Seeing prints anywhere we look makes us feel like they’re not out of the ordinary. We see them wherever we go, in whatever item we use, and whatever we consume. With how much we encounter printed material, we unintentionally neglect the technicalities of how designs and text came to be.

But now that you’re an entrepreneur scouting for printing materials, methods, and machines that you’ll need to give a physical presence to your brand, you’re beginning to understand the complexities behind printing.

Your printing needs can go as little as receipt and necessary documentation printing to printing on fabric, plastic, metal, and other types of varying materials.

To give you an easy to navigate guide on printing methods available, here are a few you can read about and look into if any—or all of them—gets your interest:

     1. Digital Printing

Digital printing is a method that hasn’t been around for as long as the other ones we’ll be mentioning in this article but is actually the most widely used printing method. This method of printing comes with ease and techniques that don’t require manual work.

It makes use of laser and inkjet printers to put ink on materials. Digital printing only needs a printer, any material accepted by the printer, and a computer. One can download an image and print it out to whatever size they want. The most basic use of digital printing is for documents, labels, posters, etc.

     2. Offset Lithography Printing

Offset printing is a popular way of mass-producing printed material. The process of lithography printing involves embossing heat tools made of aluminum with an image or text of the content that needs to be printed on materials.

The surface can be from cloth to wood, meaning offset printing lets you print on any surface where the content can be seen.

     3. Large Format Printing

Large format caters to consumers who need printed material in big sizes such as billboards, posters, wallpapers, etc. This format printing can be used for traditional advertising for businesses looking to impact consumers.

Large format printing doesn’t require a big roll of printing material. Instead, users need to feed sheets in increments for the printer to create one big sheet with the whole output.

     4. Screen Printing

Screen printing is a technique that requires mesh or any other fine material to transfer a printed image to another material such as fabric and the like. If you’re in the business of selling custom-made apparel, you’ll be able to use this printing method to print your design on clothing.

But as screen printing requires a lot of preparation, you should do it when you’re planning to produce bulk items of the same design to not waste the resources.

     5. 3D Printing

This might not sound new, but 3D printing is still an impressive printing technique, for it can print three-dimensional objects that can be moved and have their own mechanisms—based on design.

You can use 3D printing to print out marketing freebies, figurines, house necessities such as clothes hangers, and other display items. If you’re able to score an affordable and quality 3D printer, you can venture into another business of producing different types of items aside from your main line of business.

If your business’s needs require frequent printing on paper, it would be a good investment to get a good quality inkjet or laser printer. This will let you save cash on printing services and put the money on some other aspects of the business.

Printing techniques continue to evolve day by day; the impressive 3D printing is just the tip of the iceberg. As we get to know more technologies, more people will come up with techniques that can help with our business and personal needs.