Despite all round technological advancements, the continued use of print medium as an effective means of spreading information is widespread even to this day. Large-scale printing services came into being during the 15th century when Gutenberg invented the first printing press. Printing technology has always been progressive and responsible for many innovations in printing techniques.

Of all printing techniques in the market today, offset printing tops the list in popularity. In this method, the image is transmitted onto paper from a metal plate on which the image is first printed with the use of a small quantum of ink. This kind of printing is very cost effective and fast - particularly when huge volumes of prints are needed. Today there are varied methods of printing and the consumer must opt for the right method depending on the nature of printing work on hand.

Digital printing is the latest method of printing based on modern emerging technology. The one fundamental difference between digital printing and other conventional forms of printing is digital printing is based on imaging technology and does not use films. Digital printing dispenses with the cumbersome processes of type setting and making plates. Digital printing is ideally suited for four-color jobs and that too when fewer than 5000 copies are required.

Electrostatic printing is suitable only when you need an extremely short number of copies. This is akin to photocopying where toner from a charged drum is thermally fused on to paper.

Embossing is a printing method whereby an impression is created on a thick paper or a light weight board over any printed design. The impression to be obtained can be concave (dented inside) or convex (dented outside).

Engraving is widely acknowledged as the most suited printing process, particularly on fine paper, for getting sharp images.

Flexography is a printing process that uses rubber plates but this method is usually confined to printing on various types of packaging materials and labels.

Gravure printing is a technology that relies on direct contact of paper to an etched copper plate. Although there is no technology to excel gravure printing for superior quality of printing of large volumes, this process is very costly.

Letterpress process is one of the oldest methods of printing and in use for more than five centuries. Letter press uses images on the plate that are slightly elevated as you see in a rubber stamp.

Screen printing is a process that pierces ink through a screen and specially intended for printing on surfaces that are not flat. Printers resort to screen printing for printing on items like glasses, crockery, mugs, cloth, stickers, etc.

Thermography is more of a finishing process to create raised images and generally used for printing stationery. This process involves spreading powder over a previously printed image even when the image's ink is still wet. Applying heat thereafter makes the powder and the ink fuse to create a raised image.

The total commercial printing industry in the whole of US includes around 35,000 companies accounting for $90 billion of annual revenue. However, bulk of commercial printers are either small or of medium size. Despite efforts at consolidation, the commercial printing industry is highly fragmented as the largest 50 companies hold only about 30 percent of the market.

Each commercial printer specializes in certain types and forms of printing depending on what kind of printing press he has. Commercial printers with web presses, in which matters are printed on a single continuous roll of paper, mostly do magazine printing and longer-run marketing pieces. Those with sheet-fed presses produce higher quality images but the process takes longer to print because the pre-cut sheets have to be pulled one at a time from out of the sheet holder. Sheet-fed presses are meant for printing everything from poster printing to art books.

Bryton Printing is the widely known company which provides the finest personalized and affordable long run Orange County Full Color Printing. From the days of the hot-type printing presses to the current day computer technology, Bryton Printing has continued with the tradition of providing excellent quality service for customers throughout Orange County at highly competitive and cost-effective prices.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com