The Print Show: Diversity Training

There is a difference between printing short term display graphics and producing signage where printing can also include mounting, lighting and permanence. This the place to find out more.

Signgeer is running the diversity zone pod on what printers need to know about sign making, whether fixed banners, rigid signs and displays or shop fascia signage. This covers the bulk of signage application. Producing neon lighting or bespoke lettering is something that will be left to specialist businesses, not newcomers to the sector.

And it is an expanding sector thanks to the increasing popularity of hanging signage to promote events and neighbourhoods; the use of informational signage in all kinds of locations and promotional signage for different types of businesses. 

This growth is typified by the 70,000 lamppost signs that Banner Box produced for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games last month, quite possibly more than for the London Olympics only a decade ago where such signage was limited to areas around the venues themselves.

More and more locations are using informational signage to tell visitors about the history of a landmark or the village, the wildlife in a park, the paths through a wood or simply the view across the hills. Even in the age of the mobile phone, printed signage has a growing role in imparting engaging and useful information.

The growth in artisan businesses working from kitchen tables and selling wares via farmers’ markets and online will be followed by some either moving into high streets and conventional shops or setting up farm shops. All demand bespoke signage that is very different to the retail chains.

And that is just the tip of the opportunity. As is said of packaging, the customers that are buying commercial print are also buying other types of print, including signage, but from different suppliers.

The opportunity in short is there. And Signgeer has grown to be the largest provider of tools, equipment and consumables for sign makers since its founding in 1986. That 35 years of experience qualifies Signgeer to help new entrants interested in signs to take their first steps into the growing sector.

The basic difference between a sign and display graphic is permanence. An advertising display is only in place for a few weeks at most: a sign may be expected to last for years, to continue to look good and to do its job over that time. Further the producer of the sign will be expected to create the whole thing and to install it. This is not about supply kits of posters to a retailer only for shop staff to put them in place. The printer’s role goes beyond printing in decent quality colour, and perhaps adding grommets to a PVC banner.

This means too that the margin on the finished product can be greater than for a straightforward pop up, set of posters or a window graphic.

A window graphic, depending on its purpose and longevity can qualify as a sign rather than a promotional display. This is the point of crossover between the signage and display graphics worlds.

It is where customers also cross over: a retailer is likely to want promotional material and permanent signage, the one conforming to the other to maximise brand impact.

It means that a careful choice of inks is needed. There is no point in using an ink that starts to fade within a few weeks. Instead a high fast ink, protected by a varnish is a pre-requisite for signage work.

Printers will also need to understand how to print on different materials, perhaps to metal or to some kind of rigid laminate material. 

This will then need to be fixed to mounting channels, perhaps to posts, or perhaps to a building. In each case the sign maker is going to be producing more than the print. And because there is no easy point of comparison, there is the opportunity to achieve a greater margin.

Signgeer will be able to discuss this as well as the actual creating of signs: what is needed in terms of the films being printed on, how to mount this to the metal backing without incurring creases, scratches or splits to the substrate. The alternative is to use acrylic materials which will also need cutting out.

If not being demonstrated live at the diversity zone, the company is promising to put on live operation at its own separate stand where work will be printed then cut and finished to achieve different end products.