Tips & Tricks: Tile small signs when outsourcing digital printing

By signcraft

Posted on Monday, August 12th, 2024

It’s tempting to just upload files for several small decals to be print and cut, then specify that you want 4 or 10 or 25 prints of them. While you may assume that the company you outsource to will tile the jobs together, many major digital printing suppliers charge for such prints individually. They also round the size of the graphic up to the nearest foot for pricing.

So if you need nine 4-by-16-in. prints of a design and don’t tile them into a single 12-by-48-in. print (which is 4-sq.-ft.), the supplier may round the size of each print to 12-by-24-in. and you’ll be charged based on nine 2-sq.-ft. prints, or 18 sq. feet.

If they’re printing $8 per sq. ft. reflective material with an overlaminate, the tile 4 sq. ft. version would cost you $32. But if you did not tile the job into a single print, you’d be charged $144 for the 18 sq. ft. version.

Shane J. McNair, McNair Signs & Graphics, Carthage, Mississippi