- What it is
- A tower is a tall, narrow frame — square, triangular or round in plan — skinned on every face and lit from within or from above. A counter is a waist-high version of the same frame, with a worktop and usually a shelf and a door hidden behind the graphic. Bought together they give a stand two things a flat backdrop cannot: a vertical marker visible from the other end of a hall, and a place for a person to stand and talk to somebody. Both break down into the same flight case and both are re-skinned rather than replaced.
- What it is printed on
Woven polyester skins printed by dye sublimation, either tensioned into the frame with a sewn silicone edge or pulled over it as a stretch cover. The worktop is a separate rigid panel and is not printed with the graphic. The cloth is not a sheet, so the caliper table holds no entry for it; what matters is the panel size, where the seams fall, and whether the skin is opaque enough for a frame that is lit from inside.
- How it feels
- On a closed frame the skin is taut and flat, with a faint weave grain under a fingertip and no shine at all under an aisle spotlight. A stretch cover is softer and shows the frame’s corner radius through the cloth, which reads as a deliberate soft edge rather than as a fault. The worktop is the one hard, cool surface on the whole object, and it is the one people put a drink on.
- What it suits
- Shell-scheme stands that need height without a rigging budget, conference registration, demonstration points, and roadshow modules that travel weekly. A tower is the cheapest way to be seen from the far end of a hall. It does not suit a site with a height limit the organiser actually enforces, and a counter is not a cash desk — the door is a cover, not security, and nothing valuable should be left behind it.
- Lead time
- Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days. Installation, where it applies, is scheduled on top of that.
- The common mistake
- Putting the logo at eye height on the tower. A tower earns its keep above the crowd: from the aisle the bottom third is behind other people’s stands and other people’s heads. Put the mark high, and repeat it on every face — a tower with a blank back is a tower that half the hall walks past without registering.
Print idea
Modular tower and counter
Two objects from one frame system: a tall skinned tower that is seen across a hall, and a waist-high counter that gives a person somewhere to stand. Both re-skin, both pack into the same case.
Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
What modular tower and counter is
A tower is a tall, narrow frame — square, triangular or round in plan — skinned on every face and lit from within or from above. A counter is a waist-high version of the same frame, with a worktop and usually a shelf and a door hidden behind the graphic. Bought together they give a stand two things a flat backdrop cannot: a vertical marker visible from the other end of a hall, and a place for a person to stand and talk to somebody. Both break down into the same flight case and both are re-skinned rather than replaced.
Woven polyester skins printed by dye sublimation, either tensioned into the frame with a sewn silicone edge or pulled over it as a stretch cover. The worktop is a separate rigid panel and is not printed with the graphic. The cloth is not a sheet, so the caliper table holds no entry for it; what matters is the panel size, where the seams fall, and whether the skin is opaque enough for a frame that is lit from inside.
- The panel, drawn to its finished proportion.
- The aperture — what is still visible once the frame is closed. The slim silicone-edge profile takes 15 mm off every edge, drawn at the panel’s own scale.
- The silicone bead, sewn around the whole perimeter.
- The frame channel, in section. The bead seats in it and the edge of the print disappears.
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
- SEG fabric lightboxStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Backlit lightbox graphicsStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Branded table throwStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Literature rack and brochure standStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- ExhibitionThe 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.