Business - Applications

When furniture company Funkids wanted to update its traditional range of children's bedroom furniture to make it more attractive and appealing, Extrema Publicidad in Mexico turned to its Inca Eagle H printer for the solution. Extrema printed directly onto MDF and HDF to produce the range of colourful, themed designs.

Several processes were involved from digitally cutting the individual pieces - more than 150 different pieces were registered - to the substrate treatment and primer preparation before the pieces could be printed, then UV varnished.

With its Eagle H printer Extrema Publicidad were able to produce consistently high-quality, richly-coloured graphics which were ideal for children's bedrooms.

This project was an innovation for the Mexican furniture market as other companies were using decals or vinyl for decoration which produced an inconsistent quality.

Faversham House Group, organisers of Sign & Digital UK, are delighted to confirm that 6,756 visitors attended the show at the NEC last week. This is an impressive 22% increase on the 2010 show, reflecting the renewed optimism in the market and the event's role in showcasing the very latest sign making and digital printing products & services.
 
Rudi Blackett, event director for Sign & Digital UK, commented, “We are delighted to be able to report a significant increase in visitors to the 2011 show. The combination of interactive demos and specialist advice, coupled with the wide range of products and applications on display, made the show a fantastic showpiece for our industry. I would like to thank all exhibitors and visitors for their part in making the show such a great success.”

Visitors to the show shared this buoyant feeling of optimism ”I’ve found this a really worthwhile trip,” says Geoff Rile of GWR Design & Illustration.

Studio Manager Jane Twydle of Succinct Communications said “I really enjoyed the show and come every other year to see what is new and keep up to speed with the market.”

Haydn Pryor of Trust Mark Design & Print Ltd commented “Really good show, I do come every year and will certainly be back. I came up here to visit the Roland stand and did make a purchase”

“We are a small print shop and this is our 4th year coming to the show. We are looking at a range of materials for external signage and identify different hardware to use. We’re impressed with the professionalism in such a tough market and it’s definitely been worth the visit,” said Ian Forsythe of Forsythe and Steele.

Exhibitors also found the event particularly good this year and the increased numbers of quality visitors was the contributing factor. “As a newcomer to the graphics market, I am impressed with the quality and more importantly quantity of the leads we gained. Having attended many shows in other sectors of the digital printing market, this show really exceeded my expectations” said Erik Norman, VP Sales & Marketing for Reprographic Technology International.

“We are delighted with the amount of visitors to our stand all of whom showed great interest in our Fujifilm ‘shop’ as well as the latest Acuity Advance flatbed,” says Graham Leeson, marketing communications manager, Graphic Systems Division – FUJIFILM Europe

Emerson Welch of Clarity Software also commented “Once again, Sign & Digital UK has delivered in quality, quantity and closed sales for Clarity Software. This is a key event in our calendar and enables us to supply our tailored product to its rightful audience.”

Also impressed were a number of large format printer resellers including Stewart Bell of Digital Print Innovations Ltd, stating, “We are delighted with our first Sign & Digital UK. As a young, independent, ambitious business we were extremely pleased with the quality and quantity of the leads we achieved. We’ve already booked a bigger stand for 2012!”

Graham de Kock, City & West End solutions said “Our stand featured a European launch of the Seiko W64S and we also sold printers off the stand on the first day.”

Nick Wintle, Managing Director of IGS UK Ltd added: "The show was a great success for us and we met with numerous potential customers to talk them through our Elements Print Science range.  The interest we received at the event was very good and we've already booked a bigger space for next year's event."

Duncan Jefferies – marketing manager; Hybrid Services Ltd. Mimaki’s exclusive distributor for the UK & Ireland commented, ‘’Sign & Digital UK 2011 was an excellent show for Hybrid. It was the ideal opportunity for us to launch five major new Mimaki products – an unprecedented number of exclusives, of which all were very well received by the visitors. We enjoyed three busy days - the interest on our stand and machine orders placed with Mimaki resellers at the show was extremely strong.’’

Nicola Bisset, Group Managing Director at Optimus commented “It is our first time exhibiting and we will be returning. The attendance was good and the lead quality was excellent with many of the visitors being decision makers. Well done for putting on a great show, which was well organised and publicised.

Finally, one of the busiest stands at the show was the Hewlett-Packard stand where Anne Sharp, Category and Marketing Manager for Designjet UK & Ireland had this to say, “We have been pleased with this year’s Sign & Digital UK and the interest that we have seen in HP’s range of LV signage solutions, especially in our Latex technology. It’s been a great event in terms of meeting UK and Irish customers looking for new investment opportunities and we look to forward to next year’s event.’

Make sure you put the date in your diary for next year, the 2012 Sign & Digital UK will be held on the 27-29 March, halls 3 & 3a at the NEC, Birmingham.
Also start thinking about your entries for the next Sign & Digital UK Awards, introduced this year to applaud and award the most creative sign and digital projects and companies in the UK.

For more information, visit www.signanddigitaluk.com or follow all the latest round up of news and information on twitter @signanddigital. To contact the team please email signanddigitaluk@fav-house.com.

 

Avery Dennison Graphics and Reflective Solutions announced today the launch of CarWraps.net, an easy-to-use website that makes it convenient for small business owners and consumers to brand or personalise their car with vinyl graphic media.

"Vehicle and fleet graphics have been used by the business community for promotion and advertising purposes for many years," says Kathleen Hall, North American vice president and general manager for Avery Dennison Graphics and Reflective Solutions. "The success of mobile advertising campaigns has led many small- and medium-sized businesses to explore the idea of having cut or printed graphics applied to their vehicles or fleet as an excellent way to gain exposure for their brands. CarWraps.net is designed to make this process straightforward and accessible for the business owner or the consumer who wants to customise their vehicle with their own style."

Statistics from the Outdoor Advertising Association of America confirm the effectiveness of vehicle graphics. One vehicle can generate 30,000 to 70,000 impressions a day. In addition, fleet advertising boosts name recognition 15 times more than any other form of advertising. Car wrap advertising also boasts one of the lowest cost-per-impression ratios among all forms of advertising. These are the types of statistics that have convinced more and more businesses that car wrap advertising should be a key component of their marketing mix.

In addition to businesses, consumers now desire to reflect their individual styles on their vehicles. This personalisation trend goes beyond the typical pin stripe and window graphics that are purchased off the shelf. Options for customisation range from simply changing the colour of the car with a wrap or creating a personal design and digitally printed wrap.

"We are committed to providing business and consumers with easy access to qualified wrap installation professionals," says Hall.

CarWraps.net includes an easily searchable database so that individuals can locate a pre-screened and certified installer near them. Full service wrap companies and installers have been certified by Avery Dennison or the Professional Decal Application Alliance (PDAA), an independent, industry-leading organisation dedicated to raising the reliability and professionalism of the graphics installation industry. Avery Dennison and PDAA Master Certified Installers are experienced with all types of graphic installations, including walls and flat surfaces, glass, curved surfaces, and complex curved surfaces including vehicle wraps.

A wide selection of photos of custom graphics installed on cars, SUVs, vans, trucks, RVs and trailers are available at CarWraps.net for consumers and business owners to see. Also helpful for small businesses, are statistics on the number of impressions a promotional wrap can generate and the ROI for this out-of-home advertising medium.

Avery Dennison's MPI 1005 Supercast pressure-sensitive vinyl is often digitally printed with designs or company logos for full and partial car wraps. The vinyl graphics are then laminated with one of Avery Dennison's digital overlaminates to provide protection against normal road wear and UV rays.

The beauty of a car wrap is that, if an individual gets tired of the wrap or graphic design or a company rebrands, the wrap can easily be removed and the paint on the car will look virtually the same as the day it was installed. Pricing for creating a personal graphic design and installation varies depending on the vehicle and the size of the graphic.

Tay-CAD, based at Lerwick in Shetland, was formed in 1992 to provide CAD services to the oil and gas industries in Scotland. Since its establishment, the company has extended its services to include graphic design and large format printing. Eighteen months ago the company, traditionally a business-to-business service provider, decided to use its HP Designjet printers to extend its client base by offering its large format printing capabilities to the public.

"Shetland is a group of islands in the north eastern tip of Scotland," explained Mark Fuller, managing director and owner, Tay-CAD Ltd. "Its distance from the mainland of Scotland and small population offers a challenging marketplace and we have to be adaptable to meet the demands of our customers."

Expanding its service offering

In 2010, Tay-CAD decided to replace its existing HP Designjet 9000 Printer with HP Latex Ink solutions. It invested in two HP Designjet L25500 Printers, the 60 inch and 42 inch models, for high versatility and the ability to print on a wide range of substrates, including coated media or polyester fabric, and low cost papers without treatments.(1)

"We are a small business and the L25500 allows us to offer high-quality, competitively priced prints, with minimum operating costs," said Fuller. "As the HP media portfolio develops, we are finding that we can offer quick and effective solutions to jobs that would have been impossible without HP Latex Ink technology. For example, using our L25500s and HP Air Release Adhesive Gloss Cast Vinyl, we have been able to provide partial truck cab liveries, wrapped furniture and safety signage, all in the same print run."

Tay-CAD has also benefitted from the HP Designjet L25500s' ability to streamline workflow and minimise interruptions with its low maintenance printing.

"The L25500 has simply been a revolution in our workflow," continued Fuller. "First and foremost the print quality for indoor and outdoor applications is excellent, there is virtually no waste and we can leave the printers running unattended, whilst we concentrate on other work. Since installing the 60 inch printer last march we have seen a major boost in productivity."

Undertaking time critical work

In June 2010, Tay-CAD used its HP Designjet L25500 Printers to produce the graphics for a major exhibition at the Shetland Museum and Archives as part of the ‘Hamefarin' (homecoming) 2010 event that takes place every twenty-five years. During the event, Shetlanders and their descendants from around the world are welcomed back to their home islands. For many attendees this is their first visit to the islands.

"The ‘Hamefarin' From Old Rock to New Life exhibition at the museum focused on emigration and looked at the life stories of Shetlanders who had left the islands," explained Dr Ian Tait, curator, Shetland Museum and Archives. "When people relocated they took their possessions with them. This meant that the exhibition depended on high-quality graphics featuring sources such as photographs, biographical stories and newspapers, rather than focusing on artefacts."

The content for the exhibition was split into 48 A1-sized panels with the design determined by the destination of the person leaving. Every panel contained a combination of high-quality images and text. Each country was represented by different coloured text and a corresponding date stamp, superimposed onto each image. For consistency all the panels followed the same style, designed to look similar to a passport.

The centrepiece of the exhibition was a large panoramic montage, which measured 2440 x 1220mm, with an accompanying caption panel of 2440 x 600mm. The montage featured 135 photographs including black and white, sepia and full colour images. Tay-CAD produced the graphics using HP Permanent Matt Adhesive Vinyl mounted to 5mm foamboard.

"Timing was the most demanding aspect of this job, artwork was being finalised and approved right at the last minute, so being able to turnaround the production quickly was vital," said Fuller. "The HP Designjet L25500s were ideal for undertaking the job. Prints that come off the printer are instantly dry. In addition they do not require outgassing and are immediately ready for finishing and installation, ensuring that we could even fulfil the last minute changes."

As well as undertaking the printing of the montage, Tay-CAD designed the artwork so that it could be used as the cover page of the exhibition brochure, with minimal changes to the design. Production of the brochure was outsourced.

The exhibition was a huge success and the museum attracted 22,650 visitors over its duration, an increase of over 20 percent from the previous month.

Customer Satisfaction

"When I briefed Tay-CAD on the project, I wanted the final montage to be high-impact, so it was vital that the colours appeared vibrant, shadows and shading were well defined and textures were well captured," said Tait. "The captions had to be sharp enough for children to read easily and the panel had to be the right size and correctly positioned to stop adults from stooping to read. Tay-CAD managed to deliver all of this and the quality of the final result exceeded my expectations.

"Tay-CAD's combination of high customer service and its HP Designjet equipment has brought an advanced design and printing service to our islands. Without this, the ‘Hamefarin' exhibition would have been a lot more difficult. As it was, they made it so easy I didn't have to worry. The quality of work was superb."

(1) For best results, print on polyester fabric that does not stretch. Performance may vary depending in media. Please consult your media supplier for compatibility details.
 

Vista System International, a world leader in Modular Curved Frame Technology (MCFT), recently supplied its cutting edge, flexible modular sign system to "Morgan Signs" for installation at Spire Healthcare's private hospitals in Cardiff & Bristol, UK.

Spire Healthcare is a leading provider of private healthcare, with 36 private hospitals throughout the UK. The company is built on a proud heritage of over 25 years experience of running successful private hospitals. Morgan Signs, Cardiff, was employed by Spire Hospitals in Cardiff & Bristol to bring their internal way-finding systems up to date after departmental moves and new building extensions.

Vista system was the perfect choice to provide the high quality, cutting edge appearance the client was looking for. Directory systems were used inside and outside of lifts and in all stair well lobbies. Projected signs and door signs were installed to make navigation of long corridors straight forward. The overall system gives consistency of branding and provides ease of navigation for way-finding around unusual hospital buildings.

Colourgen has completed the second in a series of videos designed to demonstrate important product and application solutions.

From concept to completion, the latest Colourgen video shows the processes required to print digital wallcovering using Epson’s Stylus Pro GS6000. This video is available to view on Colourgen’s website at http://www.colourgen.com/products/inkjet-printers/epson/stylus-pro-gs6000

This step by step guide takes the viewer through the processes required to plan, RIP, print and put up custom printed wallpaper using EFI’s ColorProof XF RIP, Epson’s Stylus Pro GS6000 eco-solvent printer and Colourgen’s Elite Essentials solvent wallpaper.

Melanie Enser Colourgen’s Product Marketing Manager says, “Our first video on the Seiko ColorPainter was very well received and we hope to have similar interest in this new production. The emphasis this time, however, is all about the application rather than the technology and shows how, with the right tools, printing custom wallcoverings is very straight forward.  More and more people are using short videos to help them understand the technology and applications and our videos are designed to make this even easier for them.”

The video was developed by marketing company, JGC.