Printing Signage

Digital printing is significantly cheaper than screen printing for several reasons. Firstly, digital printers can achieve the full gamut of CMYK colours (or even more with the use of additional colours of ink) in a single printing process, so there’s no need to produce separate screens for each colour.

Not only is this cheaper to produce, it requires no preparation, so it’s possible to produce more work in less time, thereby increasing your profits.

Digital prints, like all printed materials, will fade to a greater or lesser degree over time depending on the environment in which they are placed. The lifespan of your prints can be greatly extended by using high-quality inks from a trusted supplier. Lamination can also improve the lifespan of your prints, providing protection against moisture from rain and UV rays from the sun.

PDF or EPS files are the most flexible format and are compatible with most RIP platforms. TIFF files can also be used to reliably retain image quality, but their large size can make them challenging to share and can cause issues with slower computers.

The resolution for your signage will depend on the viewing distance for which it is designed, and the format used to create the design. Most signage designs are created using a combination of vector and bitmap imagery. Vectors are typically used for text, icons and other design elements and are scalable without degradation whereas bitmap images are made up of pixels and are subject to degradation when scaled. The larger the number of pixels captured in the original source image, the higher the quality, and therefore, these images are best for signage which is to be viewed at close distance. For signage which is to be viewed from a longer distance such as building signage, resolution requirements tend to be lower.

While many signage applications can be achieved by applying adhesive vinyl directly to a wall or other surface, rigid sign boards (hollow-core and rigid foam, for example) are also popular options.

These are commonly produced by applying printed adhesive vinyl to a blank board, then adding a layer of protective laminating material, using a special application table.

It is also becoming increasingly popular to print directly to boards using a flatbed printing solution, thereby increasing the speed of production. Read more in our article here.