When you are designing packaging for a product, or you want to print labels for your products, you can choose between two main printing options. Pick digitally printed labels for a product, or flexographic printed labels for products. You may not be familiar with either of these processes if you are not a professional graphics or print designer, but don’t worry – it will all become clear. Here are the first things you need to consider when you are choosing a method of printing your labels.
Think About the Size of the Job
Possibly the most important thing to consider when you are choosing between printing methods is the size of the job you will be completing. Do you want a small set of test labels so you can judge which packaging works best in the market? Or are you completely redoing your labels and need to print a large quantity, to be repeated in the near future?
Digital printing is ideal when you want to test different products and different packaging with small print runs, and experimental designs. You can set up a prototype of the labelling and packaging at a low cost so you can see which will work best in the marketplace. If you need a large order of labels printed then flexographic printing is more cost effective, and you should be able to get more for your budget, and the turnaround time is quick, too.
What is the Purpose of the Printing Project?
You also need to think about why you are printing labels when you are choosing which labelling machines and method you are going to use. Will it be a small-scale test run? Or a re-launch? A promotion?
If you need to add different data onto labels such as personalisation or numbering, it won’t be particularly good to use flexographic printing, but digital printing will easily be able to handle this in a cost effective way.
What is Your Budget?
And you do need to remember to consider your budget when choosing printing methods – in fact, that is probably the first thing you will consider so it will definitely affect the method you choose, according to www.labeller.co.uk. However cost of printing should not be the only focus and it is likely other factors will also impact on the print job. When thinking about the budget you need to consider things like the environment the products will be stored and used in, the colours you want, and the type of materials you want to print on.
When you want metallic or foil printing, digital is not the best choice, however. Flexographic printing is ideal as you get the best results this way.
You should also consider time, too. If you need a quick turnaround, digital printing is best as there is very minimal setup involved. You waste no time in getting your product completed.