RGL provides recycled roller banners and pop up stands

With so many roller banners or small pop up stands having been sold over the past decade we got to thinking about what we could do as a company to help other companies reduce their carbon footprint when it comes to ordering exhibition stands.

As we were often being asked if we could make use of old exhibition stands we decided to accept used roller banners and take out the old graphics and make ready to accept new graphics and sell them as recycled banners.

For environmentally conscious clients this has already proved to be very popular as they continue to receive outstanding print quality, only inserted into a banner cassette which has already been used at least once before.

At first glance this may only seem like a small gesture to the planet, but when you think about the savings to the worlds raw materials, fuels and minerals we feel that more like this needs to be done to help wherever possible.

To find out more about our recycled banners please visit our webpage here.

Need help with artwork on pop up stands ?

Although we are not a design company, RGL have years of experience in all areas of print and are always on hand to answer your questions about setting up your artwork or helping you with this service if you do not have experience or the tools to do this.

For small format print most people are comfortable setting up a poster or maybe even the artwork for a roller banner but when it comes to creating the layout and artwork for a larger exhibition system like a pop up stand this can be more tricky and confusing.

Although we have design templates which are available to download from our website for the pop up stands that we produce we are aware that without software like Photoshop,Illustrator or InDesign these templates will be of no help what so ever.

If you are in this situation and need help creating your exhibition stand artwork please let us know so that we can help you with this task.

Alternatively if you do have the software but just need some advice on how to set up your artwork please do not hesitate to ask as we would prefer you have all the information that you require to make your stand look great.

How to get stunning exhibition graphics

When producing an exhibition stand or graphics one of the most important things to get right other than the design of course is the image quality.

Although using the latest inkjet printers help to make your graphics look great it also helps if your pictures are of a high enough resolution to avoid them becoming grainy or pixelated when enlarged.

Exhibition graphics can end up using massive files but bad quality photos shot in bad lighting are never going to look good no matter what file size you have them in, so when choosing the images to go on your exhibition stand I would advise you first to pick good quality images that are sharp with good contrast and detail at the biggest size available.

Generally for the best printing results images should be 200 dpi to 300 dpi at final output size depending on the size of the print.

As the print becomes larger this resolution cannot always be achieved from a RAW photo but there are ways to increase the resolution of your pictures before placing them in your design to make them smoother and higher resolution. One of the easiest ways to do this is by using Photoshop using the 'Image Size' tool.

Providing you have a good quality image to start, this method usually gets good results and is easy to use providing you have Photoshop. There are other programs and plugins available including 'Genuine Fractals' which can enlarge images up to 10 times there original size !

Looking for a reliable exhibition stand supplier ?

Since I started out in print in 1988 things have certainly changed for the large format print buyer.

Back then if you needed large graphics printed for POS, signage or an exhibition you would almost certainly have gone to a silk screen printer.

The way they managed to make such large prints was to take much smaller photographic films and enlarge them using a very large camera (about the size of a small car) onto much larger films to make silk screens. These in turn were used to print onto a wide selection of materials.

Producing large format print back then was much slower and very expensive.

Of course these methods are still used today for some large format work, the vast majority of this type of work is now produced using wide format digital print machines like the ones we have at RGL Displays.

Although things have progressed since 1988 the market has unfortunately been swamped with hundreds of companies and individuals on the internet selling this type of print and now you need to be really careful when ordering that you are buying through a reliable source.

The questions that I would ask are:

1. Is this company available when I need them ?
2. Do they have the knowledge of high end printing ?
3. Do they answer my emails and phone calls quickly ?
4. Can they help me meet my deadlines when my clients are pushing me for a delivery ?
5. Do they produce good quality work ?
6. Are they polite and do they appreciate my business ?
7. Are they fully insured ?
8. Do they have a good selection of items in stock ?
9. Can they deliver all over the UK and most parts of Europe ?
10. Are their prices competitive ?

If the answer to any of these questions is NO then maybe you should contact us to see how we can help you and your company when ordering large format print and exhibition stands.

Rob Russell
Managing Director
RGL Displays Ltd.

Which exhibition stands provide great straight backdrops ?

Wherever you go to at exhibitions you will always see people struggling to assemble straight pop up stands. The truth is, even with adjustable feet it is not easy to make a straight pop up stand look amazing unless you have some experience of this.

So what is the solution to this issue ?

I suppose the first question to ask yourself is, do I need a straight or curved pop up stand ?

If the answer is that you need to have a straight stand to fit into the exhibition space that you have then my advice would be to instead buy a linking banner stand.

In my opinion the best linking banner stand on the market is the 'Twist Original' system.

The Twist is a modular exhibition system which can not only be used to form an amazingly straight graphic wall but also has the ability to form bends and shapes when adding flex-link joining panels.

How do Twist exhibition stands do this ?

The Twist exhibition stand has a patented tensioning system which holds your graphics flat and in position even on uneven floors. In effect the graphics are free to tilt with the floor and are held together by the use of magnetic joining bars at the rear of the stand.

Depending on what size stand it is that you need, Twist exhibition stands will usually cost slightly more than the usual pop up stands being sold but they are extremely versatile and very popular due to their quality and ease of use.

Should I spend slightly more on my pop up banners ?

Before trying to answer this question I would like to take you back 15 years ago to 1999.
Around this time pop up banners were sold through a handful of dealers across the UK and were commonly called 'roller banners'. The base units on these banners were made to last and worked well but would cost on average £300 for a regular 800mm wide banner !

This sounds like a lot now but back then there were only a few companies selling these items on the internet and printing machines were slow and expensive to run, meaning that if you wanted to order these for an exhibition you had to be prepared to spend quite a bit to buy them.

Since this time the competition for selling these banners has increased dramatically and this has both reduced the cost of these exhibition stands and at the same time reduced the quality of many that I have seen.

What looks great on a website may not be as good in the flesh, and with prices falling to silly levels I'm afraid in many cases you will get what you pay for !

The first question you should ask yourself before buying these banners is, 'Do I want my banners to look great and be easy for me  to use' ? In most cases this would be yes, although I have to question this with some I have seen.

Next I would ask myself, 'Am I going to use these often or for just one event' ? If ordering for just one event you could save some money by ordering something a little bit more budget £45 - £55, but it may be better to spend £10 more and get something that looks better when up, £65 will get you a good budget banner.

If your company has a slightly larger budget and wants the banners to last longer or maybe have the ability to replace or change the graphics at a later date then it would be worth spending between £79 - £170 depending on the look and make of the banner. Some makes come with a lifetime guarantee against component failure which is always nice to have, while the cheaper ones do not.

I would recommend spending at least £55 for a easy to use good quality pop up banner and checking to make sure that it comes with a high quality printed graphic with a laminate to protect the image face. I would not recommend ones with pvc graphics unless being used in very large bases or outdoors.
If you are unsure about what banners to buy please drop me an email with your questions and I will be happy to help you decide.

Rob Russell
Director
RGL Displays Ltd

RGL takes delivery of new Latex wide format printing machine.

With the ever growing demand for environmentally friendly printing. RGL have recently taken delivery of another environmentally friendly printing machine that prints using the very latest Latex technology.

This wide format printer prints without any harmful solvents which is not only great for the world that we live in but also the health of the operators.

Far too often wide format printing machines are not adequately ventilated when solvent printing is being used which is why we prefer to use water based inks that give off no harmful vapors.

In the past the result of not using solvent inks for outdoor work had its restrictions as to both the range of substrates and also the quality of printing. This is no longer an issue as our Latex printer has a wide range of media to choose from including banner PVC, self adhesive vinyl's, textiles, papers and wallpapers.

For custom wallpapers the HP PVC-free Wall Paper printed with HP Latex Inks is GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certified® and meets AgBB criteria for health-related evaluation of VOC emissions of indoor building products.
Likewise both outdoor banners and indoor PVC banners can be printed to very high standards without the smell of solvent and also be fire rated to meet health and safety standards.