Covering glass with distinctive window film is Decorative Films' specialty, so when the design firm of Larry Kanter & Associates wanted to promote the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Memorial using the windows of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., the company tapped the well-known shop to output the attention-grabbing graphics.
Using Adobe Illustrator, Studios Architecture of Washington, D.C., sourced by Kanter, designed the Wilson Memorial graphics. Final image files were then handed off to Decorative Films for printing.
Peter Huyser, Decorative Films' president, says it chose the shop's 6-color Agfa Anapurna XL2 printer for this job because of its white-ink capabilities–a mandate from the client–as well as its UV output (the company also has a Mimaki JV3 in its arsenal as well as a Matan Spot thermal transfer printer).
Using the Anapurna, the shop produced proofs of small sections of the whole image, and delivered these to the client. Once the thumbs up was given, Huyser and crew could turn their attention to final output.
A total of 250 square feet of graphics were reverse printed on Lintec of America Wincos UV clear polyester window film with permanent pressure-sensitive adhesive and scratch-resistant coating. Printing took five hours. 'Most challenging to this job was tiling this large image,' says Huyser.
It took two installers from Larry Kanter & Associates six hours to install the four 95 x 84-inch prints on outer windows of the Woodrow Wilson Center, facing the street. No finishing was required, Huyser says, because of the media's inherent scratch-resistance.
Based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Decorative Films LLC has been in business since 2002 and grew from a solar-control window tinting company, into an international installer and distributor of decorative window films. Decorative Films employs eight people in its 6700-square-foot workspace.
DECORATIVE FILMS
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