What is printing?

Printing is the process of creating images or text through printing templates. These images are printed on paper, fabric, etc., using ink.

According to Wikipedia, the Cylinder Seal, the Cyrus Cylinder, and the Cylinders of Nabonidus are symbolic products of printing technology in the early stages. After that, we got to know about woodcut and paper printing technologies. The printing technology in China was invented by Bi Sheng in 2040 AD. At this time, printing technology gradually played a vital role in economic, political, and educational activities.

Regarding basic printing technology, the first thing to mention is the two areas always present in any printed document: the print area and the non-print size.

After preparing for printing, the next step is separating the image from the printed and non-printed areas. To understand more about this basic printing technology, let's go through the following printing process:

• Planographic printing is a type where the image and non-image areas are on the same flat surface. The difference between them is the contrasting image of the two regions. This type of printing is suitable for lithographic printing.
• Relief: This printing process involves the printing area being raised above the surface of the printing material while the non-printing area remains at the surface level. An example of this would be letterpress printing.
• Intaglio: This process is the opposite of Relief in which the image area is recessed below the surface plane, and the non-image area is on the surface. A typical example of this process is copper plate printing.
• Porous: This process uses a fine mesh silk screen through which ink can enter the printing area, with the areas to be printed and the non-printing areas blocked off from the ink. Examples include screen printing technology.

Modern printing techniques

The current printing techniques are offset printing, letterpress printing, screen printing, laser printing, etc. These printing technologies are implemented through printing processes that have been developed in recent years, such as:

• Digital printing: The images to be printed are loaded into a digital printer. The printer then performs color blending and prints directly onto the material quickly, without taking much time, and can print large quantities.
• Printing with discharge ink: Widely used in fabric printing. This technique helps remove the fabric color and bring it back to its original state (off-white) before continuing the printing process.
• Water-based printing: Printing on water-based ink provides high gloss.