Conroe, Texas—ABI Digital Solutions recently created a number of graphics for ENK International’s Coterie, a tradeshow dedicated to women’s apparel and accessories designers, and the graphics were as fashionable as the wares on the show floor.
ABI Digital Solutions started in 1993 as primarily a billboard vinyl producer. Today the company does all types of vinyl projects or “anything bigger than a brochure,” as General Manager Tobe Bashor sums it up.
Tradeshow graphics are a big part of the company’s profits. With a five-meter-wide FUJIFILM Uvistar2 machine for superwide printing, a FUJIFILM Acuity Select, and a 3.2-meter Durst Rho 320R press for double-sided printing, ABI Digital Solutions can handle all types of printing. The shop can even complete dye sublimation and finishing in-house, and it offers a number of digital printing processes, including solvent and UV. “I’m one of the few shops that can do everything internally,” says Bashor.
ENK International was one of ABI Digital Solutions’ first tradeshow clients, and the shop has been working with them since 1999. On this particular project, they provided all of the show graphics—everything from foamcore directional signage for the parking, shuttle buses, and meeting rooms to the double-sided entrance drapes that measure ten feet wide and eighty feet tall and were composed of twenty pieces. Mostly Duratex media (including the mesh and matte vinyls) from Pitman, an Agfa company, was used to complete the project because of its consistency.
ABI Digital Solutions often creates additional signs for the many shows ENK International produces, so color matching is important. “I’ve got to be able to produce additional graphics that match the ones that I produced in January,” says Bashor. “Their vinyl comes in the same shade of white, it prints the same with minor adjustments in color management, and it’s easy to maintain color throughout the year, which I have to for this client.”
ABI’s ColorGATE software also helped keep color consistent across different presses and on six different materials for this project. ABI keeps color records on hand for future jobs, as well.
“I keep record of everything that they’ve approved for color, and then throughout the show, I’m making sure everything matches what I have approved,” explains Bashor. “So when they order another sign three months from now, I know exactly what I printed in January, so I can visually match it.”
When the graphics were completed, ABI Digital Solutions trucked them up to New York, where tradeshow management installed them. “We delivered everything rolled on ten-, twelve-, and sixteen-foot rolls,” explains Bashor. “Nothing was folded.”
In total, the project took about three-and-a-half weeks to complete.
By Ashley Bray
All photos: ABI Digital Solutions
