Use the right laminate and adhesive
Laminates protect, enhance, and waterproof, the image to improve longevity and is, in many cases, an essential element of the displays performance criteria.
The correct selection of laminate is a combination of the desired “Look”, the environmental performance required, and the budget. This can be quite a complex equation in extreme environments, but for general indoor use, all we need to know is whether you require a satin textured finish, or a gloss.

Let the Shotz team help you plan for the best result.
In high performance applications such as floor graphics, outdoor signage, or special applications, use our experience to find the best cost/performance mix to save you both in the initial cost and the cost of premature failure and reprints. It should be remembered that high performance is synonymous with high price so the more we know about the performance requirements, the better the solution.

Laminate overview

Gloss
A gloss laminate will lift the sharpness and vibrancy (as much as 30% is claimed for some brands). For a clean crisp look with maximum impact.

Satin/textured
Improved finish for indoor use, eliminating the lighting reflections inherant in a gloss finish. A luxurious finish also improving colour gamut (up to 10%)

Encapsulation
Used for protecting an image and substrate from moisture. A film is applied to both sides of the finished, trimmed article with an additional overlapping edge which ecapsulates the whole item. Used for high moisture applications such as menu’s and very short term oudoor signage.

Adhesive laminates
Any printed matter can be made self adhesive by the application of an adhesive laminate, either to the back for block mounting, or to the image side for view-through-glass applications.

Hot Laminate versus Cold Laminate

Hot laminate Hot laminates use heat activated adhesives and are used
wherever possible because of their low cost. However they do have limitations which make them the wrong choice for many wide format applications, especially on large images where heat damage to both the film and the image are very real issues limiting the range and performance of films available.

Cold Laminate Cold laminates use pressure sensitive adhesives alowing a vast range of film and adhesive combinations to suit almost any performance requirement.