Panel graphics

Panel graphics: the board stays, the message changes

A panel graphic is printed film applied to an existing panel or board. The idea is simple but it saves a great deal: you do not renew the whole board with its posts, brackets and foundation, only the image on it.

We print and install panel graphics for companies, local authorities, sports clubs, business parks and the managers of sites and car parks.

Where it pays off

• On sponsor boards along a pitch, where the sponsors change every season but the structure stays.
• On entrance boards of business parks, where companies come and go.
• On price and promotion boards at retail premises.
• On signage whose text changes after a refurbishment or a change of name.
• On ageing boards that are technically still perfect but whose print has faded.

That last one is the most underrated application. An aluminium board lasts decades; the print on it does not. Overlaying gives the board a second life at a fraction of the cost of replacement.

Overlay or strip first

On a smooth, sound and cleaned panel, new film can be applied directly over the old. That is faster and cheaper.

It is not possible when the old film is lifting, blistering or breaking up, because the new layer takes over those defects and comes away with them within a few months. Stripping is also needed when several layers are stacked on top of each other, or when the old image shows through the new film. For that last case there is blockout film with a grey backing.

We assess this on site or from a close-up photo, and will say honestly when stripping is the only sensible option.

Choosing film to match the service life

Indoors, a light film is enough. Outdoors, the quality of the film and the laminate decides everything: a cast film with a UV laminate stays colourfast for years, while a calendered film without a laminate fades visibly within one or two seasons, with red and blue the first casualties.

For sponsor boards that only have to last one season, a lighter specification is perfectly defensible. For an entrance board that has to stand for five years, it is not. We match the film to the intended service life and state it in the proposal.

Working with interchangeable strips

Where changes are a structural fact of life, a system with separate strips is often smarter than one large surface. You then replace one strip instead of overlaying the whole panel. It costs a little more at the outset and pays for itself from the first change onwards.

What determines the price?

Panel graphics have no fixed price. The cost follows from the surface area, the number of panels and the number of different designs, the quality of the film and the laminate, whether stripping is required or the panel can be overlaid directly, whether blockout film is needed, the working height and access, and whether we produce the design.

Send us the dimensions and a few photos of the existing panels, and you get a quotation in which those items are listed separately.

Submitting your boards

Send us photos of the panels as they stand today, including close-ups. We will tell you whether an overlay is enough and what that costs compared with replacement.