A Brief history of Offset Printing
Lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder in 1796 by combining a greasy acid resistant ink and a fine-grained Solnhofen limestone. Offset printing was popularized around 1903 by Ira Washington Rubel and the first offset printing press. The inked image is transferred (or “offset”) from a lithographic plate to a rubber blanket, then in turn to a paper based printing surface. Offset printing produces sharp clean images and beautiful vivid colours using a variety of either CMYK or spot colour inks.
In recent years advances in computer-to-plate technology have helped make the production of lithographic printing plates, a once complicated and time consuming separate process, a seamless extension of the digital prepress production. This further increases quality and reduces the time it takes to prepare a project for print.
Uses for Offset Printing
Offset lithography is one of the most common ways of creating printed matter. A few of its common applications include: newspapers, magazines, company brochures, business forms, flyers, letterhead, business cards, and books.
Our experienced prepress department use screen to plate technology on all our offset print jobs, minimizing the time to press and maximizing quality of the printed image. At Marine we use a 5 colour sheet fed press with in-line drying and coating, allowing us to pass on the cost savings of reduced press time and shorter deadlines to our customers.
