, digital printing is the newest printing method that is getting a lot of attention. As is clear from its name it uses a computer to develop an image, which is then analysed and if found to be faultless, printed onto paper. But this fast and trustworthy method works best in cases where only a small number of prints is needed. As this method allows each print to be modified it has resulted in some novel uses like computer form printing, where items like bills and receipts are printed on a standard layout but with differing contents for each customer.

Another significant evolution in printing has taken place with the advent of the internet. Printing service providers have their own websites that customers can visit from right inside their homes or offices and register orders after seeing online printing samples.

Printing has always taken giant evolutionary jumps with the progress in technology. The good news is that this trend of change is not going to slow down any time soon and you will keep seeing changes slash the costs and enhance the process.

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