- What it is
- A printed figure, product or mascot cut to its own contour and hinged to a folding strut so it stands unsupported. The graphic is printed, laminated and mounted to a display board, or printed straight onto the board, then cut on the outline rather than to a rectangle. It takes up almost no floor and it is the one thing on a small stand that visitors will queue to be photographed next to, which is the whole brief for it.
- What it is printed on
A rigid display board: a foam-cored board indoors, light enough to carry in one hand and soft enough to dent with a thumbnail, or a solid plastic sheet where the standee has to survive being knocked over and stood up again all week. The print is either applied to the board as a laminated graphic or printed directly onto it. Neither board is a sheet the caliper table holds, so no thickness is claimed for either one here.
- How it feels
- Light to the point of feeling hollow — a full-height foam board standee weighs less than the case it travels in, which is exactly why it walks across a floor under air conditioning. The cut edge is the tell: a clean contour cut shows a pale core line the whole way round, and a laminated face leaves a slight lip you can feel where the film wraps over the edge.
- What it suits
- Product launches, cinema and retail foyers, exhibition photo moments, showflats, and anything with a face on it that people want to stand beside. It does not suit an outdoor position, a corridor, or anywhere it can be knocked into a walkway. A standee that has to be weighted, taped and stood back up every morning is a standee in the wrong place, not a standee that was built badly.
- Lead time
- Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days. Counted from approved artwork rather than from the enquiry.
- The common mistake
- Supplying a cut-out at screen resolution and drawing the contour hard against the figure. A standee is read from about a metre away, and a soft mask around hair or a shoulder reads as a halo at that distance. A contour drawn tight to the image leaves the blade nothing to cut into, so it wanders into the artwork. Give the cutter a clear margin outside the figure, keep the base wide enough to carry the strut, and check that the strut hides behind the widest part of the shape rather than sticking out beside it.
Print idea
Life-size standee
A printed figure cut to its own outline and stood on a folding strut, so a person or a product appears at full size in a room. The cheapest object on a stand that people photograph themselves beside.
Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
What life-size standee is
A printed figure, product or mascot cut to its own contour and hinged to a folding strut so it stands unsupported. The graphic is printed, laminated and mounted to a display board, or printed straight onto the board, then cut on the outline rather than to a rectangle. It takes up almost no floor and it is the one thing on a small stand that visitors will queue to be photographed next to, which is the whole brief for it.
A rigid display board: a foam-cored board indoors, light enough to carry in one hand and soft enough to dent with a thumbnail, or a solid plastic sheet where the standee has to survive being knocked over and stood up again all week. The print is either applied to the board as a laminated graphic or printed directly onto it. Neither board is a sheet the caliper table holds, so no thickness is claimed for either one here.
- The printed face.
- The core: A light cellular core under two paper liners: the lightest board here, and the softest to a thumbnail.
- The skin, drawn at its real share of the section — 3 per cent of it, which is why the drawing looks the way it does.
- The folding strut, hinged behind the widest part of the shape so it does not stick out beside it.
- The cut contour. The panel is cut to its own outline, not to a rectangle.
The specification
Six fields, and the last one is the useful one.
The same six questions are answered for every entry in this section, in the same order, so two objects can be compared without reading two pages of prose. The mistake is stated last and stated plainly, because it is the one that costs a reprint and it is the reason this page is worth sending to a colleague.
Where this sits.
Every entry is indexed three ways, because a buyer arrives knowing the occasion, the object or the material and almost never all three.
- Application
- Material and effect
Also worth looking at
- Foam PVC panelsStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Modular backdrop wallStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Acrylic standoff signStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Curved and straight pop-up displayStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- StandeesThe specification, and how it is quoted
- Every print idea, indexed three waysThe section index
- The materials libraryCaliper, weight and what each finish costs
Send the specification for this, and it comes back quoted.
Every job is quoted from its specification — stock, quantity, sides, finish, size and deadline.
- Quantity
- Stock — or the feel you want, if you do not know the stock
- Sides printed
- Finish
- Flat and finished size
- The deadline
Artwork is welcome but not required to start. Email sales@ezprint.com.sg if you would rather attach files.