Offset's Rough Road To Prominence

By 1956, presensitized plates and platemaking machines began to surface, and coupled with the speed and utility of "cold type" composition, print shops began to enjoy a greater measure of control over the tedious process of platemaking.

Faster and cheaper to make than metal plates, the new paper and plastic plates were the acme of simplicity and helped printers to increase their capacity to print numerous jobs quickly.