POD and Digital Printing – Hand in Hand

Digital printing involves reproducing digital images or text onto a physical surface, such as photographic paper or film, and is markedly different from conventional litho printing.

Print on demand (POD) became commonplace only after digital printing was established, since printing of individual copies via traditional printing techniques such as letterpress or offset printing was neither practical nor economical.

POD eliminates the issue of unsold books that are usually pulped, because only the required numbers of books are printed. It usually minimizes the usage of chemicals and printing ink, and also reduces paper wastage. POD is the perfect solution for rapid prototyping, or smaller print runs and this makes it much more suitable for a range of designers.

POD works hand-in-hand with digital technology as a way of printing material at a fixed per copy pricing, irrespective of order size. This may work out to be a slightly higher average rate for each printed copy as compared to offset printing. However this is compensated by the reduced setup costs of digital POD, especially when this is limited to small print runs.

With the advancement of digital printing technology and digital photography, the concept of self-publishing has become the accepted norm in photo printing. Several well-established companies are now adopting individual printing of photo books on demand. Thus digital publishing is the cutting edge, state of the art technique with a promising future.

Innovation in printing technology and newer discoverys will ensure that POD and digital printing see further progress and evolution.