Over the last few months, we have been seeing better designed pieces produced for and on digital color presses. Recently we saw a perfect bound print on demand booklet that was simply beautiful. It complemented and added to the content. Anyone would be impressed by this booklet. The range of colors used was outstanding.
Last week we provided a training workbook for a client with a colorfully designed front cover. We explained to our favorite graphic designer that this piece would be printed in short runs on a high end digital press. We received so many compliments. It caught us by surprise.
Looking around, we still see so many short run print jobs that look like offset when they could look a lot better. Any piece that is well printed but poorly designed is a missed opportunity to communicate more effectively.
In the past, the idea was to try to color match short run digital print output with the litho press. Unfortunately, so much work now does not get to the litho press. Consequently, the opportunities for a wider color gamut of digital printing are not being addressed. That is too bad.
With the big growth of digital color in the market, there may be greater challenges for buyers, designers and printers ahead. As always, graphic designers need to know exactly how a piece is being printed and how it will be used. It is not easy. Great graphic designers need to know how to design for digital and offset print, digital and social media.
Why are graphics designers still designing digitally produced booklets and col laterals for litho and not leveraging the wider color gamut of digital printing? It may require education. We still know great graphic designers and agencies still hesitant to learn what it takes to design beautiful and more colorful digital pieces.
Some tell us that digital quality is not good enough. That may have been true a few years ago. For high end digital presses, that is not true anymore.