Question What type of Media to use?

[GamecockGrafx]

Hello all - newbie here, teaching a graphics creation and production class in high school. We use a HP Latex 365 printer and an HP 64 cutter. We also use the SaiFlexi 19 RIP software.

Principal has tasked us to create student and faculty parking decals for next year. He mentioned using static cling material. I also thought about clear vinyl adhesive.

Graphic will be 3.5" wide x 2" high. Will be placed inside of windshield so school staff can see permit/number as cars drive in. I will mirror the image so it prints facing out. Each decal will be numbered (I can do this either on Flexi, or with a Photoshop script) and each will also need to be contour cut/perf-cut.

Looking for suggestions - static cling or clear vinyl adhesive, or something totally different that one of you might have already tried.

Thanks in advance -
Brian @ GamecockGrafx

 

[BigfishDM]

Hello all - newbie here, teaching a graphics creation and production class in high school. We use a HP Latex 365 printer and an HP 64 cutter. We also use the SaiFlexi 19 RIP software.

Principal has tasked us to create student and faculty parking decals for next year. He mentioned using static cling material. I also thought about clear vinyl adhesive.

Graphic will be 3.5" wide x 2" high. Will be placed inside of windshield so school staff can see permit/number as cars drive in. I will mirror the image so it prints facing out. Each decal will be numbered (I can do this either on Flexi, or with a Photoshop script) and each will also need to be contour cut/perf-cut.

Looking for suggestions - static cling or clear vinyl adhesive, or something totally different that one of you might have already tried.

Thanks in advance -
Brian @ GamecockGrafx

This material in the clear frosted would work great and much more durable. The material can be used over and over again also. http://www.gansdigital.com/2017/01/18/idot_next_gen/

 

[JPR-5690]

I hate static cling and not just as a manufacturer but a consumer. Those stupid gym parking decals never stick. iDot or something like glass apeel/viziprint impress are what we use instead.

Side note running a variable data/numbering script through Photoshop will probably create a stupidly large file. Running a data merge in InDesign might be a more efficient way to do it especially since you can work with vectors.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Reverse print clear oracal 651 and laminate white to the back. Easy and legible from outside.

 

[Jester]

You will get the most readability and durability printing on a clear adhesive vinyl with a white laminate. The iDot clear sounds like it would be a great material for this application. If your latex has white it would probably work, but you will get the most readability with white compatible vinyl with clear adhesive as a laminate.

TL;DR:
For many years we've used 2" round technical inspection decals/stickers on static cling for our car club. These are second surface, i.e., designed to be placed inside the windshield. We do a different design for each event. Even though you would think these would be a single use item, they have become collectables.Some long time participants show up with a dozen or so of them around the perimeter of their windshield from events as long as ten years ago, so durability is a factor just like it is for your parking passes.

The club outsourced them for years. I believe most were solvent/eco-solvent printed, a few might have been latex. In order of increasing readability, I've seen them without white overprint, with white overprint behind the graphic elements, with white overprint behind the entire decal, and with white material laminated on the back. Most of the white print looks pretty translucent, a few of them are quite opaque. I assume this is the difference between solvent and latex. You need the white, otherwise most colors are very translucent, to the point you can barely read them from a small distance (remember, car windshields are tinted, and the tinting seems to be getting darker on the later model cars).

We've recently made these on clear adhesive material. While I thought both were equally visible and useful for our purposes, there has been some feedback from those who collect the decals that they prefer the static cling material. They want to be able to easily move their collection around to different locations on the windshield without soiling the adhesive layer with their fingers. So it sounds like the iDot might be a good compromise for this application.

BTW, I don't know why you would use a frosted material, as suggested above, with second-surface (mirrored print). Wouldn't this impact readability?

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Off topic, but I looked at the video of applying iDot on the door of a car. We also provide 9"x12" car number plates which the owner applies to the car doors or rear side windows. Recently we've been using permanent adhesive with air release for easy application by the car owner (such as 3165RA). These are throwaways after the 3-day track event, as they are hard to remove without stretching/tearing once the adhesive sets. On the other hand, if the owner applies the sticker in the morning when it is cold, and they don't wipe the door first to get the fine layer of invisible dust off, we've had the air release blow off the door of the car on the straight-aways, where most cars can reach 100-150 MPH. I wonder if the iDot would work for us or if it would tend to blow off under these conditions. Would love to hear some feedback on this!