- What it is
- A graphic printed onto self-adhesive vinyl and applied directly to a surface — a shopfront window, a glass partition, a lift lobby floor. The film is a stack: a printable face, an adhesive underneath it, and a release liner that is peeled away at the moment of application. Over the print goes a laminate, which is the layer that decides whether the graphic survives a mop, a trolley wheel or a year of afternoon sun.
- What it is printed on
Self-adhesive vinyl, specified by what it has to do rather than by brand. A monomeric film is the flat-surface, short-campaign choice. A polymeric or cast film is the one that will follow a curve and stay put for longer. For glass there are three distinct products and they are not interchangeable: an opaque film, a frosted etch-effect film for privacy and manifestation, and a perforated one-way film that reads as a picture from the street and as a window from inside. A floor graphic is the same print under an anti-slip laminate; without that laminate it is not a floor graphic.
- How it feels
- Smooth and slightly warm, with a texture that comes from the laminate rather than from the print — gloss reads wet, matt kills reflection on a lit shopfront, and an anti-slip floor laminate has a fine, deliberate grit you can hear under a shoe. Applied well the film disappears into the surface and the only edge you can feel is the cut line.
- What it suits
- Retail windows, promotional takeovers, glass manifestation in an office fit-out, wayfinding underfoot, and food and beverage frontage that changes with the menu. It does not suit a textured or freshly painted wall, it does not suit a floor that is not clean and fully cured, and it does not suit a surface someone needs back in original condition with no removal work.
- Lead time
- Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days. Installation, where it applies, is scheduled on top of that.
- The common mistake
- Choosing the film before measuring the surface, and choosing the laminate last. A window graphic is a different product from a floor graphic even when the artwork is identical, and the removal behaviour — whether the adhesive comes away cleanly or leaves a residue the tenancy agreement makes your problem — is decided by the film specification, not by the design. Decide the surface, the dwell and the removal first; the artwork fits around them.
Print idea
Window and floor graphics
Printed self-adhesive film applied to glass or to a hard floor. The film is chosen for the surface it has to leave cleanly, and the laminate over it is chosen for what walks on it.
Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
What window and floor graphics is
A graphic printed onto self-adhesive vinyl and applied directly to a surface — a shopfront window, a glass partition, a lift lobby floor. The film is a stack: a printable face, an adhesive underneath it, and a release liner that is peeled away at the moment of application. Over the print goes a laminate, which is the layer that decides whether the graphic survives a mop, a trolley wheel or a year of afternoon sun.
Self-adhesive vinyl, specified by what it has to do rather than by brand. A monomeric film is the flat-surface, short-campaign choice. A polymeric or cast film is the one that will follow a curve and stay put for longer. For glass there are three distinct products and they are not interchangeable: an opaque film, a frosted etch-effect film for privacy and manifestation, and a perforated one-way film that reads as a picture from the street and as a window from inside. A floor graphic is the same print under an anti-slip laminate; without that laminate it is not a floor graphic.
- The laminate. It takes the wear, not the print.
- The ink.
- The face film.
- The adhesive.
- The release liner, peeled away at the moment of application.
- The glass. The film is on the near face, so nothing protects the print but the laminate over it.
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
- Format
- Material and effect
Also worth looking at
- One-way vision window filmStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Frosted glass manifestationStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Cut and contour-cut vinyl graphicsStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Anti-slip floor decalsStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Carpet graphicsStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Large formatThe 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.