Cheap color printing can be a lucrative source of income for those who are engaged in the business of printing. Not so long ago a print house would usually have a single color offset press and a multicolor offset press with facilities to make the printing plates. Now print houses have got sophisticated. They are equipped with computers for designing and layout, an image setter, a high end scanner and sophisticated, computerized high speed offset machines which can print thousands of copies per hour. Some even have computer to plate and computer to print machines. These machines print with perfect color registration, density, contrasts and color balance. What this means, in effect, is that there is less overhead in labor costs with a correspondingly higher production which spells reduction in overall costs. Such printing houses are able to offer cheap color printing and most people who would have usually have gone in for simple black and white prints can now opt for color prints as cost difference is marginal. One example is newspapers which have more pages with full color content. The effect of color compared to monotone is dramatic. The impact on a potential customer is high. At one time a full color brochure meant the company offering the product was exclusive and expensive and special. While color printing is now common and affordable, the impression of exclusivity associated with color still persists.
There was a time when most companies would simply print a single color leaflet or brochure and the clients would have to do with that. Now with cheap color printing becoming widespread, single color has fallen into disuse and every company worth its name has, de rigeur, to go in for full color brochures, catalogues, flyers and sales promotion materials. The demand for color printing is high, the capacity for printing is high and sophisticated technologies have also helped to make overall per unit costs lower. As a result of escalating demand print houses are able to offer cheap color printing and this is resulting in good business for them too.
Where one used to rely on word-of-mouth or simple single color brochures to promote businesses, a color brochure is a must have these days and this is also fuelling the demand. As a result cheap color printing is promoting printing business with more and more people getting into the act and setting up print houses to cater to this very profitable sector.
The advent of computers also saw the development and growth of computerized desktop publishing shops which went on to set up color printing services in their efforts at horizontal and vertical integration and these have also helped in the growth of the printing industry. Cheap color printing promotes their printing business.
At one time color printing was a sophisticated art with specialist technicians who operated the machines setting the registration, color density and the right mix manually. Color printing machine manufacturers have automated all these tasks and dramatically reduced color print costs through high volume printing capacity and quality of the print.
Talking of high volumes brings roll fed high speed rotary gravure printing machines to mind where the printing is done using 1 to 8 rollers each printing a different color at such an extremely high speed that computerized cameras are used to check for quality of print since the speed is too high for the eye to distinguish. These machines are fed plastic sheeting or paper in roll form and print a huge volume in a short time with a richness and depth of color that is truly impressive.. Color print is affordable for the consumer and feasible for the provider for whom cheap color printing promotes printing business.