Everyone’s experimenting. New fashion trends – prints, micro-patterns and gradually fading colors (or gradients) – were big on runways this fall. Store designers are also tinkering with new looks, livening up in-store graphics with prints, colors and special effects. Technology is helping.

“With the development of new inkjet printers, we are applying graphics to surfaces that would have been impossible five years ago,” says Jeff Waggoner, director of environmental graphics at FRCH Design Worldwide (Cincinnati). “We now routinely print on glass, raw metal, wood and wallcoverings.” These developments are increasingly helpful as more retailers attempt to be environmentally conscious. The traditional methods of sign-making, using substrates such as aluminum and acrylic, are being replaced with more eco-friendly materials like wood and steel.

And if printing on unusual substrates isn’t experimental enough, Waggoner says he’s seeing graphics printed behind a front layer of computer-generated effects like gradients or fades, as well as vinyl that has an iridescent look and dual-color paints that change colors depending on the viewing angle.

Check out the latest signage and graphics products here.