Colour Graphics, Digital Graphics

The power of full-colour images is unmistakable. They grab your customers' attention, instantly bringing their focus to your product or service. A major advance in visual technology, full-colour graphics make a strong statement about your company's leadership in the marketplace.

Full-colour graphics:

Enhance your professional image and credibility
Build customer awareness in record time
Draw a dynamic distinction between you and your competition

Among the many marketing messages we encounter each day, only a few have lasting impact. With full-colour graphics (also referred to as large-format prints or digital graphics) from SIGNWAVE®, your messages cut through the clutter.

Sign Applications

Banners and flags
Labels and decals
Vehicle graphics
Posters
Tradeshow exhibits and displays
Dynamic digital signs
Electrical signs
Point-of-purchase signs
Building signs

Colour Displays

One of the greatest challenges of full-colour digital printing is ensuring that the colours printed are the colours you expect. Your SIGNWAVE® staff will take the necessary steps to ensure that your colours are produced as faithfully as possible within the limits of our technologies.

Here’s how different devices (scanners, monitors and printers) display colour.

RGB Colour

The RGB colour model uses a dot pattern of red, green and blue light to reproduce a full colour image. It is used by scanners and monitors.

CMYK Colour

The CMYK colour model uses a dot pattern of cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks or toners to reproduce a full-colour image. It is used by virtually all digital printers.

Spot Colour

There are many spot colour models, but the process is simply that of printing a specific solid colour.

The Pantone Matching System (PMS) is a defined set of spot-colour inks used in the commercial printing industry
CMYK printers can only simulate spot colours, some better than others. The best way to ensure a match is to pick a CMYK colour from a chart printed on the machine that will ultimately make your full-colour graphic

Colour Facts

Full colour adds a new dimension to your graphics and involves some new considerations. Below are a few key terms you'll want to know, plus some examples of how variations in resolution affect the appearance of a graphic.

Full Colour

The reproduction of any colour image by applying certain ink colours in varying proportions. Originals can be either RGB or CMYK files.

Spot Colour

The addition of one or more colours to a graphic by applying inks of those specific colours. Spot colour cannot reproduce full-colour images.

DPI

An abbreviation for "dots per inch", DPI is a measure of the density of ink dots used to reproduce the image. The more dots in the image, the higher the image clarity and the better the ability to enlarge that image.

More important than the DPI is the total number of pixels in a file. Pixels determine the final file size for processing and image quality. For large-format printing, a good rule of thumb is to plan for 100 to 150 pixels per inch (ppi) at the final printed size. PPI is commonly referred to as DPI. For example, if you wish to have an image printed 24" x 36", your computer file should have a minimum of 2,400 pixels (24" x 100 ppi) by 3,600 pixels (36" x 100 ppi), for a total of 8,640,000 pixels. At an average of 3 bytes of storage per pixel, that's about a 24MB file. Anything less simply won't have the quality you expect.

The distance from which your graphic will be viewed determines the DPI required:

If it will be viewed at close range, you will need a higher DPI
If it will be seen from a distance, a lower DPI image may give you all the resolution you need, saving time and money
For large applications such as vehicle graphics, you can often come down from the 100 to 150 dpi ideal without sacrificing quality

Viewing Distance	Resolution
1-5 feet	150 ppi
5-10 feet	100 ppi
10+ feet	50-72 ppi

File Formats

The equipment used to produce full-colour digital graphics is different from that used in standard service-bureau output, so your files should be formatted specifically for large-format, full-colour techniques.

Contact your SIGNWAVE® consultant before creating your documents, if possible, to ensure that you are taking the most direct route to the desired finished product
We have detailed guidelines for file conversion, and your consultant will help you determine how to prepare your files for output as full-colour graphics
We can accept originals in a variety of media, though technologies can vary by centre
SIGNWAVE® also offers professional scanning and design services. We can build your custom graphic from your artwork and photos or help you select just the right image from stock photography

Let the sign experts at SIGNWAVE® put full-colour digital graphics to work for you today.