Window Exposed Prints

From time to time we get a call from a customer whose posters have faded. Inevitably, it’s because they have been getting a lot of UV exposure, either from sunlight or overhead fluorescent lighting. Most printing will fade in sunlight, but if you ask for our UV inks, their life in sunlight will be much longer.

The picture at the right shows four large format prints that have been displayed next to a store window for a few years. They were printed with our regular inks- not UV. What’s interesting is how the poster on the lower left, which is closest to the window and lower, is the most faded. The ones above, hardly at all because they are shaded by a window awning. The one further back gets less sun too and is less faded.

When we see posters fading that are not subject to sun exposure, it’s usually because they are very close to a fluorescent fixture.

When you order UV inks on your poster, you get inks that do not fade with UV exposure. The manufacturers say they are good for 2-5 years in the sun, and our experience bears this out. The new HP machines that we use have excellent color fidelity with UV inks, much better than we were able to get in the past. You can get your brilliant reds with the new inks, and they will stay that way!