best material for marquees?

[marcopolo]

I'm going to kinkos this weekend to have them print a marquee.  What material should I have them print on for max quality + transparency?

Marco

[neuromancer]

You need backlight media. It is a transparency media specifically designed for backlighting. Some of it is front print, some of it is back print. Obviously for back print, you need to reverse your image.

Kinkos may not have backlight media. You may need to go to a real service bureau to get it. When you talk to people about printing, ask them some questions about file format and resolution and color matching. If they don't seem to know what they're talking about, your results might not be what you expect.

Bob

[marcopolo]

Don't most people just have it printed on glossy / photo quality paper and have the light shine through??

You need backlight media. It is a transparency media specifically designed for backlighting. Some of it is front print, some of it is back print. Obviously for back print, you need to reverse your image.

Kinkos may not have backlight media. You may need to go to a real service bureau to get it. When you talk to people about printing, ask them some questions about file format and resolution and color matching. If they don't seem to know what they're talking about, your results might not be what you expect.

Bob

[SNAAAKE]

just regular matt paper is fine.DONT use photo paper.i did for first marque and its little too thick for marque.DOESNT shine and all.

[neuromancer]

Don't most people just have it printed on glossy / photo quality paper and have the light shine through??

But you asked how to get the *maximum* quality and transparency. The reason they invented a special media for back lighting was because regular paper isn't as good.

If you just want "OK" quality, then you can print on anything as long as you have enough light behind it. Take a piece of paper and draw on it with colored markers. Now hold it 8" in front of a flourescent tube. Compare what you see to the graphics on the menu of a fast food joint. Not as bright or colorful, right?

The difference in price is pretty low. Usually $1 or $3 a square foot. (The paper and the ink are a very small fraction of the price of a big print.)

Bob

[CM]

I got my marquee printed at Kinkos on their backlit paper for $27.  It turned out much better than I hoped and drastically better than my home-made photo-paper experiment.

Beware scratching the ink/colors on the backlit-paper as it is very easy to do.  Sandwich it between your Lexan/Plexi as soon as possible