Outdoor Sign - Client: Grafika
Mark Ramsden (Director of Grafika Ltd) needed a cut to shape sign creating that would be used outdoors.
At The Display Link we don’t pretend to be a sign company because we’re not. There are many companies throughout south Yorkshire and the UK who are very good at outdoor signage solutions but… if you need a simple panel for outdoor use we can often produce it for the right price and the right quality.
How this sign was created
The artwork created by grafika was supplied in ‘vector’ format which basically means it was line work or path work (not photographic). Illustrator, In-Design or Freehand are the most commonly used applications amongst our customers for creating vector formats.
The lettering was produced from black and grey 5 year pigment vinyl which we cut to shape on our 60 inch wide Summa Vinyl Cutter. (Pigment vinyl is vinyl that is ordered from a swatch of colours. ie. not printed). This is where the ‘vector format’ comes in to the equation as the vinyl cutter follows the paths created on the vector file.
The ’swirly bit’ was created by printing onto 5 year digital vinyl using solvent lightfast inks. We then laminated the vinyl with an outdoor laminate offering the same life expectancy (this is important so as to avoid different shrinkage rates over time). Finally the Summa vinyl cutter plotted the swirly shape.
In the meantime the Di-bond white panel was CNC routed. CNC routers are cutters that cut through plastic, perspex and metals etc resulting in an accurate cut from any supplied cutter guide. Di-bond which is available in many colours is ideal for outdoor application. Classed as an aluminium composite board it is extremely strong, durable and fairly lightweight.
All that was left to do was to stick the vinyl pieces to the D-bond panel. We choose to apply this using the ‘wet’ method. We sprayed the sticky side of the vinyl with soapy water so that when we stuck it onto the board we could slide it about into position as it needed to be perfect. For more info on wet application see: Partition Vinyls.
Mark was delighted with the finished project, “As usual another job well done. I knew I could trust The Display Link to produce my sign using the best processes and materials”
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Below are some more examples of outdoor work
Hoarding Boards on behalf of Robert Wilson / Atlantic 1
Tray Signage - thanks to Andy Foster at Eco Design
Thats me (Sean) applying a vinyl sign
Tags: application, Outdoor, Signage, vinyl
