When you are considering a digital printing method to be applied to your poster design, you have to take into consideration the process, file resolution, output devices, timelines and costs.
Poster printing is unique in the fact that you do not have to abide by the same rules as other types of digital printing methods. You have more options of digital printing styles with posters. A poster can take the form of a lithographic style whereas you do not have to use traditional four colour process print applications. You can use solid colour areas that are have a spot colour application designated to specific colours to get more punch out of the images on the poster.
It may be by design that a digital printing method that is applied to a poster printing style of solid colours gets more attention than you would normally get to a poster. Just take a look at old posters as old as 100 years ago. They can be worth a lot of money because they have been collected, numbered and stored by poster collectors.
Producing Posters Is Much Easier Today And Has Lower Production Costs
Instead of having a sheet of paper go through a printing press as much as 4 times or more with anywhere between 4 to 15 plates, where the sheer number of plates and registration can become an issue and drive up the cost in press time, the digital printing method is one easy application.
Once a proof is created and approved, the print time and potential errors are cut down and there are no serious prepress costs like producing film or printing plates. Another consideration is file resolution.
Where poster printing is concerned, you are not bound by the resolution of images to the same degree as you would be for brochures, flyers or other print collateral for business promotion. The poster printing method can become the style of artistic application.
Use whatever you have to your benefit to make the poster look good no matter what imagery you have. A good method to apply is with the use of characatures in animation. Limiting the amount of dots into a “posterized” effect often used in photoshop is a quick way to enhance the effect of an image. Pixelating dramatized dot effects that are also available in a photoshop plugin is another method. If you have any questions about these methods you can ask us at Partners Graphic.
Although digital printers can handle both colour modes, it is the extra channels that can bring out the design, similar to how varnishes can be applied to posters or other print collateral. To find out what various digital printers are capable of, contact Partners Graphic for a demonstration.