Welcome to Part II of our blog series on point-of-purchase signs and graphics that drive brand awareness and increase sales. In Part I of this series we shared more than 15 examples of signs of various types, including slatwall signs, multi-layered signs, metal tacker signs, laser-engraved wood signs, screen-printed wood and acrylic signs, second-surface printed acrylic signs, and dimensional letter signs. If you missed Part I, you can check it out here. Today we’ll share 13 more examples across 9 additional categories of signs. Let’s get started.
1. PCV signs– Digitally printed PVC signs are probably the most common type of signs used in the POP display industry. They are popular because they are cost-effective and the PCV material is lightweight, relatively durable, and easy to print on. A typical example is shown below. For this Grom Squad cap display, we created the side flag sign and header sign using PVC.
Two other simple but colorful examples of displays that incorporate digitally printed PVC signs are the Coola Bare Republic and Aqua displays shown below.
To create more interest, we will often design die-cut signs that have various shapes. Die-cut signs do not need to be limited to PVC. To make die-cut signs, we use our digital flatbed cutter which can handle a wide range of materials. A typical example is the Allegro Coffee header sign we made below.
2. Vinyl Stickers– Vinyl stickers can be digitally printed or offset printed and are popular because of their high utility and cost-effectiveness. They can be applied to a variety of different surfaces. The 180s counter display shown below is just one example of how we incorporated vinyl stickers into a POP display.
3. Lightbox– Lightbox graphics are an excellent way to draw attention to your product. Lightboxes generally require access to an electrical source and are more expensive because of the LED lighting and transformer. It is possible to use battery powered light boxes, but they generally have a relatively short life even when they include a motion sensor to conserve power. An example of a simple header lightbox is the 9Five sunglass arcade/gaming station we made below.
4. Magnetic Graphics– If your POP display has a requirement for relocatable graphics or if you anticipate that you will need to change out the graphics over time, magnetic graphics might be a good option. The best way to execute magnetic graphics is to direct print on magnetic material. It is possible to print on vinyl and adhere it to the magnetic material, but there is a risk of the vinyl peeling off the magnetic material with this approach. Magnetic material requires a metal surface to mount the graphic. An example is the front magnetic graphic we used on the TRX Training kiosk shown below.
Magnetic graphics can also be used on displays that are not made of metal. For example, we used magnetic graphics on the Ubiquiti Networks counter display shown below. This display was made of PVC but we glued metal strips to the PVC to create a surface to which the magnet could stick.
5. Stenciled Graphics– We use stenciled graphics when we are trying to create more of a raw, organic look. The most common substrate we use for stenciled graphics is wood. An example of the graphics we made for a Coola floor display is shown below.
6. Vacuum Formed Sign– A vacuumed formed plastic sign is another way to create dimensionality in your POP signage. Vacuum forming generally requires a mold fee, but it is much less expensive than the mold fees for injection molds. Creating dimension is a good way of making a sign more interesting and noticeable. What’s also nice is that vacuumed formed signs can incorporate full-color graphics as you can see in the picture below of a header sign we made for Surf City Garage.
7. Corrugated Sign– If your budget is really tight and you are not as concerned about durability, you might want to consider a corrugated sign. Corrugated displays are ubiquitous in today’s retail environment so we don’t need to providea lot of examples of the print quality that can be achieved with corrugated. However, you might keep in mind that corrugated signs can also be used with permanent displays as you can see in the example below of the header signs we made for a High Mowing Organic Seeds acrylic display .
8. Laser-cut Backlit Logo Signs– Another cool effect is creating a back lit logo. In the Hennessey bottle glorifier shown below, we made the base out of gold-plated vacuum formed plastic with laser-cut logo letters. We used a piece of milk white acrylic behind the cut-out letters and then added inside battery-powered LED lighting. We included a motion sensor which triggered the lights when a customer approached the display.
9. Cardstock graphics– If your budget is tight and you want to be able to change out your graphics, using cardstock graphics might be the way to go. Generally, this type of graphics will slide into tag molding or a clear acrylic sleeve as shown in the Soulstice display below. As a side note, you can see where we laser engraved the Soulstice logo into the bamboo base to communicate the natural/organic ethos of the brand.
We hope you have enjoyed this series on POP signs and graphics and encourage you to be adventuresome and intentional about your graphics on your next display project.
Jim Hollen is the owner and President of RICH LTD. (www.richltd.com), a 35+ year-old California-based point-of-purchase display, retail store fixture, and merchandising solutions firm which has been named among the Top 50 U.S. POP display companies for 9 consecutive years. A former management consultant with McKinsey & Co. and graduate of Stanford Business School, Jim Hollen has served more than 3000 brands and retailers over more than 20 years and has authored nearly 500 blogs and e-Books on a wide range of topics related to POP displays, store fixtures, and retail merchandising.
Jim has been to China more than 50 times and has worked directly with more than 30 factories in Asia across a broad range of material categories, including metal, wood, acrylic, injection molded and vacuum formed plastic, corrugated, glass, LED lighting, digital media player, and more. Jim Hollen also oversees RICH LTD.’s domestic manufacturing operation and has experience manufacturing, sourcing, and importing from numerous Asian countries as well as Vietnam and Mexico.
His experience working with brands and retailers spans more than 25 industries such as food and beverage, apparel, consumer electronics, cosmetics/beauty, sporting goods, automotive, pet, gifts and souvenirs, toys, wine and spirits, home improvement, jewelry, eyewear, footwear, consumer products, mass market retail, specialty retail, convenience stores, and numerous other product/retailer categories.