Screen printing vs. digital printing – which option is better for you? practical guideline. - KeyCompany Visual Advertising

2020-09-11

SCREEN PRINTING VS. DIGITAL PRINTING – WHICH OPTION IS BETTER FOR YOU? PRACTICAL GUIDELINE.

Screen and digital printing are two the most popular methods of printing. Working on the advertising projects, our customers often consider: which method is better for them? Here, we come and provide them advice. Now, I want to share with you some information about these two printing methods and the unique benefits each has to offer.

What is screen printing and how does it work?

During screen printing process, the ink is pushed through a screen to print a particular design on the desired material. The printer swipes ink across the screen using a squeegee to pass the image through the screen onto the substrate. For each new colour, a different screen is used.

What is digital printing and how does it work?

Digital printing is a much newer technique and involves the use of complex computing. In this process, an image is analysed and then converted into a format that can then be printed directly onto the surface required.

Color matching

If it comes to perfect color matching capability, screen printing is a winner. Using the Pantone Matching System, we can duplicate any colour needed. What is really important in making advertisement printouts, for screen printing we might also use some special metallic paints – and get gold or silver colour on the printout. For the digital print only the CMYK palette is used.

Matching colours accurately is especially important when it comes to corporate branding. Many companies have brand guidelines that specify Panteone colours. If you try to match these colours with CMYK – sometimes you might find it really frustrating.

Details

For photorealistic printouts it is better to choose digital print. When it comes to smooth transitions, digital printing allows the ink to overlap and blend together much easier. If an image is photographic or has gradients (fades, blends), screen printing will require halftones (tiny dots) and a lot of work.

Appearance

When it comes to printing huge surfaces in one colour – the difference in these two printing methods shows up. Screen printouts look great; always has and always will. Large single-colour surfaces with the paint applied evenly are possible to obtain only in screen prints.

Durability

Durability is the problem that digital printing has been struggling with since the beginning. With no doubt, if you want your printouts to be long-lasting, you should choose screen printing. Thanks to the special ingredients of the paints and thicker surface of the applied paint, screen printing doesn’t have to worry about the durability problem.

Speed

Digital printing do not require any complicated preparation. All the printer need is a digital image, which is then printed directly on the surface. If you have a rush small project do not even hesitate to choose digital printing. Screen printing needs time. Screens’ preparation is a laborious work. But once it’s done – printing become faster. So, for large orders of repetitive prints – the screen printing turns out to be better option.

Cost

As the digital printing do not involve multiple steps for preparation – the printer simply needs the image, for small to medium size orders, it’s cheaper option than traditional screen printing.

These two printing methods have their own benefits. In brief, if you want each print to be personalized, the digital print will suit your needs. On the other hand, when you have a large amount of the same prints to make, especially with large surfaces to print in one colour, the screen printing is the best option for you. There is another alternative. Thanks to many years of experience in printing and having both technologies in-house, in our works we take advantage of these two methods, using hybrid prints.

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