Adgraphix Blog

Welcome To Our Blog

Sat, 11 Jan 2020 10:00:00 -0700

This is the home of our INKlimit news articles. If you want to see any old Inklimit Newsletter archives in pdf format then click here. Sign-up to receive our Inklimit email newsletter. If you'd like to see an in depth look at our products and production capabilities then jump over to our website and have a good look around. You'll also find links to our YouTube channel where we are building a video collection of completed projects, product examples and production techniques.

Part of Life

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:49:00 -0600

Adgraphix is proud to be a Print Champion to the Part of Life print campaign. The Part of Life campaign aims to remind consumers of print’s irreplaceable role in their lives and inform them of what print can offer. There are a lot of common misconceptions about the printing industry so we want to present people with the facts about print so they can be fully informed when making sustainable choices. For business people, particularly those who work in marketing, we want to reinforce the many benefits that print offers them as part of the marketing mix.

The campaign aims to inform consumers and print buyers (marketing professionals and advertising agencies) about the benefits of using print. It also provides information and a united voice for the printing industry.

Print is a cornerstone of everyday life and has been for hundreds of years. It’s the morning newspaper, your child’s favourite book, a school textbook, the packaging your cereal comes in, a treasured family photo. You can touch print, smell print – print is real.

Another great thing about print is its permanence. You can keep a book forever and lend it out to dozens of friends. Or give someone a magazine you’ve finished with or cut out a newspaper article to keep for posterity. No other medium is treasured like print is.

From a marketer’s point of view, print is just as effective today as it’s always been. Because consumers trust print it’s a great place to start a dialogue, for example with a newspaper ad or a billboard, that continues the communication by driving customers to a website for more information.

Adgraphix large format digital print
If you browse through our website you'll find over 100 examples of large format print. Print does have a large impact on our daily lives. We produce printed products for so many environments and uses. We liven up spaces with colourful murals and architectural fabrications, educate people with information and interpratation displays, help people find their way with directional and business signage, keep workers safe and informed with safety signage, and provide the means for people to find something new via billboards and OOH messages.

For business people, particularly those who work in marketing, we want to reinforce the many benefits that print offers them as part of the marketing mix. Click the link below to view the website.

Turbocharged prepress

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:03:00 -0600

We've given our prepress department a turbocharge. Prepress is a key step in the process to make sure your stuff looks good. It's pretty much a translation centre. Your files are handled in prepress where they are dissected, turned inside out, then delivered to the printing machines ready for perfect output. It's really critical that we've got good hardware and software to handle the latest file developments and do it with speed (files are getting bigger and more complex by the day). This update has included new PC's with more hard drives, processors and ram than you can poke a stick at for crunching the numbers at lightning speed, teamed up with new software from Onyx. We've given our Mac's a spruce up and they are loaded with Adobe's latest suite CS5 to be fully compatible with your requirements.

Onyx Graphics recently released their latest ProductionHouse software X10. This is a cutting edge graphic and image processing software that does the hard yards calculating files. It is where we create and manage all of our colour control tools and it's also where files are processed and converted to formats that the printers understand. Behind the scenes there is a lot of technical magic that goes on to bring you stunning quality, reliability and consistency from Adgraphix.

Hanging Rigid Panels

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 02:50:00 -0600

There are a lot of ways you can attach a rigid print to a wall. Deciding which one is best is part asthetics and part practicality. These examples are pics from samples we have on display in our showroom. They cover the most common type of fixings that we supply. They are reverse printed and the top left corner has been made clear to demonstrate what the fixing looks like from both sides of the panel, more importantly for the ones which are invisible from the front. You can mount temporarily or permanently, flush with the wall or at selectable spacing from the wall and fixings visible or hidden from the front.

Here they are. The top two are hidden from the front, the bottom two are visible. The bottom right is flush against the wall.

An anchor is screwed to the wall. The desired length spacer barrel is then screwed to this anchor. Simply line up drilled holes in the panel to the wall fitting, then the top caps are screwed on to hold it in place.

This panel has holes drilled and is screwed directly to the wall. The panel sits flush against the wall and there is a small block that sits on the face of the panel underneath the screw head. The dome caps are then pressed onto these to cover the screw.

Wooden split rails are cut with a 45 degree wedge. One half is fixed to the panel and the other is fixed to the wall. Depending on the thickness of the timber is how far it sits off the wall. By sitting the wedges on top of each other the panel is not permanently fixed and can be lifted off when needed.The face of the panel is unobstructed.

This system involves a male and female fitting. The female anchor point is fitted to the wall. The male half is fixed to the back of the panel. The face of the panel is unobstructed. Simple press the panel so the ball ends clip into the anchor points on the wall. The panel can be popped back off when needed.

Adgraphix Wins International Award

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 14:03:00 -0600

We were the only Australasian competitor to gain a placing in the inaugural HP Digital Print Awards 2010 (Asia Pacific & Japan). The awards were open to owners of HP Scitex industrial printers in the Asia Pacific and Japan regions. This makes for a massive customer base eligible to enter. There were 5 categories with gold, silver and bronze being awarded in each. We entered our bronze winning Glassons Westfield Riccarton entry in the 'Interior Advertising' category.

We are very proud of our win and it's great to be a kiwi company flying the flag for Australasia. It's also awesome to get a pat on the back from the industry acknowledging the good work that we are doing. It's a real credit to our whole team for their consistent quality output and our ability to take on the best in the world. We'll truck on with our warm happy feeling... here are some links of the competition results:

Kiwi printer flies flag for Australasia at HP Scitex Awards

HP presents digital print winners

Kiwi printer pick ups gong at HP Scitex awards

Our winning entry

Glorious White Ink

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:33:00 -0600

Have you thought about how you could benefit from white ink? Digital has changed the way we think about print. Short runs are so common now because digital has made them affordable. But digital has always had its limitation, you couldn't print white. This has meant all materials printed have to start off as white to get vivid colours. This is not the case now, white ink has changed everything. We've been successfully printing white ink for over 2 years now, so we know its value.

With flatbed printing we can put a rigid material on our press and print directly to it. It might be corrugated iron, thick plywood, MDF, Plastics or glass. Why print a wood grain when you can print on real wood grain. Colour is not a problem, if your substrate is coloured, we put down a layer of white underneath first so you get a bright vivid colour. Clear materials can be printed on the reverse side protecting them from damage. Black and white images can be imaged on black material. There are endless options.

White ink is a really exciting medium. You have the opportunity to be very creative. If you've got a cool idea make sure you run it by us, we may just make it happen. That said, even standard applications like menus, direction panels, window decals and shop displays can be greatly enhanced by material choice and the use of white ink.

"white ink has changed everything"

On Demand Wallpaper Printing

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 02:15:00 -0600

What better way to show off a new product than a real working project. This wall belongs to brand and image magicians, Imagic. It's a recent project we produced for their reception area. The product used here is pre-pasted wallpaper. The best part is that it starts as a completely blank canvas. Put what you want on it then hang it like you'd hang any other wallpaper, how easy is that! There are a couple of other good points that might spin your wheels too. It's a totally PVC free paper. Of course to match that, we print it on our environmentally friendly latex ink printer. Other good bits are it's odour free, provides vivid colour, is strippable and is Class A flame retardant. So if you want to do something with your wall, you don't have to flick through pages and pages of samples... all you need is a photo or a file and we're printing.

If pre-pasted wallpaper is not your thing. Head over to our website and check out the murals page. There we have alternative options including textured wallpaper materials and self adhesive wall films. Better still come into our showroom and take a look for yourself.

HP PVC Free Wallpaper

Stretch'n The Canvas

Wed, 26 May 2010 14:45:00 -0600

If your'e looking for a stretched canvas, you might be pleased to know you have a couple of options. It's well known that artists canvas can be printed and then stretched onto a frame. What is less commonly known is the fact you can shoot down to your local stationery store, purchase a pre-stretched canvas, bring it to Adgraphix and we can print your image directly to it. There are benefits to each process and it's not a case of one type fits all. See the images below for expanations of the two techniques

This image has been printed directly to a pre-stretched canvas. This technique can be used on canvases that have a maximum height of 50mm. The flatter / straighter the framework the better the results. The finished image has good contrast and saturated colours. Due to the sheen on the ink, the canvas can pick up and reflect light reducing it's impact on some angles (see top image). The edges of the canvas cannot be imaged, although they can be hand painted if needed. The biggest benefit of this style of stretched canvas is that the finished product is so cost effective.

This image has been printed onto a matt artists canvas and then hand stretched onto a handmade frame. The frame is more rigid and higher quality than the cheap pre-strected frames that you can purchase from stationery stores. The matt finish on the canvas reduces contrast and saturation, but this is compensated for by it's clean viewing from all angles. It does not reflect light. A key benefit for hand stretched frames is the image can be wrapped around the sides. This example has a simple black border but it could easily be a continuation of the image if needed. Handstretched frames can be made to any custom sizes.

If you are after a framed canvas for exterior display, we've got that covered too. Our outdoor durable timbers and exterior print media produce a quality product perfect for outdoor use.

Adobe CS5 Friendly

Tue, 25 May 2010 16:30:00 -0600

Our prepress department is up to date with Adobe CS5. We still prefer you to send your files to us in the native format (see our file prep form). Keep in mind that although Pdf's are very versatile, we can give you way better and more predictable results by working with your native files. Often files need tweaking to preserve the colour and image integrity, before processing through to the printer. This we cannot guarantee if files are supplied as pdf and eps. We are still compatible with older versions, so if you're on an older version keep them coming in that format.

Big Printing... No Problem

Fri, 14 May 2010 15:20:00 -0600

Here is one of our recent 'big' projects. It's a billboard skin at a whopping forty by five metres. It's our biggest print to date, doubling the previous biggest of 20m x 5m although that still remains our biggest single one piece print (no joins). This billboard was printed on our 5 metre wide HP Scitex XL1500 digital printer. No project is too big for us. Remember, we have the widest print width in the South Island, and no-one in New Zealand can print wider than Adgraphix.

Yes, A Real Print Guarantee!

Wed, 12 May 2010 15:43:00 -0600

It's no secret that Adgraphix has probably the most consistent quality and service in the country. We set our standards very high and as a customer you are always the winner. While other companies may not take the importance of quality so seriously, we like to set the benchmark for others to follow. Our guarantee is peace of mind for you that everything is under control and will look just dandy. We are not here to pass on lame excuses if you are not satisfied with your job. We are here to make sure when your job is finished that you are nothing short of stoked. In the seldom event we have made an error, we wont muck you around, we'll get cracking in and put it right quick fast. We are so confident in our ability at what we do, that we can offer this guarantee which we introduced in 2007. We are specialists at large format digital printing and have a wealth of knowledge that we utilise from the moment your job is entered in the system. We don't take short cuts with inferior products. We produce quality products that are fit for their application and they will be what they are supposed to be... maybe even better!

"Adgraphix continues to set the benchmark for quality and service"

New Pavement Graphic System

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 10:00:00 -0600

Let's take a look at a new non PVC pavement graphic system from Avery. This film called Street Graphics is a completely new take on pavement graphics. The above photo is of an A4 sized sample that has been down for just over a month outside our factory roller door. Our forklift and van have given it a hiding but it's still holding up very well. It is designed to break up and conform to the surface reducing slip hazard. When you have finished with it you simply waterblast it away.

In Avery's words... Patent-pending, micro-fracture technology enables the film to conform to irregular surfaces by fracturing and conforming. It limits water pooling & allows moisture through to further reduce slip hazard in wet conditions. The matt low glare finish gives a painted appearance: no need for overlaminate. Outstanding outdoor colour durability : Up to 6 months for pedestrian traffic and 3 months for vehicle traffic. Excellent adhesion to rough surfaces: asphalt, concrete, titles, pavers and many more.

It is ideal for applications such as wayfinding and advertising for promotional events, tradeshows, sporting events and festivals. Use it on rough surfaces like car parks, entranceways, driveways and walkways.

Bring In The Native Flora

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 22:17:00 -0600

The new St Georges Cancer Care Centre was recently opened. It is a $16.5 million state-of-the-art, purpose-built Cancer Care Centre. We were involved with the internal fit-out which you can see in the following photos. Patients are greeted at the entrance by singing native birds from rock speakers placed in the gardens at the entrance. The sound follows them as they go into the building to the reception area where they find native forest murals and special lighting replicating the suns effect. Right through to the treatment areas there are visuals to entertain and occupy visitors and patients as they wait for treatment.

We produced native forest scenes on multiple mediums. The designs were created by Fountaine Design for the project run by Higgs Construction. To take full advantage of the vast glass paneling, we produced and fitted frosted crystal window film so the rich images get maximum visibility from both sides. This technique is a great way to keep privacy while getting good image show-through. Other areas are high performance film, matte laminated and mounted to Customwood joinery.

High performance film.

High performance film

Frosted crystal window film and High performance film

Our House, Our Castle!

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 18:29:00 -0600

The Crusaders season is well underway with 5 wins from 6 games so far. It's the first season at AMI Stadium with the new Deans Stand fully operational. This has required a new castle for the horse riders to come and go through while they hype up the one eyed crowd to "Conquest Of Paradise". Adgraphix was required to produce a wrap for the new structure to give the stone finish. Our accuracy and ability to provide fast turnaround made sure it was a success.

Printing With Glass

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:18:00 -0600

If you've ever wondered how well direct printing works on glass, then this is your answer. We have a special process that we use for glass printing that is pretty damn good. One of the issues with printing on glass has been mild adhesion. We have overcome this problem and offer a product which has a higher level of adhesion. See the scratch resistance test photo below. Using a coin and medium pressure there is no noticeable effect on the print. Even under heavy pressure it puts up a very good fight.

Our flatbed printer uses white ink and we use this when printing onto glass. This sample has an underlayer of white to give the image brightness and opacity. Prints can also be printed for viewing through the glass from the other side. Your image is simply printed in reverse and a layer of white is printed over the back. If white ink is not used then it will only have a weak finish and appear similar to a dull stained glass window.

Come and see a sample in our showroom.

The New Look - House of G

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:00:00 -0600

Glassons have recently opened their new look fashion playgrounds in Palmerston North and at Riccarton, Christchurch. It's a whole new look for Glassons stores and they are awesome. Yeah, we are biased, but we are stoked with our input into this new concept. We have worked closely with Glassons for many years producing their visual merchandising. Here are some of the visuals we created for the project. There is a mix of all sorts of printing techniques and technology used in the production of them.

Glassons Riccarton store.

The bookshelf wall mural is a removable fixture.

These oversized books are direct printed corrugated cardboard (machine cut) boxes.

These hanging panels are direct printed plywood.

This huge book is made using Xanita and the pages are direct printed heavy paper.

These oversized books are direct printed corrugated cardboard (machine cut) boxes.

Poster printed on synthetic paper.

Poster printed onto synthetic paper.

Burning The Toast

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:15:00 -0600

This article may cause nausea and headaches to those allergic to colour management! It is a process that happens behind the scenes. You might not realise how important it is and why we take it so seriously. 10 years ago I read an article which is a great way to describe why colour management so important. It's all about making toast!

Here is my take on burning toast...

You throw a piece of bread into your toaster on setting 4, eventually it pops up a certain shade of brown. You grab your bag of bread and head next door. You then do the exact same process on your neighbours toaster and no surprise, the two pieces of toast are different. Assuming we want them the same, how can we get them to match? We have two options.

Using the mindset that one toaster is your file and the other toaster is our printer.

Option 1, We pop out a piece of toast on each setting 1-10 from our toaster, then line them up as a chart. When we need to match a 'pantone toast colour' from your file we reference against our toast chart and turn the dial on our toaster to the matching number.

Option 2, We print out a piece on each setting 1-10, but we then measure them with a special device and save the readings into a software program. The software adjusts the electricity flow to the toaster so it toasts in even steps from 1-10. After that we continue to toast and measure hundreds of pieces of bread so we get the in-between shades. When we require a match, the software compares the request to it's measured library and gives an accurate match, it even changes the setting for us.

Which option? Option 1 sounds like an easy option. But what happens if the toaster changes over time, the toast chart is still on the wall with the original pieces, but the toast now delivered isn't that original colour. Did it get spotted? probably not. What if no 'pantone toast colours' are specified in the file, Just cross your fingers and hope for the best. No, it's not a good option.

Using option 2, we have everything contained in a software program, even better, we can regularly re-toast levels 1-10 so the software re-calibrates the electricity supply so the hundreds of readings we took are still accurate. If no 'pantone toast colour' is specified, we still know the software will correctly match the shades in the file. If they are specified, we know the software will home in and match them automatically.

This is colour management. It is a precise method of measurement, or without it, a manual hit and miss situation. We do take colour management seriously… and you benefit from it, every print.

Putting all this together in colour printing terms. You provide files with an icc profile attached/embedded. We calibrate all of our printers/papers and create a colour space (icc profile) of all achievable colours. Our software compares your file to our printer profiles and then converts the CMYK formulations to match, even RGB files. When the file is processed, a colour in your file of Cyan 50%, might need changing to Cyan 30% Magenta 3% to create the same colour with our printer. If were to re-run the job a year on, because we re-calibrate our printers regularly, any colour shifts in the printer will be accounted for and the output will still be correct. On the other hand, if we just ignored colour management and used your file setting of Cyan 50% then the colour will be too dark and wrong every time. A year later it might be different again as the printers ink densities shift.

Quality. Reliability. Consistency.

Happy Toasting!!!

Talk the Talk - Walk the Walk

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:15:00 -0700

We have been printing interpretation graphics since the early 2000's. Over time we have gained a lot of knowledge about what works and what doesn't. We have a huge arsenal of products for all sorts of applications, indoors and outdoors. These images are examples of signage that has been out in the weather and attracting attention of vandals. The first image is a north facing sign that has been in place for just over 5 years. It's got a few war wounds in the form of light scratches but the printed image is holding up exceptionally well and is a good example of the durability of our printing.

If you'd like to see examples of our Durasign interpretation signs system, or displays, click here to visit our website.

This print is facing east.

2010 World Buskers Festival

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:45:00 -0700

With the World Buskers Festival well underway, it's time to show some of the printing we produced for the event. There is plenty of yellow (this years theme colour) around the city at the moment. Adgraphix has produced billboards, teardrop flags and all sorts of directional signage and banners for the event. It's a really cool time to be in Christchurch. If you have'nt seen any of the acts yet, make sure you head in before the 31st when the festival concludes and catch some of the fun. If you made it to the Christchurch International Airport Busker Comedy Club on the 25th and you thought you saw Jeff on stage, you were right. He wore his pick me face and made it on stage twice, the second to show his skills at hula hooping!

About the festival... The 17th annual World Buskers Festival has the gamut of street, circus and comedy styles and shows all rolled into 11 days of non-stop fun and excitement. Expect the unexpected from a line- up of talent that includes 44 of the world’s best acts from the USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Japan, Israel, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.

www.worldbuskersfestival.com

New HP L25500 for Christchurch

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:22:00 -0700

We are proud to announce the newest addition to our family of printers, and the first Latex printer technology for Christchurch. This 60" L2550 is the latest offering from HP in their latex line-up. This printer is the fourth HP printer in our stable. It's a testament to our commitment to Quality, Reliability and Consistency.

There are a number of features that make this a small, but powerful machine. The longevity and durability of prints is comparable to eco solvent printers. It produces a very nice, up to 1200dpi for high resolution display work. It has a unique latex ink that is ready to use as soon the print has finished. This is just impossible with solvent systems which require overnight out-gassing before lamination can be done (not that we are trying to encourage tighter deadlines!). To top it all off the printer is setting new standards for environmental friendliness. The ink contains no VOC's and is waterbased. The printer itself complies with energy star program. HP run a recycling program for the waste ink cartridge and heads.

We are flat out building colour profiles for this machine in-house so you can enjoy the consistency and reliability that we have built our reputation on. We'll be getting samples underway for our showroom and sales team so we can show you the future of large format digital printing.

We'll be using it for a large variety of application including Displays, Signs, Banners, Vehicle Graphics, Illuminated Graphics, Presentations and Point of Sale.