Designers And Printers

Laser printers, inkjets, dye sublimation, solid wax proofing devices and office and studio printers are all used to varying degrees by graphic designers. Although web designers might only use an office printer for invoicing, or for making up proofs to show the client, print graphic designers will probably want to make much more extensive use of output devices.

Graphic designers use printers differently from most office workers, in that graphics quality is crucial, as is precise font positioning and layout. In addition, standard A4 printers are often not a large enough format for designers, who need to see how their design proofs look at full size with bleed. So often an A3 printer is a must. And then, of course, there is color proofing. If you are working as part of a team of designers, it is also worth checking that the printer has an ethernet network port, so that it can be accessed by the whole group.

Until very recently, reproducing simulations of offset-litho color reproduction in a studio environment was not a realistic option. Color printers were expensive and office color printers were simply not accurate enough and were geared more at outputting vibrant PowerPoint slides, than accurately color matching prints.

Laser printers are generally much faster than inkjet printers, but they are also more expensive. Additionally, the color quality of some of the cheaper models leaves much to be desired. It is also worth noting that, whilst replacement laser toner cartridges are more expensive than inkjet cartridges, the toner lasts much longer. For graphic designers it is very important to be able to print to a PostScript device. All professional graphics applications are utilize this technology and accurate rendering of images, especially vector graphics, is only possible on a PostScript printer. Although there are workarounds to this, including creating a PDF file and then printing from that, as well as software PostScript RIP packages, it is not an ideal solution for any volume of printing work.