Get International Recognition for Your Best Work in SGIA’s Golden Image Competition

Graphics and imaging competitionThere’s a lot to be said for winning an award for your work, particularly in an international competition. It’s great for PR and lends additional credibility when you give a pitch to prospects.

Therefore, it would be wise to consider entering SGIA’s Golden Image Awards, especially if you used LexJet products to achieve your masterpiece (hint). There are lots of chances to be recognized with about 50 categories available in which to enter.

Many of the categories are specific to screen printing, but many of them include digital inkjet applications, like Transit Advertising, Vehicle Wraps, Wallpaper, Posters, Plastic Products, Fine Art, Carpets/Rugs, Banners, Back-lighted Signs/Displays, and even Greeting Cards.

The deadline for entries is Oct. 5, and all submissions will be displayed in the Golden Image Gallery at the SGIA Expo in Las Vegas, Oct. 18-20. According to SGIA, winners gain international acclaim and every entrant is considered for the Best of Show (digital and screen printing categories) and Best in Creativity (digital printing).

Judges, who were chosen based on their technical skills, experience and knowledge in the categories, will evaluate the contenders on specific criteria, including: image definition, job complexity, registration and overall impression.

“This is a great opportunity for companies to compete against the best in the specialty imaging community and display their work to thousands of Expo attendees,” says Johnny Shell, SGIA’s vice president of technical services.

The Golden Image Awards are open only to SGIA printer members, who get one free entry; each additional entry is $30.

For more information, to enter and manager your entries, click here.

For a list of categories, click here.

For competition entry rules, click here.

LexJet Simple Flo Wrap Conformability Demonstration

LexJet Simple Flo Wrap Vinyl is an ultra-conformable calendared adhesive-backed vinyl with an air-egress liner used for wrapping vehicles, trucks, buses, and walls with graphics. It can be partnered with LexJet’s Simple Flo Wrap Gloss UV Laminate for a durable wrap that is removable for up to one year and permanent for up to seven years.

Using vinyl for vehicle wraps, walls and other signs

“We use LexJet’s Simple Flo Wrap Vinyl for different applications, including vehicles, and we know what it’s going to do and how it will perform,” says Greg Van Houten, owner of GVH Studio, Bennington, Vt.

Unlike other calendared vinyls, Simple Flo Wrap performs like a cast vinyl over rivets, corrugations, slight to moderate curves and flat surfaces. See just how conformable the combination of Simple Flo Wrap Vinyl and Gloss UV Laminate is in the video embedded below…

LexJet Enhances, Simplifies PSA Laminate Line: Performance, Elite, Specialty

Laminates for trade shows and displaysLexJet has updated its line of PSA laminates and backers to provide a practical way for print shops to produce and sell laminated large format inkjet solutions to their customers, and provide added value for added profits.

“We’ve taken our 17 years of experience developing inkjet media, laminates and backers, as well as crucial input and advice from our customers, to give them a product line they can sell and depend upon,” says LexJet product manager Dione Metnick. “The whole point of a laminate is to enhance and protect the graphic, and exceed the end user’s design and visual expectations. We used that criteria as our baseline, then built our laminates and backers to eliminate costly color shifts and adhesive failures for the dependability and consistency our customers require.”

Conveniently grouped into three basic product categories – Performance, Elite and Specialty – print shops have a simple yet diverse choice of superior laminates not available elsewhere in various thicknesses, base materials, textures and widths. The adhesives in all three product lines are compatible with aqueous, low solvent, solvent, UV curable and latex inks.

“I have never noticed any discoloration with a LexJet laminate, as opposed to others I’ve seen that tend to yellow over time or give the graphic a different tint,” says Christian Schmid of Essyx Design + Fabrication, Johnson City, Tenn. “When our customers invest in graphics they don’t want them damaged, either by UV or people handling them, so we make sure we give them the peace of mind that comes with a more durable, brighter laminate.”

Performance: The industry’s best-in-class economically priced line of laminates and backers. Like all LexJet products, they come with a 30-day money back guarantee and are built to last. Most products in the Performance line feature the same high-quality adhesives and base materials as the Elite line.

Specialty: This product line was designed based on customer feedback for warranted, durable laminates that meet all the demands of specialty applications, including floor, carpet, vehicle wrap, optically clear and dry-erase.

Elite: Offers the highest possible performance and quality that exceeds the durability and visual expectations of end users. Most products in the Elite line come with a Lifetime Warranty, while all of them feature the most durable solvent acrylic adhesive in the industry and PreLume, an optical reflection technology built into the Elite laminates that ensures brighter and cleaner white areas for a longer period of time. PreLume Inside means greater contrast and dynamic range, producing graphics that stand out and grab the attention of passersby in a variety of indoor applications.

PreLume, licensed by LexJet in 2003, is only one innovation in a long line of innovations since LexJet introduced the first reverse-print polycarbonate (LexJet Clear) to the graphics market in 1994. Since that time LexJet pioneered the first white backer to partner with LexJet Clear, the first polycarbonate laminate guaranteed not to tunnel or delaminate, the next generation of solvent acrylic mounting adhesives, new adhesives resistant to and compatible with solvent and UV-curable inks and the first Lifetime Warranty, to name just a few.

Whether your graphic is short-term, long-term or somewhere in between, with LexJet’s updated and enhanced line of laminates and backers you have a variety of options to choose from that no one else in the industry offers… Proven, quality laminates in a variety of thicknesses, finishes and base materials to protect and enhance your graphic, eliminating costly color shifts and adhesive failures… Guaranteed. 

Weekly Update: Upcoming Shows for Graphics Providers and Photographers

Over the next few months there will be a trade show for just about any type of imaging work you do, whether you make signs, print or specify large format graphics, screen print, engrave or specialize in photography and photographic output. Moreover, all of the trade shows listed below offer continuing education and seminars on how to use your skills and capabilities to expand into other markets…

WPPI, Feb. 17-24, Las Vegas: Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) will host its annual trade show and conference at the MGM Grand Hotel this year with more than 300 exhibitors and 75 speakers covering the full gamut of photography from capture to print and beyond. LexJet will live blog from the event with the latest news and items of interest from the show. Also, look for regular updates and show specials from LexJet reps Justin Craft and Michael Clementi at twitter.com/LexJet. Stay tuned here at blog.lexjet.com for more details on our Where’s Waldo (Craft/Clementi) and the special prizes and promotions available if you find them on the floor during the show as we get closer to WPPI.Special events graphics trade shows

FESPA Americas, Feb. 24-26, Orlando: FESPA, well known in Europe for its giant graphics trade shows, will come to America for the first time this year. Events at FESPA Americas include: Global Business Forum, Wide Format Print Shop Live!, Screen Masters Workshop, Digital Textile Conference, Wrap Cup Masters, Digital Debate at the Innovation Theater and more. Register online and you’ll get a free pass to the show.

The NBM Show, March 24-26, Austin, Texas: The NBM Show is an excellent venue to learn more about your graphics specialty and sample related markets, like screen printing and apparel decoration, engraving and vehicle graphics. The expanded education conference with more than 60 seminars begins Wednesday, March 23. The Austin show is the first NBM Show of the year, which will also travel to Indianapolis (June 9-11), Long Beach (Aug. 11-13) and Baltimore (Sept. 8-10).

ISA International Sign Exposition, April 28-30, Las Vegas: This annual giant expo produced by the International Sign Association may be a harbinger of the beginnings of an economic recovery as ISA reports that the number of exhibitors and pre-registered attendees is up sharply this year. The expo will feature 75 courses in business management, technical requirements and industry trends, as well as a number of special events, such as The American Wrap Star Contest (a Harley-Davidson Fat Boy will be given away in a sweepstakes drawing), a New Product Showcase and a Green Product Showcase.