5 Things You Should Know About Our Digital Print Capabilities

1. We Can Print Just About Anything

Our print-on-panel printers print directly to a substrate, such as acrylic. Acrylic is the most frequently used material, but we’ve also printed on a variety of other materials such as reclaimed barn wood, ceiling tiles, glass, and pvc. Opportunities to get creative and push the boundaries of what has been done vs what can be done is what keeps the Digital Print department on the cutting edge.

The roll-fed printer typically prints on vinyl. White vinyl is the most popular option, but we also print on clear, temporary, and perforated vinyl. We have a cool new material that can be installed over rough texture, such as brick or cement. Many times, clients are looking for a certain look that we can achieve through sourcing the right material and perfecting the design.

2. We are Color Match Experts

Our digital graphic technician, Caitlin Nekola, has gone through several intensive training programs for our large-scale Mimaki printers. During this deep dive into the details of maintaining and operating the printers she honed her skill for lining up each print with perfection. "Proper alignment is so important because if one thing is off, it can mess up the entire print. Imagine that the dot trajectory on the printer is like an airplane flying overhead and trying to place a single drop of water in a specific spot." Luckily for Latitude, Caitlin is an ace pilot.

She also prides herself on her ability to color match with industry-beating accuracy. Delta E is a metric for understanding how the human eye perceives color difference. The higher the Delta E number, the further apart the colors are from one another. A rate of Delta E 5 or less is the industry standard for color matching. Caitlin and the entire Digital Print Department use a MeasureColor color-measuring device to mathematically pinpoint the color they are trying to match. Then they calibrate the printers accordingly to achieve a Delta E 3 or less.

3. Communication is Critical

Ryan Rudd (Vinyl/Digital Print Specialist) is the primary liaison between the Digital Print Department and Sales, Design, Project Management and Production. "Most of the graphics we deal with are part of a larger scope of work. I’m in constant communication with production, project managers, install coordinators, to ensure every item is accounted for and deadlines are met." Rudd says.

The Digital Print team is also a resource during the sales and design portion of the process. "We’re often answering questions on what’s possible and how we could make an idea a reality," Nekola says.

4. We Have Designers On Staff

If you (or your designers) have been overwhelmed by researching the difference between bitmap and vector files or what scale you need to use to design your large-scale print, don’t worry. Our digital print team works directly with an expert team of graphic designers who deal with the ins and outs of oversized digital graphics every day. They can provide detailed guidelines that suit your project or design the files for you. Latitude is truly a one-stop shop. Our teams can design, produce, and install any digital graphic project.

5. The Possibilities are Endless

"Our only limitation is our own creativity," Nekola says. "There’s so much potential with digital graphics. What’s difficult to achieve with traditional signage is possible with digital prints. Clients can let their imaginations go crazy and with our full color image options, the possibilities are endless."

"One of the most rewarding parts of our job is being able to see the end results," Rudd says. "We breathe life into blank walls, and it’s really cool to see it all come together".