Globe

Day & Night printing

The principle of Day & Night printing is relatively easy. Two different or identical images are printed with a white layer in between. When using two different images, you get a ‘day effect’ when looking at the print without backlit, while you can obtain a so-called transparent ‘night effect’ when putting a light source behind the substrate.

Day & Night printing

The possibilities are endless. Think of the illumination of a plexiglass plate in a bus shelter or backlit banners that give two different messages during the day and the evening.

The results are often amazing and inspiring. A lot of marketing and / or advertising agencies are very interested in this application. The catering industry too has discovered day & night printing. A room can undergo a metamorphosis by night and thus emit a totally different atmosphere.

Example of Day & Night signage for Jamie Oliver’s School Dinners:

Jamie's school dinners

Agfa UV-inkjet printers

A lot of printers cannot handle Day & Night applications to perfection, as they can print only one or two layers with a print session. With a bit of skill boards can be placed back in position, be it never with a perfect result.

The success of Day & Night printing depends indeed on three layers being printed in perfect register. Today, all UV-inkjet printers from Agfa can print three-layer Day & Night applications in a single run.

Agfa UV-printers use Konica Minolta 1024i or Ricoh Gen5 print heads. The build of the print heads allows a split into three parts, making it possible to print three differently ripped images in one run, and at the same time to cure each print layer well.

Want to know everything about day & night printing? Contact one of our wide-format specialists.