Sign Material Secrets
Nov 10th 2009adminAdvertising & Business & Marketing & Signage
Digital Signs Are Growing Up
I could write a book about the different materials we use in making signs. However, my instructions are to be brief, so a few words will have to suffice. If you need more information, please contact me. I’m happy to share my knowledge.
Let’s talk about digital graphics as this is the hot topic in the sign industry today. We started making digital signs many years ago when the materials were not as robust as they are today. Also, the choice of manufacturer and supplier were limited as digital signs were in their infancy. Things have changed quite a bit in the last 8 years. There are more manufacturers and more choices so that materials can be more closely matched with the use. However, not all materials are as good as their manufacturers say they are. There’s a surprise!
When considering what material to choose for a particular project, there are three things to consider:
- Indoor or outdoor?
- Life expectancy
- Illuminated or not?
We already have many computations and many choices of material within this group. Add to this, the choice of laminating or not and you double the number of choices. We’ve had great success with some manufacturers and less success with others. We gauge success by how the sign performs in its chosen environment.
Printing onto vinyl or plastic has other complications. Like the paper printing industry, we look at the white point of the material. Some look very white. Some are on the yellow side and some are on the blue end of the spectrum. We prefer a true white material so that we can achieve a good match for the customer’s colours. When you start with a material that has a different colour built in, you really are starting from an unknown point and trying to get to your destination by taking different routes by trial and error. This gets to be time consuming, tiresome and expensive.
Let’s say the sign we are printing is to be used outdoors in an illuminated sign box. We need to find a material that has the following characteristics:
- An excellent white point (for colour matching)
- Is translucent (so that it does not hinder the transmission of light)
- Has a clear adhesive (to not introduce any changes to the colour of the light being transmitted)
- Will accept a heavy application of ink (so that the colours remain vibrant when illuminated)
- And will not deteriorate in the UV rays of the sun.
Then we have to apply the laminate, which will add protection from chemicals, abrasion and the sun’s rays. The laminate also has to work with the vinyl. We find it best to use laminate and vinyl from the same manufacturer. They know which laminate works with which vinyl so we tend to follow their instructions and it has proven successful. Our customers are often surprised at how well the printed materials perform, both for longevity and colour vibrance. It took our industry several years to perfect the materials and I dare say there is still some way to go. However, today we have materials that can be printed in vibrant colours, will last many years outdoors and are reasonably priced.
Here at ICSigns, we work together with our customers to find the best solutions at the best price possible. We also love to hear from our clients about their experiences. Feel free to leave a reply below! And here on this blog, we offer comment luv, which means, when you leave a comment, there’s an opportunity to provide a link back to your own blog. Great for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Happy signing,
Drew
