Signs and directional pathway signs have been in evidence for thousands of years, Signs as promtional and advertising means have been used for about a hundred years.However, The Vinyl Corporation has been providing Signs and Signmaking supplies to the Vinyl Sign making industry for over thirty years and within that timeframe the technology and technological advances have been expanential, mainly due to the “Digital age” advancements that were hard to comprehend as even being possible twenty five years ago, when Signmakers did not have mobile phones,Solvent Digital Printers or even emails.

Vinyl Sign Making can now be divided into the CAD/CAM plotter cut coloured self adhesive vinyl or the Print and Cut graphics, for the former a basic plotter or Vinyl Cutter is linked to a desktop computer and the required lettering and logos are cut out of the Vinyl, also refered to as Fablon or sticky back plastic, this can be a point of entry plotter such as a 305mm Silhouette Cameo cutter, or a Roland Camm 1 all the way up to a sophisticated flatbed plotter costing well over £200,000! The print and cut market has been the area of the fastest and astonishing growth with Large Format Digital Printing machines now fairly commonplace within a sign shop, whereas a Lithography, Flexography, Gravure or Letterpress machines were the sought after piece of printing kit prior to the Digital revolution, which has impacted as much on the printing trade as any other industry, making technology more affordable and so more accessible, enabling better quality and more creative signage to be produced, whether this is for the High street retail displays, Vehicle Graphics, Exhibition displays or Vehicle markings -Vinyl Graphics are out there and getting more ingeneous and creative all the time – Digital Vehicle Car Wraps are a clear example of how a vision can become a reallity in INK on VINYL.

`Having discussed the technological advances in Sign Making Hardware and Sign Equipment it is worth noting the unbeleivable advances in the range, quality and choice of Vinyl products available and at the disposal of todays Sign Maker, As well as excellent quality CAST vinyl from ORACAL and AVERY for print and cut vinyl lettering and logo production, there are also high grade POLYMERIC and Monomeric vinyl products that can complement and accomodate most specifications and budgetery requirements. From the ultimate AVERY SUPREME WRAPPING FILM, or the ORACAL 970 RA wrap material with the rapid air, easy apply air egress systems, through to the good quality Cast film Oracal 751 or the ubiquitous ORACAL651 or the AVERY 500 series matt or gloss general purpose vinyl or even the economical but serviceable RITRAMA L and M grade vinyls, there is a product in the Vinyl Lexicon to satisfy any requirement within the expected budget.

Speciality Vinyl has been developed to enhance safety on our roads and in the workplace, for example the AVERY V-8000 VISIFLEX is a MICROPRISMATIC RETO REFLECTIVE vinyl that is comparable with the industry leading 3M Diamond Grade Reflective Vinyl (DG3) has just been developed and released by The Vinyl Corporation along with a whole new range of Speciality Vinyl ETCH vinyl, Fluorescent, Photoluminescent, GLITTER and Sparkle special effect vinyls, Also a large range of these Vinyl products have been introduced into the GARMENT VINYL range by The Vinyl Corporation, so as well as being able to put GOLD CHROME Wrapping Vinyl on your car, you can also wear it on your TSHIRT! this also enables Corporate identity graphics to maintain a common thread when planning and implementing the Graphics program.