Just take a bit of time to think of all the printed materials you come in contact with every day.
The list could go on and on: billboards, brochures, direct mailers, business cards, flyers, etc.
They come all in all different sizes, thicknesses, colors, and all varieties of creative designs.
But how did all of these things get produced? How did they go from an idea, to a design, to the final product? You'll find out here.
Commercial printing is a fairly new concept; it is the process of going from artwork to a piece of paper or card stock.
Most companies today use a form of offset printing that transfers various amounts of four separate colors to make the final color image on paper.
These colors are cyan, magenta, yellow, and black; also known in the industry as CMYK.
To sum up the process as simply as possible, commercial printing involves determining the proper levels of water and ink for each color.
An aluminum plate determines how much ink the paper is allowed to absorb, and rollers press the image onto paper, one at a time.
You need a little more detail though, right? To go into more detail: the overall process of printing is actually quite simply and it hasn't changed much over the last 100 years.
It begins with aluminum plates that are created (pressed out) from the artwork.
Most of the time there is one plate for each of the four CMYK colors.
Each plate is then wrapped around large cylinders that allow the ink to fill up the cut or pressed out shape of the aluminum plate.
Ink is then poured into the cutout and then transferred to a rubber roller.
This roller is called a blanket cylinder, which is used to let the paper roll within to retrieve the right level of ink.
And finally, the impression cylinder is a roller that pushes the paper along the process at around 10,000 sheets per hours to absorb the necessary amount of ink.
There are four presses - one for each of the four colors.
As the paper moves along each press, it retrieves one color at a time.
The paper may also end up in a heated waiting area, where it can dry before more ink is printed on the back side.
There are many advantages that commercial printing has over standard desktop printing.
It can create professional and outstanding results that many people can utilize and enjoy.
Chances are, most companies use this form of professional printing for most of their print projects.
If you're interested in getting started, the key is to ask your printer the right questions and understand how their process works.