D1

On-going developments – Printing/output techniques

Vinyl and laser cutters

Vinyl/ laser cutters are a very useful. Vinyl cutters are when an image can be cut out of vinyl for use for advertising mostly used to put on the side of a van. Laser cutters can be used in schools, businesses or as a hobby for some people. As technology has developed we have been able to get smoother and more precise with this technology. This has largely affected the graphics design industry as it has allowed us to make our own advertisements for a cheaper cost. An example of a laser cutter is the 150w+150w Co2 Laser Cutting Machine 1490 it has high speed and precision.  An example of  a new improved vinyl cutter is the Summa S Class S160 T Series Cutter, and their fourth generation contour cutting device is greatly enhanced to increase workflow productivity which is a professional cutter used for advertising and other commercial purposes.

Inkjet and wide format printing

Inkjet and wide format printers work by placing ink into a piece of paper or other print materials, it is a cheap way of mass producing graphics. Wide format printers are generally accepted to be any printer with a print width between 17" and 100". Printers over the 100" mark may be called Super-Wide or Grand format. Wide format printers are used to print banners, posters and general signage and in some cases may be more economical than short-run methods such as screen printing. Wide format printers generally use a roll of print material rather than individual sheets and may incorporate hot-air dryers to prevent prints from sticking to themselves as they are produced.  Main uses of these printers for outdoor settings are billboards, truck sides and truck curtains, building graphics and banners. Whereas indoor displays include point-of-sales displays, exhibition graphics, museum graphics and backlit displays. This technology is developing more towards ink technologies with solvent, eco-solvent and UV- curing as opposed to water-based ink sets. They have allowed us to mass produce graphics designs cheaply and this has affected the graphics design industry. One example of an inkjet printer could be the HP DesignJet T1200 HD-MFP which is a mid- level commercial printer used for clear precise images. 

Laser printing

Laser printers allow high quality text and graphics to be printed onto paper. This allows production of high quality vector images onto leaflets and flyers. This has affected the graphics design industry as it allows higher quality flyers and leaflets to be produced. This technology is rather expensive and can be potentially dangerous due to shock hazards, and the toner particles can be a fire risk and can cause damage to the respiratory system.  An example of a laser printer would be the Konica Minolta magicolour, which is a high end graphics design printer.