Choosing the right rigid signage

With a wide range of printed boards being available it can be difficult to choose the right media for your next sign. Take a quick read of my guide to help you find out which is best for your use:

With many names for PVC foamboard this can be confusing, especially with a similar ‘foam core board’ being available. Foamex is typically a lightweight and flexible foamed PVC board, providing a bright white flat surface, ideal for printing direct to and are suitable to be routed by a CNC machine. The boards can be bought is a range of colours (which is the same all the way through) and thicknesses from 1mm through to 25mm, typically being used in 3mm and 5mm for printing onto.

Foamex can be used long term internally and short term externally. They are best used inside due to the boards taking on water and becoming brittle due to UV degradation when used outside. With its smooth flat surface it can be laminated after being directly printed to, or self-adhesive vinyl can be applied as an alternative print production method.

You will see PVC foamboards throughout most exhibition halls, with plain white boards or printed ones being used as shell-scheme infill panels. Ideal for use as posters or multiple boards together to create a large wall covering.

Ideal for machining into shapes, foamex is a great material to make 3D logos out of – sign fixings and LED lights can easily be attached to the rear to create an impactful logo with depth.

PVC foamboards can be recycled a limited amount of times – they are chopped up and made into the new recycled boards like Palight Re-Nu, giving a more environmentally friendly display option.

While foamex is a solid board, foam core board has two flat surfaces filled with a polyurethane bubble core, making them lighter weight and available in 3mm to 20mm thickness. They are ideal for some freestanding displays for short-term use. Due to them being lightweight they can be quite easy to damage, so not ideal as a long-term use product.

Aluminium composite is an ideal sign material to be used outdoors as it is two flay thin layers of aluminium bonded to a polyethylene core (which tends to be black), creating a light but stable and long-lasting material. ACM typically weighs less than half of an aluminium sheet of the same size.

Dibond sheets are available in a wide range of colours and matt or gloss options, with special finishes like a range of brushed metal (also know as Butlerfinish), metallic and mirrored. With bright flat white versions available as a great direct to print media too. This wide range of finishes makes this the ideal substrate for 3D logos as it can be CNC machined, bent and cut in many different ways.

Another flexible and durable board that can be used insider or outside, but you will typically see it used as estate agents’ for sale board and for builders signs attached to a pallet. It can be screwed, nailed, adhesive taped or riveted. We offer bollard covers which are printed and cut to provide triangle or square adverts to go over bollards.

Cardboard is a widely recyclable environmentally friendly indoor display board, with DISPA being a specific brand offering a ‘unique structure’. Cardboard displays are ideal for hanging signs, such as those seen in supermarkets, as they are lightweight. The cardboard sheets can also be machined into shapes, suitable for many point of sale displays.

• See our range of printed rigid media