Why are digital sample different from prodction samples in book printing?
Time:2025-06-20
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Do you often encounter such problems in book printing production? There are differences between products produced by digital printing and tradtional printing? Friends who are new to printing may find it confusing, but in fact, this is mainly due to the differences in printing technology, material use, and process flow between the two. Today, we will take you to a detailed understanding of the differences between digital sample and prodction samples?
Digital sample are samples made based on digital printing equipment, with characteristics such as short production cycle, strong color expression, and highly personalized customization. It abandons the traditional printing and plate making process and directly converts digital files into printed products.
Prodction samples is made before large-scale production, which is important for showcasing craftsmanship, controlling quality, and estimating costs. It is not only a key basis for inspecting product quality, but also an important link to ensure the correctness of the production process.
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Technical differences
Digital proofing: mainly using inkjet printing technology, utilizing inkjet printing equipment or professional digital sampling equipment. This technology can directly output computer files onto paper or other substrates, with the advantages of speed, flexibility, and relatively low cost. This method involves obtaining verification samples from digitized original manuscripts (electronic files).
Traditional proofing: using traditional offset printing, the overall workflow includes: original manuscript, customer requirements → design, color separation → output film → plate drying → proofing → printing on the machine according to the sample (during which it may be necessary to re assemble, re output and plate drying) → post-processing (including lamination, oiling, polishing, hot stamping with aluminum foil, embossing, cutting/laminating, folding, binding/mounting, etc.). It provides excellent image quality and cost-effectiveness for large-scale printing.
Material differences
Different types of paper: Digital proofing may use paper or other substrates that are not exactly the same as the materials used in the final mass production. The type, thickness, and glossiness of the paper can affect the printing effect. Therefore, even with the same design, different visual effects may be presented on different materials. Taking copperplate paper as an example, the copperplate paper used for digital sampling is generally specialized and tends to be matte powder paper (mainly to reduce equipment wear and tear), while the copperplate paper used for mass production is brighter than the paper used for digital sampling.
Ink difference: The ink used in the final mass production is also different from the ink used in digital sampling. Digital sampling generally uses specialized ink, while traditional sampling uses ink. The formula and drying method of ink will affect the final printing color and texture.
Color gamut difference: Digital proofing is a color mixture of at least 8 or 11 types of ink, while offset printing only has 4 types of ink blending. The color gamut of digital proofing printed sheets is generally larger than that of bulk production, and the colors of digital proofing graphics and text are more vivid and the saturation of colors is higher than that of bulk printing.
Thickness difference: Digital sampling is thicker than mass production. Because the bulk product needs to be subjected to strong pressure from the laminating machine and beer machine, the surface paper and pit paper will be more closely adhered, so the thickness will appear thinner than the digital sample, but the hardness is the same.
Differences in Process Flow
Digital proofing is usually a relatively simple process, simply output the design file. However, offset printing involves multiple steps, including pre-processing of design drafts, plate making, debugging of printing equipment, printing, post-processing, etc. The subtle differences in each step may have an impact on the final product.
In terms of color management, there may be differences in color reproduction between digital proofing and offset printing. Digital proofing can often more accurately reproduce the colors in design files, but offset printing may be affected by various factors such as ink, paper, printing equipment, etc., and the color reproduction may deviate.
Environmental differences
The changes in temperature and humidity directly affect the performance and stability of materials. For example, certain materials may undergo expansion, deformation, or softening in high temperature or high humidity environments, while they may become hard and brittle in low temperature or low humidity environments. This change may not be obvious during the sampling stage, but in mass production, due to differences in environmental conditions, it may lead to significant changes in size, shape, or performance. Especially in the production process of paper products, changes in environmental humidity have a significant impact on the stretchability of the paper, which may lead to unstable product dimensions.
Light and ultraviolet radiation have a degrading effect on certain materials (such as plastics, inks, etc.), and long-term exposure to these factors can lead to material aging, discoloration, or performance degradation. When sampling, it is usually done in a well controlled indoor environment, while the production site may face more complex lighting conditions, which can lead to differences in product quality.
In order to reduce the above differences, it is possible to consider using the same paper and ink as the final production for digital sampling in the early stages of design, in order to better match the actual production effect; Conduct multiple trial printing and adjustments before mass production to ensure that the printing effect meets expectations; Strengthen communication with printing factories to ensure a clear understanding of design requirements and printing processes between both parties. So as to ensure that the color, texture, size, etc. of the final product can highly match the design draft~
Since we cannot achieve 100% similarity with the product, is digital sampling meaningless?
The answer is of course: meaningful!
The main purpose of the sampling process is to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the design, ensuring that potential issues are identified and resolved before formal production. By making samples, one can intuitively see whether the design content is correct. Because it is often difficult for us to identify design issues on the computer.
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