School Signs or Books
We have recently looked at the School Signs market in the UK. With our new UV printer and low cost base we felt that we would be able to offer better and service to the UK school sign sector. Looking at this sector prices seem to have remained
bouyant.
Percieved as a niche product sign companies have
marketd themselves as specialist or experts in school signage. Well not to put too finer point on it a sign is a sign. The message may change but the methods of manufacturing school signs is the same as post mounted signs, business signs or corporate signage. To find out a little more about the market I spoke to a headmistress friend of mine. It turned out that the key points she considered when order school signs was how easy the process was. She
perceived that it was far easier to get a local sign company to visit the school and take her brief than it was trying to order goods on line. Ease came far higher up when ordering school signs than price or speed of delivery. When artwork is involved either supplying it ready to print or providing logos and text for the designer to create an image was
perceived to be easier in person than online. My conclusion? It's a worry if purchasing is not carried out with cost in mind. Every pound saved on purchase products be they school signs or gym equipment is another pound of tax payers money that could be used for books or field trips. From a web sites point of view we need to make purchasing signs online as easy as possible. Keep an eye on
www.discountdisplays.co.uk/html/schools-signs.html to see how we implement online design and other easy artwork ideas.
Labels: school signs, signage
UV flat bed sign printing
flat bed UV printers are changing the way
signs are made. In the past if you want a full colour image printed onto
signs for a trade shows you would need to go through a 3 part process. Firstly print the sign onto paper. This would then have to be laminated and have double sided self adhesive sign film applied to the rear. The laminated sign would then have to be mounted onto a substrate material such as foam
pvc board. This process was costly in terms of materials and labour. An alternative would be to print the sign onto self adhesive vinyl and then mount this to the sign board again more materials and labour. Our disadvantages of these methods is the risk of
delamination of the print or in the case of the self adhesive vinyl shrinkage of the vinyl itself. UV printing saves time and money. The large format flat bed machines print the ink direct onto a wide variety of sign substrates. So no need for laminate, adhesive or labour. The resultant sign is UV stable,
weatherproof and will not crack peel or fade. Customers get better signs faster and at a lower price. At
discountdisplays we are finding our UV printed replaces many of the traditional large
format digital printing methods we have used in the past.
http://www.discountdisplays.co.uk/html/signs.html
Display Boards go green
We have just installed a UV large format printer for printing many types of signs and
display boards . We have chosen UV inks for a number of reasons including their eco friendly credentials. The printer prints direct to the Display Boards which bring several benefits; There is less waste, they are more durable and turnround times are faster. The normal process involves printing onto paper the putting laminate to the face and double sided self adhesive film to the rear then mounting these to the board. The new process prints the inks direct to the
display boards so no need for double side adhesive film and the inks are cured under UV lights. Once the lamps have cured the inks they are not only vivid but durable so there is no need for over laminate. An added benefit is that inks can be used indoors or outdoor since they a resistance to UV light and are waterproof. As a company we are focused on becoming more green. This is just the first stage we are on the look out for way to reduce the companies carbon footprint and are researching new recyclable materials.
Banner Frames
With Summer on the way there are many fetes, county shows, sports events and outdoor marketing events. How do you promote your show or get you company noticed at the show?
Everyone is aware of banners and flags at outdoor shows but how do display banner and flags? Often banners can be displayed on existing structures such as fences or the sided of a tent but when these are not readily available your banners can be displayed using
banner frames. These come in many different styles and sizes. Traditional portable banner frames often comprise a steel or aluminium sectional banner frame that uses key clam corner fittings. Fairly lightweight, easy to transport they take a few minutes to put up. These banner frames can be single or double sided and are free standing. If the wind gets up then can be weighted to the ground or ground pegs can be used.
New pop up
banner frames are proving popular, smaller but lighter and easy to transport but only suitable for fairly large qualtities of banners. These banner frames are double sided and can be weighted down.
The larger the banner the harder it can be to display if the wind speed increases. For displaying large banners water based banner frames are popular. They have limitations but allow a large eyecatching presence.
Exhibition Graphics - tips
Exhibition Graphics Tips
Image is every thing - Use High quality resolution images Simple headings that “pack a punch!” you only have seconds to attract attention
Keep main body copy/words to a minimum
Use a Call to action
Red on white is easiest to read
Pop Up Stands – Give a large area to make a visula impact.
Banner Stands – Used at the front of a stand they can attract passers by.
Vinyl Banners - visit Vinyl Banners
Design Tips Ensure promotional literature branding and style complements large displays
Consider the position of your graphics carefully at events to maximise visibility
Plan ahead and avoid missed opportunities Get design advice from professionals
We have designed a new product for table top displays. Often table top displays are cumbersome and fiddly to put up. Our system is like a retractable banner stand used horizontally. The roll up mechanism is housed in a hard outer casing that protect the unit and acts as a storage tube. Simply pull the retractable table top display apart and your in business in under 60 seconds. It also looks far more contemporary than a traditional folding table top display stand. Click on this link "table top display" to see how easy it is to use.
The durable spring mechanism inside the case is tensioned as you pull the table top graphic out it is held out by a scissor mechanism and spring on the back of the table top display. Once you are finished you push the cassettes together and the graphic rolls back up into the graphic. The graphic used on the
retractable table top display is printed using tear resistant paper and
water based inks on a high resolution photo realistic large format printer.
These table top displays are ideal for use as sales tools for pharmaceutical
representatives, at schools and
museums as well as small trade show booths.
Labels: table top displays
Goods Handling
Discount Hand trucks. Have come across a new web site that specialises in goods handling equipment. They have a range of hand trucks made form durable aluminum. No more bad backs. A number of the trucks fold up so they can easily be transported in the back of a car. Even so they are strong enough to do the job. Some of these portable folding hand trucks are ready assembled while the larger pallet style folding handle carts require a little bit of self assembly.
Discounthandtrucks.com
lightboxes
Why use lightboxes?
Lightboxes are one of the most effective advertising mediums available. Promotional backlit posters stand out from the background clutter . Combination of colour and illumination catch passers by attention more than a non-illuminated poster can.
Stdies ahev shown that illuminated advertising attracts higher customer footfall and sales compared to non-illuminated displays. Increase in impact can vary form 20 to up to 100% depending on where the lightboxes have been used. Illuminated displays proved particularly effective in dark areas such as nightclubs.
Where can light boxe displays be used?
Light box displays can be used indoors or outdoors. Popular in retail outlets, airposts, railway stations, nightclubs, shopping centres, pubs, clubs, bars, cinemas, exhibitions and trade shows.
Lightboxes are available in standard width and slim line for wall mounting. They can be single sided or double sided and
freestanding lightboxes
lightbox
Lightbox displays are used in exhibitions and point of purchase marketing. A lightbox can be anything from a huge illuminated display for a shop front to a small desk mounted lightbox for SAD.
Discountdisplays provide display light boxes for indoor use. Your lightbox is a usefull tool the backlit poster stands out from the background clutter in a retail or trade show environment. There are many types of boxes available and your choice depends on budget and usage. The cheapest lightboxes use simple fluorescent tubes. They work well but are larger, less energy efficient and don't have such an even light spread as slimline light boxes. There are several types of slim lign lightbox displays varying from 25mm up to about 40mm. The very latest designs use LED edge lit light source. These
lightbox units are Ultra-Slim Ultra Bright and feature
100% Uniform Illumination
• High Energy Efficiency
• Has a brighter and clearer image
• than any other advertising panel
• we have seen
• Lamp Life 30,000 Hour
• Internal use
Lightboxes can are also be wall mounted, free standing illuminated displays and single or double sided. Graphics are normally backlit posters. Traditionally Duratrans which are large display transprancies but nowadays more likley to be digitally printed onto special backlit film
