On the face of things at least, the media and materials that signs and graphics producers turn to today, do not appear to be much different to those that were used twenty years ago. Yet this is not the case. Whether coloured, white, or colourless, today’s media and materials have significantly advanced on technical and application-led fronts—and will continue to do so.
Today’s media and materials are more reflections of need than accidental fits for applications that have just happened along the way. This is most evident among digital media. Whereas anything white would have once qualified itself as being among the digital media ranks, today, ever more imaginative applications and users’ expectations of performance have really thinned the digital media herd.
Today’s media and materials are more reflections of need than accidental fits for applications that have just happened along the way”
The hardware used to print digital media has also imposed a need for media to lift its game. For example, media that is very narrowly talented in dealing with one type of ink no longer makes it in a market where several ink types share the space. Pedestrian paced drying characteristics do not cut it either, with even basic printers now able to crank out print at a rapid pace. Media has to reconcile a need to serve as a primary foundation for cured inks and be somewhat soluble in the carrier vehicle used in solvent inks.
A new landscape
Getting the performance of vinyl for specific applications just right requires rigorous
testing, and long-term research and development commitment
Media manufacturers have in many cases responded and, in fewer cases, actually innovated ahead. Today, media with the best broad spectrum compatibility and the most benign handling has carved a position as reference standards. That is the place where theoretical performance meets the real world; output in the hand is the measure by which both media and printer are judged. Changing media is known in some cases to produce improvements more akin to upgrading a printer. So, the media a producer may be using today could actually be lagging the best quality exemplars and reference materials in the market. Lots of available performance improvements cost only pennies per square metre extra and are worth seeking out.
Adhesive is the unsung hero, and probably the least understood component in modern media and materials. Adhesive sits between the jobs produced and the surfaces to which they are applied, and also sits between a reliable applied graphic and its absolute failure, and all the implied consequences. Adhesives comprise complex chemical brews and are designed with application demands in mind. The bill of materials can be significantly reduced by using marginal quality components, but this is a step too far in some cases and major failures have been known.
Adhesive is the unsung hero, and probably the least understood component in modern media and materials”
Adhesives, like inks and media, have to reconcile seemingly impossible demands. On the one hand, they need to exert sufficient grip on the objects to which they are applied so that a reliable bond is produced, but on the other, if the result is something that grabs the very moment it touches anything, it would be practically unusable. There is an end of life performance requirement to consider too. It is expected of media and materials these days that, when applied graphics are removed, the adhesive will remove cleanly too. Cohesive strength and management of differing bond levels need to be understood.
This assembly of connected performance expectations has been set because some media and material are able to fully deliver it. The state-of-the-art in this area have actually produced fully cross-linked adhesives that offer a useful degree of repositionability, a highly developed ultimate bond and very clean removal. If we add to this an engineered ability to work with air evacuation systems for faster application, and high resistance to the effects of moisture, you have an adhesive worthy of the needs imposed by its likely application.
Adhesives speak loudly for the total character of media and materials too. Some materials fight the applicator every inch of the way while others are a dream to work with”
Poor adhesive performance produces inexplicable failures in applied jobs. If luck is onside, the job will actually fail during application, simply failing to stick or exhibiting reluctance to bond quickly. If luck is off somewhere else, the failure will happen in use and the applied graphic will peel, curl up or might even drop off leaving a plasticiser compromised mess behind. Although it is unseen, adhesive is more determining of all round performance than most might think. Compromises in the adhesive design are clear pointers to costly failure and, ironically, the failed reputation this produces really does stick.
Adhesives speak loudly for the total character of media and materials too. Some materials fight the applicator every inch of the way while others are a dream to work with. The difference may distil to pennies saved or could even be costing more. Indicated action? Look for signs of technical leadership and follow them.
On the face of it
Today’s sign and display materials are on the very outer limit of synthetic
material development
Developments in the general area of facefilms have produced performance improvement that have made some classes of media much more compliant with demanding applications, including wrapping. One very welcome development is the advent of matched laminates.
Laminates are needed to protect printed graphics is situations where the application demands it. A poorly matched laminate can completely negate the value of an advanced facefilm in terms of its application handling. Also, in some situations, plasticisers are known to migrate and, in so doing, break down the adhesive layer between the two films. Thankfully, such issues are what sparks a response and some manufacturers are alert to the need for mechanically matched laminates, products that feel and perform like the printed facefilms they protect and that are chemically compatible.
Looking forward, you have only to regress the trajectory of recent developments to get a sense of what is to come”
In general, preferences tend to gravitate to the familiar, but this may be to the detriment of overall performance if media and materials are chosen as much out of habit as any other motivation. Things have moved on and media and materials now perform in applications that would have been out of bounds only a few years ago. Companies that are confident in their advanced products’ performance and the value of the science that makes them possible will not be shy about sharing the experience. They will willingly make production sample available and will have functional experts available to guide those looking for improvement.
Looking forward, you have only to regress the trajectory of recent developments to get a sense of what is to come. Media and materials are certain to support ever faster hardware, easier application, and produce a finished result that does not just look the part, but can be trusted all day and every day to perform, whatever comes its way.
