Digital printing

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Technologies
This article is part of the series on the History of printing
Phaistos Disc	1850–1400 BC
Woodblock printing		200 AD
Movable type		1040
Intaglio		1430s
Printing press		1439
Lithography		1796
Offset press		by 1800s
Chromolithography		1837
Rotary press		1843
Flexography		1890s
Screen-printing		1907
Dye-sublimation		1957
Photocopier		1960s
Pad printing		1960s
Laser printer		1969
Dot matrix printer		1970
Thermal printer
Inkjet printer		1976
Digital press		1993
3D printing
v • d • e

Digital printing is the reproduction of digital images on physical surface, such as common or photographic paper, film, cloth, plastic, etc.

It can be differentiated from litho printing in many ways, some of which are;

Every impression made onto the paper can be different, as opposed to making several hundred or thousand impressions of the same thing from one set of plates, as in traditional methods.
The Ink or Toner does not absorb into the paper, as does conventional Ink, but forms a layer on the surface.
It generally requires less waste in terms of chemicals used and paper wasted in set up.
It is excellent for rapid prototyping, or small print runs which means that it is more accessible to a wider range of designers.

Examples of major commercial digital printing systems are the HP Indigo [1] press by Hewlett-Packard, the DocuTech [2] system from Xerox, and the InfoPrint [3] system from InfoPrint Solutions Company, a joint venture between IBM and Ricoh.