Flatbed UV printers captured the attention of many signmakers with their ability to print on a myriad of substrates with an ink set that seemed to dry instantaneously while also being fairly environmentally friendly. So why didn’t they catch on several years ago? For one, they tended to print very slowly and, worse, they were generally priced in the $200k range, putting them far out of reach for most shops.

When Chicago’s famous French Vietnamese restaurant Le Colonial decided to move from its original location to a new location nearby due to rising rent costs, the restaurant’s owner Joe King saw it as an opportunity to refresh the restaurant’s 1920’s French Colonial Vietnamese décor. But one aspect of the new location proved to be a particularly tricky décor challenge: the elevator, which customers take to reach the third-floor restaurant. Though challenging, the restaurant saw the barren elevator as an opportunity to enhance and extend its customer experience by completely wrapping the elevator’s interior—making customers feel as if they are being transported from present-day Chicago to Saigon, Vietnam in the early 1920s. To help bring their vision to life, Le Colonial sought the expertise of Chicago marketing agency Graphic Alliance.

If you are not familiar with weeding, it is removing all excess material from any decal or graphics that are cut-to-shape. Weeding small letters and decals can be a difficult task, but learning how to weed small letters and decals is crucial knowledge to have in the sign industry.

Here’s a rundown of our best tips whether you’re looking to take a design to the next level or need a refresher on weeding small letter and decals follow these tips and tricks below.

Janet Smaltz readily admits to being the “J” behind AJ Graphics, a full service shop located in Garden City, Kansas.  Her husband, Andrew, is the “A.”  As Janet notes with a smile, “the A is silent.”
AJ Graphics provides a range of branding and marketing services that includes customized apparel, signage, vehicle graphics, and more.  Smalz started off with a Roland SOLJET® printer and 64-inch CAMM-1 cutter, and she’s been a Roland user ever since.  

Roland DG is delighted to announce that the new TrueVIS VG2 series eco-solvent printer/cutter has won 'Best Print & Cut Solution' in the prestigious EDP (European Digital Press Association) Awards. The TrueVIS VG2 was launched in March this year and is currently drawing crowds on the Roland DG booth (Hall A5 Booth H10) at FESPA 2019 in Munich, Germany.

Business owners, artists, designers, military personnel, racecar drivers, gearheads and other transport owners have been putting graphics on their vehicles since horses were pulling carts. When looking at the history of vehicle graphics, we can see the evolution of graphic design and advertising itself; from the early beginnings of simple company branding on carts, to the impressive car wraps we see today with full-color graphics on cars, trucks, boats, planes and other vehicles. The following infographic leads you on a design journey from paintbrush to printer with fun facts and fascinating data. 

Roland DG is delighted to announce that the new TrueVIS VG2 series eco-solvent printer/cutter has won 'Best Print & Cut Solution' in the prestigious EDP (European Digital Press Association) Awards. The TrueVIS VG2 was launched in March this year and is currently drawing crowds on the Roland DG booth (Hall A5 Booth H10) at FESPA 2019 in Munich, Germany.

Time flies when you’re having fun, and it’s been flying for Cameron Hackl ever since he opened The Sign Cellar in Kamloops, British Columbia, in 1990.  Back then, it was a mostly analog world. Today, the digital graphics he designs are spread across products ranging from business cards to boat wraps.  

In a perfect world every print job runs with ease. The same job runs the same the third time as it did the first and second time. In the real world problems arise that have people scratching their heads. During any printing process there can be multiple things that could go wrong. How do you know if the problem is ink, substrate, equipment or a combination of constituents? This article leans toward screen printing; however, some issues and suggestions expand to other printing processes as well. Downtime costs money no matter what printing process you are using. Understanding and locating the problem quickly can minimise downtime and keep the print shop moving forward. Let us look at common issues for suggestions that may be useful in the print shop.