Creative examples of interior print applications

From eye-catching wall, window and floor graphics to cushion covers, carpets and curtains, interior print comes in all shapes and sizes. Rob Fletcher showcases some of the most creative, interior applications from recent months.

One of the great things about working in the print industry is the vast range of applications that you can produce. Be it small-format work such as business cards of leaflets, right up to gigantic building wraps, the scope of what is possible is staggering.

Even when you focus in on a certain market, the choice of work remains wide ranging and even open for further extension, depending on how experimental you and your clients want to be. One such area is interior work, where the array of work on offer to print companies is plentiful.

With this in mind, this feature seeks to celebrate some of the more recent, innovative pieces of work from the interior print market, showcasing the many opportunities to be even more creative with the type of applications you can create for customers.

Swept off your feet

First, let us pay tribute to one of the most common application types within the interior print market: floor graphics. These were popularised during the pandemic, helping guide people safely around shops and other environments, with their use having continued to increase as the world returned to normality.

Print Three Calgary created floor graphics to replicate a tennis court inside a shopping centre

While the pandemic saw them used primarily for directions, brands are now using graphics to promote their offering and improve the overall experience of shoppers. A great example of this is Print Three Calgary, a franchise working as part of the Canada-wide Print Three network, which used Drytac SpotOn Floor 200 to produce floor graphics to promote the Calgary National Bank Challenger, a professional tennis event.

Rather than go along the lines of simple branding such as logos and images of tennis, this project focused on creating floor graphics to mimic a tennis court for a dedicated area inside a shopping centre. Here, organisers held a series of tennis-related events, allowing shoppers to take part and win tickets.

Also making use of Drytac materials was Canadian printing and lamination solutions provider Lamin-8, which used SpotOn Floor 200 to create a unique and personalised dancefloor for a customer’s wedding.

Lamin-8 used SpotOn Floor 200 to create a personalised dancefloor for a customer’s wedding.

The piece measured 20ft x 20ft and featured a black and white design, complete with the first initials of the bride and groom, along with their now-family name, the Archers. Other aspects include a lined border around the edge of the dancefloor and a large graphic in the centre. Lamin-8 printed all graphics for the application in house using its HP Scitex FB500 flatbed printer.

“Our client was taken aback with the quality and performance of the product,” said Lamin-8 president Michael Isaacs. “Another key feature was the removal; this was a quick process that required little effort and left no adhesive behind on the floor.”

Print to educate

Another popular application type in this sector is wall graphics, with these being used for everything from decoration to education. A recent project by UK print business Print 2 Media falls into the latter category, with the company creating wall graphics for use in a nearby school.

The graphics included three large maps; one of the area local to the school that highlighted nearby landmarks, another a UK map showing sites of interest and importance, and the third a world map with postcard pictures of famous sights. A fourth graphic was a timeline detailing major historic events.

Print 2 Media printed graphics in house using its Canon Océ Colorado 1640 and SwissQPrint Nyala 4 - onto Drytac’s Polar Grip product - while its specialist team installed the pieces on site at the school.

“School customers are always the best,” Print 2 Media Founder Glenn Wrigley said. “The teachers are so enthusiastic and happy to have such a useful teaching aid and the children certainly let us know their thoughts. They are always so positive and take real pride in their new wall murals.”

As for decoration, step forward Signbox, a UK signage solutions provider that has been using its HP Latex 800W printers create interior graphics for 22 Bishopsgate, the tallest building in the City of London.

Signbox printed wall and ceiling graphics for use at 22 Bishopsgate, the tallest building in the City of London.

The project included wall and ceiling graphics for use at Horizon 22, London’s highest free viewing platform, offering 300-degree views of the city. The entrance to Horizon 22 is now decorated with stunning graphics printed in house at Signbox.

“Due to the dynamic nature of the project, it required us to be hyper agile, reacting to changes in the design of the built environment as the project progressed,” said Greg Bailey, senior project manager at Signbox. “We managed to achieve all client variations and deliver these within the main project period. The final finishing detail of our work is outstanding; this was the opinion of the client team as well as ourselves.”

Pushing the boundaries

We could easily go on and on listing the many application types in this sector. So, to finish, we wanted to pick out some of the more unusual projects to further whet the appetite of printers seeking new ideas and opportunities.

One example comes from Moss, the branded environmental specialist previously known as MacroArt. The UK company recently created a series of banners, displays, graphics and even dye-sublimated print carpets for an event at the historic Blenheim Palace in the Cotswolds

“This particular job meant we had to push the boundaries of what is possible with temporary installations,” Moss group account director Mike Hamling said. “I’m very proud of what we’ve produced for this amazing exhibition and further strengthen our relationship with Blenheim Palace.”

One final example comes from Global Printing Enterprises (GPE) in Canada, which worked with a range of materials from Drytac to create an immersive display promoting te Hollywood film ‘Wonka’.

Global Printing Enterprises used various printed elements to create an indoor experience based on the ‘Wonka’ film

Installed inside a local shopping centre, ‘Wonka’s Sweet Escape’ offered visitors the chance to walk around inside Wonka’s candy shop and enjoy photo opportunities. Printed elements included wall murals, displays, backdrops and floor graphics, with the company working with Polar Grip Air, Polar Premium Air, ReTac Smooth and FloorTac on the project.

“The captivating displays they created provided an immersive brand experience, generating a tremendous amount of excitement and significantly increasing brand recognition,” said Dennis Leblanc, senior business development manager for North America at Drytac. “As a result, foot traffic to Yorkdale Mall skyrocketed, leading to a substantial surge in movie ticket sales.

“The benefits of utilising GPE for experiential marketing are crystal clear, as they allow for personalised and eye-catching displays, flawless execution, scalability, and adaptability.”

Of course, this is just a small selection of the many applications that make up the interior print sector. The reality is that there are many more to explore, while the innovation of print companies means more will likely appear as printers continue to stretch the boundaries of what is possible with print.

To discover the latest content that covers a wide range of sectors interior printing sign up for FESPA’s free monthly newsletter FESPA World available in English, Spanish and German.