Sign & Digital UK, the leading trade exhibition for the sign making, display solutions and digital printing industry, returns to the NEC Birmingham from 24th to 26th March 2015 in halls 17 and 18. 20% bigger than last year’s show, Sign & Digital UK 2015 is built around the theme Creating Business Connections. It will feature more than 190 of the industry’s biggest name exhibitors, along with an extensive free-to-attend seminar programme, live product demonstrations, exclusive show offers and practical workshops.
Showcasing the sector’s best cutting edge technology and services, the event is essential for anyone needing to keep up to date with the latest developments in a fast changing industry.
A learning hub
Learning is at the heart of Sign & Digital UK. There are five education theatres and workshops, featuring an estimated 35 daily seminars, covering practical applications and real world tips, as well as new business ideas and revenue streams.
The Business Theatre delivers practical sessions identifying new revenue opportunities for business owners looking to expand and improve their services for the year ahead.
Sessions include “Exploring the wallcovering opportunity with HP Latex Printing Technology”, “Why and how can digital technology be used in new markets?” and “Diversifying your business: insights into training for new market opportunities”.
With the UK sign industry facing tighter regulations governing its activities, complying with changing legislation will also be addressed in two workshops run by The British Sign and Graphic Association. Covering topics such as requirements under new European standards and the impact of changing planning laws on sign maintenance, the sessions will include Q&A sessions for maximum interaction.
In the ‘Fast track to creative vehicle wrapping’ session, Mimaki’s Mike Horsten will take participants on an interactive ride from the past to the future of vehicle liveries.
The Adobe Theatre features five daily workshops that focus on practical tips and advice for mastering the latest Adobe software packages. Sessions include ‘Creativity Overload’ aimed at helping people refine their Photoshop editing skills, and the ‘Don’t break the grid’ which delivers countless workflow improvement and timesaving tricks.
The Corel Theatre is a must-attend for anyone in the design, sign making & printing and the embroidery and promotional items sectors. Seminar sessions include a practical step-by-step guide to creating products with CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X7. Also, for those working with apparel and promotional items, garment printing, embroidery and appliqué, there will be dedicated sessions in the Wilcom DecoStudio® e3 workshop.
Wide-format design and production software specialists, CADlink Technology will present a series of SignLab seminars in the SignLab Theatre. Focusing on best practice print and cut, sign and display design and production workflows, session highlights include an introduction to using dedicated sign-making software packages, including tips and shortcuts on the most common tools used in day-to-day design and production environments.
The ‘SignLab for Mimaki’ session will look at boosting design and production workflows with Mimaki printers. Some of the key areas to be explored include print and cut set-up, utilising time saving tools, supersizing images and easy to use special effects features.
The ‘SignLab for Versaworks’ session will focus on features that enable Roland users to maximise the benefits of Roland’s print and ink technology. Practical skills include contour cut-lines, working with VersaWorks colour palette and working with Roland colour profiles and metallic and white ink sets.
Full seminar timetables for all theatres can be found online www.signanddigitaluk.com/seminars
New exhibition trails
With so much to see and do at this year’s Sign and Digital UK, the exhibition trails allow visitors to tailor their time at the event to their own individual requirements. There are two exciting new trails, Retail Route and Materials World as well as the returning Textile Trail. More information on businesses taking part in each of the trails is now available online at www.signanddigitaluk.com/show-trails
£13,000 prize draw
Visitors who pre-register at www.signanddigitaluk.com will automatically enter their company into a prize draw to win a Roland Texart RT-640 64” wide dye sublimation printer. Provided by key Sign & Digital UK exhibitor Roland DG, the prize is worth over £13,000 and includes installation of the machine, a set of Texart inks and a one-year RolandCare Silver warranty. The winner will be selected and informed in the month following the show and must have also attended the show to be eligible to win.
All of the latest products and technologies
Sign & Digital UK 2015 will feature all of the latest products and technologies, from companies ranging from small boutique businesses, through to many of the industry’s leading brands.
Exhibitors booked so far include Signwaves, Applelec, Mida Sign Services, Biesse, Complete CNC Solutions, Nova Chrome, The Magic Touch, Canon UK, Colourgen/ Mutoh, Roland DG UK, Fujifilm, Hewlett-Packard, Hybrid Services/Mimaki, Amaya, YES Ltd, Resolute DTG, J&B Sewing, Russell & Chapple, Ultraflex Europe, Esko, Ultima Displays, William Smith, MTEX, Agfa Graphics, Paperlinx, Grafityp, Art Systems, Inktec/Jetrix, Atech, i-Sub, Perfect Colours, PrintMax, AG CAD, Antalis, and CMYUK Digital.
Exhibitor Highlights:
Drytac will be present on its exclusive UK & Ireland distributor Antalis’s stand (J12) and will be showcasing a number of products including its recently announced Scuff Guard film and the brand new Protac Anti-Graffiti, FloorTac and Spot On films.
Stanford Marsh Group Graphics (SMGG), returns to Sign & Digital UK in 2015 on stand E24 with an array of exciting wide-format print solutions and a 3D print solution from Stratasys. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in business this year, SMGG will be showcasing and demonstration the 64-inch wide HP Latex 360 printer, the Mimaki CJV wide-format print and cut machine, the Mimaki JFX200 printer, Stratasys uPrint 3D printer and the Easy Rack storage system.
Graphics Printing Technologies (GPT) returns for its 5th consecutive year at Sign & Digital UK and will be showcasing the brand new product offerings from Mimaki, including the JFX-200, the JV range and the CJV range. Also from Mimaki will be the hugely successful UJF series of A3 and A2 UV-cure printers for the signage and personalised promotional products industry.
Vivid Laminating Technologies will be exhibiting their EM-1600 SH and EM-S1400H Sign wide format laminating systems from their award-winning Easymount range. The Leicestershire-based firm will also be showing their British-assembled Matrix MX-530P Pneumatic System for SRA3 and B2 prints, a first at Sign & Digital UK for Europe’s No.1 system.
Colourgen is showcasing the new Mutoh ValueJet 426UF desktop flatbed LED UV printer. The new A3+ printer allows direct printing on a wide variety of solid materials and objects up to a thickness of 7 cm. The Mutoh VJ-426UF will be making its first UK public appearance at Sign & Digital. Colourgen will be running demos on the printer to show exactly what this machine is capable of.
City and West End Solutions (CWE) will highlight the need for optimal quality across an entire digital print and finishing workflow – from the machines and inks, to the software, the media and the finishing.
CWE will be demonstrating a range of kit on their stand including the Summa wide format cutter, showing customers how to get the perfect cut finish, every time.
Perfect Colours will bring a full house of new and established products to its largest stand to date. Debuting in the UK at the show is the five colour UV-curable InkTec Jetrix KX6. The 2.4 x 1.2m flat-bed – which the reseller supplies with two years’ free warranty – attains speeds of up to 55sq m/hour using dual CMYK plus four white channels. Able to produce fine art quality at low running costs, the KX6 is a robust and cost-effective option for those transitioning from analogue process or hoping to increase their throughput, being as it is the fastest true flat-bed in its size.
Bright Green Technology will be demonstrating their new range of wide-angle modules. These modules are made with a patented optical lens that produces viewing angles of 140° for the mini version and 165° for the standard version. Bright Green Wide Angle Modules are an extremely economical way for sign makers to illuminate light boxes that require high lumen output and excellent lighting uniformity.
Display Makers, industry leaders in exhibition stand design will unveil their new innovative display product, ISOframe Ripple, an all-new, ultra-lightweight, patented semi-flexible system which is set to take the industry by storm.
Sign & Digital UK is free to attend and registration is now open. Please sign up at www.signanddigitaluk.com, or to enquire about exhibiting, please contact the show team on 01342 332000, or email signanddigitaluk@fav-house.com
