Printed products for outdoor use: features of use

Outdoor advertising is a vital necessity for many types of businesses. This is a great way to attract the attention of a wide audience - both those directly in your area, and hundreds to thousands of people living in completely different places. Unlike TV or radio, a billboard cannot be switched, or postponed, like a magazine advertisement, or closed, as is the case with Internet advertising. There are several technologies that allow the production of outdoor advertising. Or rather, the printing technology itself is the same almost everywhere - inkjet (as in ordinary home printers), but the ink can be completely different. Let's consider their areas of application.

Water-based ink

A fairly cheap and environmentally friendly option is water-based ink, which practically does not emit any odor. Another advantage is their bright colors and clear images. This is the ink used for photo printing. However, prints are very unstable and are most often used for interior applications. However, if they are laminated (covered with a special film), then they can also be used as an outdoor advertising option. Also, water-based ink is often used in textile printing.

Latex

Another type of environmentally friendly ink appeared relatively recently. We are talking about latex ink, consisting of water, pigment and artificial latex. They dry thanks to slight heating, which evaporates the water. Immediately after this, they are ready for further processing, such as lamination. But even without it, latex prints are very durable, scratch-resistant and great for external use. However, not every manufacturer has the appropriate equipment, so the cost of such printing can be quite high.

Solvent

A cheaper, durable and durable alternative to latex is solvent ink (solvent-based ink). After fixing (evaporation of the solvent), the print is very durable and is not afraid of any weather conditions. Such inks can be used on a wide range of materials, including very cheap ones. In particular, solvent ink is an excellent choice for printing on film for wrapping vehicles, which heats up and stretches.

A significant disadvantage of solvent printing is the emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere, however, many manufacturers are working to improve environmental friendliness, trying to reduce as much as possible solvent content. But in any case, special ventilation equipment is installed in production. Also, printing takes longer compared to, for example, latex, since sometimes it takes up to 24 hours until the solvent completely dries.

UV-curable

One of the most interesting modern options is printing with UV-curable ink. They dry almost instantly under the influence of UV drying, while the print is very bright and very durable, does not fade in the sun and is not afraid of any atmospheric phenomena. Moreover, the ink can be used not only on paper, but also on almost any hard or non-absorbent surfaces - films, plastics, wood and even glass.

The secret of success

However, whatever technology you choose - environmentally friendly and inexpensive water-based, cheap and stable solvent-based, more expensive latex or UV, success will largely depend on the correct design, which should interest passers-by or people passing by. It is important to remember that by its nature, a banner or poster is a graphic image with a minimum of text. It is necessary to convey the idea as quickly and clearly as possible.

Also The choice of location is also very important - a cluster of people (for example, queues near some institutions) or cars (sections of the road where traffic jams often occur). Separately, we can highlight advertising on transport and inside it. According to statistics, a person spends on average 25 minutes on the road to work. People traveling on public transport often look at advertisements from the window.

And it is very important to choose a good printing contractor - he will best help you choose the most suitable and cost-effective technology and complete your order with high quality. After all, if you use material that is too wrinkled or cheap ink that fades quickly, your banner will eventually become unfavorable for you.

So, if you have not tried this type of advertising yet, give it a chance. Outdoor advertising is cheaper than many other methods of communication, especially in terms of cost per contact. However, remember that both the design and printing must be of high quality.