Did you know that in a recent survey, 76 percent of participants said they had gone into a store or chosen a particular business to sponsor based just on their signage? To create the kind of stunning signs that can attract customers, you need wide format printers.
An HP plotter printer can be a crucial investment for your business. Whether you want to print large photographs, life-size cutouts, proofs, or even maps, a plotter printer can help.
Read on to learn all of the different ways wide format printing has become a game-changer.
What is a Wide Format Printer?
A wide format printer is one that can print on paper beyond the standard A4 size, or 8.5 by 11 inches. The size of the printer can vary, with some of these wide format options that can sit on a desk managing up to 16 inches, while commercial wide format printers can handle a print job that is 16 feet wide.
These printers use technology that allows you to print on premium glossy paper as well as vinyl to be able to create signs and other marketing materials.
An HP Wide Format Printer works similarly to a digital printer, which is why it is so efficient at color printing. The press lays down the toner using large nozzles, and the ink is applied to the actual product directly, creating a more vibrant result.
Some of the many materials you can create with wide format printers are:
Packaging
Photography
Maps
Presentations
Life-sized cutouts
Fleet graphics
Signage
Banners and flags
Proofs
Wide format printers can come in three main options: flatbed printers, roll-to-roll printers, or a combination of both.
A flatbed printer works very well for those who are looking to print on thicker materials, while a roll-to-roll printer works best to print on a banner, canvas, or any flexible material that comes in rolls. In combination printers, you can remove the flatbed to use rolls.
General Benefits of Owning a Wide Format Printer
Whatever field you are in and whatever type of business you run, investing in a wide format printer can end up boosting your sales. Let us look at the wide printer advantages you can expect.
Turnaround Time and Efficiency
Having to rely on printing shops can be stressful. You need to be certain you can print what you need, when you need it, and that is what investing in a printer can offer.
On average, a standard wide format printer can print 15 or more copies and up to 30 A1 posters in an hour. Why leave your projects at the mercy of other people?
With a large format printer, you also do not need to babysit the process of printing. They have large ink tanks and up to two media rolls on many of the models, allowing them to run without interruption for longer periods of time. Many models even have stacking capabilities of up to 100 sheets.
You can even download apps for the printer and print on the go!
With a wide format printer, neither you nor your employees have to spend time traveling back and forth to the printers or making calls to ensure the final product is what you want. You will be saving yourself time and allowing your employees to focus on more important tasks.
Latest Technology
Wide format printers use the most advanced technology to produce high-quality materials. They can print images with minute details as well as use their automated pens to create line drawings of diagrams. These printers can distinguish between texts and images and will produce a copy without mixing up what is text and what is image.
The advanced technology that wide format printers use can also make the materials you print longer-lasting. UV cured ink can ensure signs and anything else exposed to the sun do not fade with exposure.
The way the ink is placed directly on the substrate, whether paper, vinyl, or any other option, makes it much more vibrant than regular printing.
One type of technology HP plotter printers use is accurate dot placement. This is the key to high-quality images. The printer uses microscopic droplets of ink and precision ejection to create detailed images.
Accuracy is essential in fields like architecture, construction, and engineering, and these printers are made to create blueprints with crisp lines and text.
Security and Confidentiality
If you choose to outsource your business's printing needs, you are allowing a third party to have access to potentially confidential information. This may not be something with which you or your clients feel comfortable.
If you want to make sure your competition does not get a look at your marketing campaigns or at any other crucial data, you want to have your own in-house printing services.
Convenience
Many times when preparing marketing materials or other printing jobs, the finished product may not look as you imagined once it is printed. If you rely on printing shops, this can mean more delays and more waiting. When you own a wide format printer, you can immediately make the changes and tweak the work until it is exactly the way you want it to look.
Last-minute changes are easily accommodated, and you do not have to pay for any of those changes, which can sometimes happen in printing shops.
Financial Benefits
Purchasing a wide format printer is a serious investment, but it is one that will pay off over time.
You will save substantial money by not having to outsource your printing. This is especially true if your business relies on having to make numerous copies each day.
Marketing materials are crucial for all businesses, and marketing budgets can skyrocket if you have to rely on third-party printing. Go further with your marketing budget by using your own printers.
Advantages for Specific Industries
Apart from the general benefits a wide printer can offer, there are some industry-specific advantages you want to know about. Read on to know how they can help your business.
Construction
In the construction industry, presentation is key. When presenting a client with plans, you want them to be of the highest quality possible. Architectural printing is another area in which wide format printing is essential.
Architectural plans need to be printed in large format to be as accurate as possible and to maintain the scale of the image's details. The printing has to be clear enough to easily distinguish between graphs, lines, and numbers. That is what a wide format printer can offer.
Not only will detailed and beautiful plans satisfy your current clients, but they can be part of a portfolio that will get you new clients in the future. You will also have the freedom to print as many plans as you need and as many versions of them as necessary without having to worry about added printing expenses.
The construction industry relies heavily on projected timelines, and this can mean any delay might impact the project. Having to rely on third-party printing puts you at risk of these delays. It also means that if you have to make last-minute changes to the plans, you have to begin the entire process of reaching out to a printing shop again.
Even interior designers can benefit from large format printers. When you need to produce renderings for clients, you want the clearest, highest-quality printing possible to capture the nuances of color choices and fabric textures.
Engineering
Engineers prioritize line accuracy, speed, and security. They need to have equipment they can rely on to consistently produce high-quality materials that meet client specifications. Plotter printers make that possible.
Plotters create highly detailed prints for CAD drawings and technical blueprints. You can expect less misalignment and a better reproduction of fine lines and text.
Plotters can also ensure you can keep up with all of your printing needs. A typical large format printer can produce 2 A1 CAD drawings in one minute.
GIS/Map Printing
If you want to offer representations of maps in the highest possible quality and with the utmost detail, you need a wide format printer. GIS represents data on a map or aerial photo and then filters the needed data to create a presentation.
To get the most out of these maps, you need crisp lines, vibrant colors, and high accuracy. You also need a fast turnaround time for using these maps in weather warnings and other emergencies. A wide format printer can make that possible.
Marketing and Advertising Agencies
The entire marketing industry relies on creating eye-catching materials that will attract customers for their clients. If you are part of the marketing industry, you have to be able to create banners, signage, logos, and much more that are of the highest quality.
When the average ad has only seconds to grab the viewer's attention, you need to be sure that the material is as detailed and attractive as you want it to be. With a wide format printer, which uses precision ink droplets, you know your material will be stunning.
You can create posters rich in high-quality graphics, as well as banners popping with color. These printers can improve brand awareness and can boost visibility. Whether you are part of a larger business's marketing wing or are a marketing firm working for clients, having a plotter is essential.
Advertising agencies can benefit from the high-quality materials that a wide format printer can offer. From posters, wall coverings, billboards, and more, a wide format printer can do it all.
Healthcare
The healthcare industry also relies on large format printing. Any hospital or consulting room has at least one large sign letting patients know where to go and offering medical guidance for specific illnesses. There are also signs that can alert patients to medical requirements, like wearing face masks.
In the past year, when medical facilities had to let patients know the latest pandemic guidelines, countless signs were printed on wide format printers to direct hospital traffic, give indications of mask-wearing, and much more. This meant someone had to go and find a printing shop to do so, which wasted time and money.
Hospitals have many other uses for posters and signs, including simple things like adding child-friendly images to children's wards.
Entertainment
The entertainment industry relies heavily on wide format printing. Every movie has to have posters which can be pasted in cinemas and at premiers. There are posters for comedians, musicians, and any other kind of performer, and all of them have to be of the highest quality.
A wide format printer can create all of those banners, signs, and posters that announce everything happening in the entertainment industry. They can create rich images with crisp text that anyone can easily read from a distance.
Visual artists can also benefit from wide format printing. If you want to create prints of your latest piece of art, you want them to reflect the beauty of your original work. By using the advanced technology that plotters have, you can create accurate representations of your work in any format you please and on any substrate you prefer.
Casinos can benefit greatly from wide format printing, as well, to advertise their shows and special events.
For photographers, having a wide format printer is a requirement. To showcase photographs to their maximum, they have to be printed without the risk of pixelation or image distortion. With a wide format printer, you can choose color or monochrome printing, each one offering the high-quality results you want.
Education
Wide format printers can allow a school to update its branding, creating wall decals and banners featuring the school's name or its mascot. They can be an excellent tool for printing large-scale maps or history timelines wide enough to cover walls.
Many schools use these printers to provide other teaching aids like graphs and similar visuals and to create signs and banners for school events without having to resort to third-party printing.
For higher-level education, when more detailed representations of charts, graphs, and other data are necessary, wide format printers can provide all of these.
Invest in Your Business
Investing in wide format printers can help your business grow, both in sales and in brand awareness. At PSI Digital Imaging Solutions, Inc., we can help you find the perfect HP wide format printer.
Contact us today to get started!