PressOn has been behind creating some of the most creative window displays and graphics for the retail industry this Christmas. Their most recent project requiring metallic effect vinyl for a well-known London department store has pushed their expert and innovative team to find solutions.
Andy Wilson, Joint MD and founding partner of PressOn explains, “We have a particularly close working relationship with the design department at this store. We meet regularly to discuss ideas and future projects and in October this year they showed us mood boards and described the effects they needed for their Christmas window project. It was a design based on metallic effects, chrome and mirrors with overprinting. Metallic vinyl is a real challenge as anyone in the digital printing industry knows! It was our job to then go away and, without bothering the client with the technical challenges involved, interpret those mood boards into products we can print, finish and install for them. We found creative ways of using existing digital print technology, materials and finishes to make their vision come alive.”
Many of the designs for this year’s festive windows at the store featured chrome, mirror and metallic finishes to create a shimmering wintery effect. PressOn recommended printing images onto chrome effect self-adhesive vinyl with sections of the reflective vinyl areas remaining un-printed. This effect served to project the shopper looking at the window into the wintery scene of the shop window. Other sections of the vinyl were cut away so customers could see the merchandise on display in the window behind.
It was a challenging project for PressOn and finding a solution was interesting, requiring luxury look finishes with a metallic effect vinyl that could be fitted externally. It was a delicate design that needed to withstand the weather and thousands of shoppers in Knightsbridge at Christmas.
PressOn printed a standard latex ink onto chrome vinyl from All Print Supplies. The latex ink was glossy and translucent and was perfect for the aesthetic required. Using latex ink also mean the graphics could withstand the elements and be fitted externally. A bomb protective film had been applied to the internal surface of the windows, which could not be damaged, resulting in the need for external graphics.
The resulting windows are ethereal, but festive whilst the project remained cost effective and durable to the elements.
