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Printed pics on menu board question
Hi,
I’ve got to re-make an illuminated menu board in a restaurant.They want pics of food etc plus prices.
What vinyl material is suitable and do I stick it straight onto the front of the sign face.
Could I use clear vinyl or is there a proper material for this kind of job.
I’ve seen some menu signs where they slide pictures behind a perspex panel. With this job, there’s just the opaque front.
Any help appreciated as I’ve not done one of these before 😕
Many thanks,
Cheryl 😀
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6 Replies
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Cheryl I don’t think you can use clear, there is another thread about this at the moment, I don’t have an answer at the moment 🙄 could you do prints of burgers chicken or what ever apply that directly and maybe blackboard vinyl for prices? on light boxes I have only used translucent vinyl so don’t how ordinary would work. sorry not much help am I 🙄
Lynn
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Hi Lynn,
thanks for your response.I was thinking about printing the food pictures and doing the prices in ordinary vinyl.
Problem is knowing what vinyl to print onto as it’s got to let the light through it.
All these different materials…….it’s a minefield out there !!!
😀
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Cheryl there must be a digi material for this sort of thing??
Lynn
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I’ve done a few of these.
Using the opal as your ‘white’ – just print your pictures on clear vinyl and stick to the face.
Play with the profiles a little if it’s a very bright box as sometimes it may look a bit washed out. If it does – consider an ‘overprint/overpass’, but this can make it very dark when the light isn’t on.
Also – if there are a lot of items…print the lot. I’ll never cut & weed another menu as long as I live now…never again! Replacing even a strip of print with the prices on it every year is always easier than the vinyl option!
Dave
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Usually you would use a proper backlit material for this sort of job which includes a diffusing layer on the rear face. This would be covered with clear perspex to hold in place but also to protect. Since most of these are over the cooking area they are prone to grease so (depending on the restaurant) will need to cleaned on a regular basis.
If you don’t have the front acrylic panel then you will need to stick the material to the face so clear vinyl seems the obvious choice (white being too opaque to let sufficient light through). You will need to make sure the opal acrylic is in good condition as any defects are going to show through.
There are some reverse print films for backlighting but you will need to fit a removable d/sided mounting film to fix however, this would make the front surface more cleanable than a printed face.
If you do go down the clear vinyl route you may want to apply a clear laminate to protect the print. Prices can always be added with small clear printed strips on removable vinyl for updating.
Colin
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You can buy a purpose made back lit self adhesive vinyl from Metamark. If you want to pm me your address I have a printed sample I could send you so you can apply it and see the results.
I personally prefer the backlit film sandwiched between clear and acrylic as it is easier and cheaper to change the graphics. I can recomend the one that Europoint do.
Just a thought.
Cheers
Gary
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