Seasonal Print: 'Tis the Season

By the time our latest edition comes to print, Mariah Carey will have almost defrosted and the Christmas season will be starting. It is pretty safe to say you will have seen some festive displays in supermarkets – which now seem to appear earlier each year – and thoughts will begin to turn to the big day in December.

This time of year is always a busy one for print companies, with many kept busy with the production of festive items. While of course work such as greetings cards and wrapping paper are the standard for some, the reality is that Christmas, as well as other major seasonal events throughout the year, offer many more opportunities to those in print and graphics.

In this special feature, Print Monthly takes a look at some recent examples of seasonal print work – be it Christmas or otherwise – to highlight how print services providers (PSPs) can work with their customers on all manner of projects.

Feeling Festive

Keeping with a festive theme for the time being, this is of course a hugely important time of the year for retailers, with shops keen to draw in customers from packed high streets and shopping centres. One way of doing this is by installing eye-catching graphics in and around their stores.

One example of this is Capital INK Branding Solutions in the US, which worked with famous American retail chain Macy’s to create a colourful Christmas window display at its store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The concept was not new for Capital INK, with the company having worked with the same shop on similar projects in previous years.

Using its in-house Canon Colorado 1650, Capital INK printed the colourful graphics onto Drytac’s SpotOn White M50 monomeric PVC film. The company selected this material as it helped it to overcome a particular challenge with the application.

The client was extremely pleased that we found an adhesive product that worked for these windows. They were also happy with the end results of the installation and our commitment to providing the highest level of service and responsiveness

 “All the graphics were to be produced second surface and installed from the interior, but two of the windows have a permanent black border already installed as second surface,” Capital INK national sales director Dave Heit says, adding: “So, for these two windows, we were asked to install the graphics first surface.

“The challenge was that Macy’s had recently added a clear security film to its storefront windows. We reached out to the security film’s technical team and were told that most adhesive vinyl applied over the security film would damage the film’s top layer or cause a haze effect upon the removal of the applied graphics.

“The client was extremely pleased that we found an adhesive product that worked for these windows. The client was also happy with the end results of the installation and our commitment to providing the highest level of service and responsiveness.”

 Staying festive, custom flags, banners, and large-format print specialist FaberExposize UK chose to showcase its own capabilities by creating a Christmas-themed display at its Leeds facility. This comprised a series of backlit display lightboxes.

For this project, FaberExposize UK chose to work with ST-100 Diana Soft Backlit, a woven-based, lightbox fabric from Soyang Europe designed for dye-sublimation printing. Available in widths of up to 3.2m, the solution features a tight structure so that almost no light is leaked when the material is used as part of a lightbox application.

“ST-100 Diana Soft Backlit tested so well that we decided to use it on our own Christmas display,” FaberExposize UK’s managing director Iain Clasper-Cotte said, adding: “We were delighted with how the lightboxes turned out; they looked fantastic.”

The Bigger Picture

While the obvious choices for seasonal work centre around major events like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day, the reality is that these opportunities stretch much further. The summer in particular is an interesting time – think holiday shopping, back to school, and even weddings.

Of course, not all weddings are summertime occasions, but with the warmer months very much seen as wedding season, this offers plenty of opportunities to printers. Canadian printing and lamination solutions provider Lamin-8 can attest to this, having worked with one happy couple to create a personalised dancefloor for their wedding.

The application measured 20ft x 20ft and featured a black and white design, complete with the first initials of the bride and groom, along with their now-family name – the Archers. Other aspects of the design included a lined border around the edge of the dancefloor and a large graphic in the centre.

Lamin-8 chose to work with Drytac SpotOn Floor 200, a monomeric PVC film designed for use in short-term, indoor floor graphics without requiring lamination. The film also has a number of slip rating certifications, making it suitable for use in spaces with heavy footfall – such as a dancefloor. Lamin-8 printed all graphics for the application in house using its HP Scitex FB500 flatbed printer and installed the piece on site for the customer.

“Our client was taken aback with the quality and performance of the product,” Lamin-8 president Michael Isaacs says, adding: “Another key feature was the removal; this was a quick process that required little effort and left no adhesive behind on the floor.”

On the subject of warmer weather – and indeed bespoke print – each year, ITV2 airs one of the most popular programs among youngsters (and a certain former Print Monthly editor) in Love Island. The show is now a bi-annual event, with broadcasts both at the start of the year and during the summer.

During this year’s summer version, Resolute DTF partnered with Print Clever | Print On Demand to launch a pop-up shop at Bluewater Shopping Centre selling personalised merchandise themed on the show.

Fans were able to visit the pop-up shop, which remained open for four weeks during the show’s airing and personalise certain products. These included the famous water bottles that contestants carry with them in the Love Island villa as well as hoodies and t-shirts.

Resolute supplied its R-Jet Pro DTF UVi printer, which launched to the market earlier this year. The machine allows for printing on a variety of surfaces such as phone cases, mugs, and water bottles as well as items made of plastic, metal, and glass.

“The R-Jet Pro DTF UVi is well suited to on-demand personalisation of just about any hard and semi-rigid item in the first official Love Island store,” says Colin Marsh, managing director of Resolute DTF. 

Jurian van der Meer, executive vice president of brand licensing at ITV Studios, adds: “For the first time, fans were able to shop in person and collect personalised merch on the same day. It was a fantastic opportunity to connect with our audience in a new and exciting way.”

These closing comments sum up the idea of seasonal print. While it may only be relevant at certain times of the year and around particular events, there are seemingly endless ideas for you and your customers to explore.