Litho-like Printing

1st Byte Litho-like Digital Printing

In the old days, short and individually customised print runs were painfully slow and incredibly inefficient... a bit like dinosaurs.

1st Byte has spent 10 years raising the profile of digital printing to increase flexibility and decrease costs and lead times. Working hand in hand with the world’s finest digital technologies, our team can offer you some amazing services that make the competition look prehistoric:

24 hour lead times
All but the largest jobs completed within 24 hours.

Litho-like print
The highest resolution 6 colour printing and spot matching from our high definition HP/Indigo Printing Press.

Custom formats
Custom oversized documents, pocketed folders, A2 posters and banners up to 11m long, hot off our Xeikon Printing Press.

Expert finishing
Comprehensive in-house finishing service to complement ‘look’ with ‘feel’: cutting, folding, binding, stitching, laminating and encapsulating.

Online proofing
Stay in control of your job with our 1st Eprint service.

Personalised printing
Be as individual as you like; with digitally personalised printing you can tailor parts of documents without incurring additional set-up costs.

2nd Byte
With our 2nd Byte service we can even offer reduced prices for longer lead times.

Lithographic Printing

This is the traditional method of printing using oil-based ink. For long-run jobs this process is the most economic. The initial set up is more costly and time consuming which makes the process expensive for short runs. Once printing however, it is relatively cheap to increase the quantity required.

A benefit of lithographic printing is the ability to print with 'special' colours for example silver. Instead of being restricted to the colour range possible from cyan, magenta, yellow and black a specific ink can be used.

Another benefit of lithographic printing is being able to print on textured paper. This is because the ink is applied to the paper by a roller under pressure.

Traditional pros and cons:

Pros

• Cheaper on long-runs
• Ability to print 'special colours'
• Best process for large areas of flat tints
• Able to print on textured paper

Cons

• Expensive for short-runs
• Time consuming set up
• Slow turnaround (typically 10-12 working days)
• Lithographic printing cannot be personalised
• Expensive to rectify mistakes

Digital Printing

For short-run jobs this process is ideal. Initial set up is minimal and a job can be completed in a fraction of the time taken with conventional printing.

Although traditionally 'special' colours are not available, an acceptable spot match can always be made from cyan, magenta, yellow and black (excluding metallic or fluorescent colours). It is also considered that the quality of digital printing does not rival that of lithographic printing; however, as technology advances, the perceivable difference in qulaity is narrowing.

Traditional pros and cons:

Pros

• No plates or films to produce so usually cheaper
• Good for quick turnarounds
• Flexible
• Short and long run quality

Cons

• Other printers can be expensive for long-runs
• Other printers can be expensive for larger formats
• Other printer can lack of accuracy with colours