Advantages of Offset Printing
1. Anything that can be photographed can be used as composed type. Letters and characters typed with an ordinary typewriter can serve as the "type" for offset; so can those that have been exposed on photographic film or paper; for that matter, even handwriting can be used. The use of cold-type composition eliminates the need for the skilled technicians ordinarily involved in typesetting.
2.Line drawings, charts, diagrams, and similar illustrations add absolutely no cost to a job printed with offset. Once positioned in proper relation to any accompanying type matter, they are photographed along with it.
3.Photographs, paintings, and other continuous-tone illustrations can be reproduced at a lower cost. The exposure of such illustrations on photosensitive plates without having to use an etching process to obtain relief surfaces creates this cost advantages. Special shapes or effects for illustrations are less expensive for the same reason.
4.A major cost and quality advantage is introduced because rougher papers can be used and quality illustrations can still be produced. For some printing jobs, the requirement od a smooth surfaced paper can add considerably to the expense. It can also restrict the designer when he wants a textured surface to add to or create a particular mood for his product. The "squeezing" of the inked image from a rubber blanket onto the paper makes it possible for quality printing of photographs to be obtained by offset on a wide variety of surfaces.
5.Elimination of makeready results in a cost advantage. The planographic characteristic of offset produces a good printing hob with the uniform pressure exerted as a blanket cylinder and an impression cylinder make contact. In letterpress printing, a need to raise or lower the level of type or plates to get an eve impression is time-consuming and costly. This adjustment, requiring skill and time, is not needed for offset.
6.The flat, paper-thin plates used in offset are easier to store than the type and plates used in letterpress. Further, masks and original pasteups can be easily maintained for future use.
7.Duplication of complicated, previously printed material, such as inventory forms, is simplified. Where the letterpress printer would have to spend time setting type and putting it together with column rules, a lithographer can simply photograph the entire printed form, put negative in a mask, and expose it to a plate.
8.The rotary presses used in offset are fast and efficient when compared wth the common flat-bed cylinder and platen presses used in much letterpress printing. An offset plate, because it is pliable. can be wrapped around a cylinder. Printing from a rotary cylinder is much faster than printing from a flat surface.
9.Paper can even be used for offset printing plates. This method often costs less than a mimeograph stencil and can produce a much neater product.
10.Lifelike colour (four colour process) is often producible at lower cost by offset. Quality can approximate that of competing processes, and the sensitive acid etching required to produce letterpress colour plates is avoided.
It is not difficult to develop a list of advantages of cold-type composition over hot-metal methods. We might mention another advantage. The various cold-type machines have sleek, modern style. They look like office machines as does the computer. The hot-metal machines, in contrast, have a manufacturing look. In the traditional composing room the atmosphere is generally that of a factory. Set in modern surroundings, complete with contemporary decor, soundproof ceilings, and carpeting on the floor, the cold-type equipment presents an entirely different picture.
The Graphics of Communication
Arthur T. Turnbull, Russell N Baird
