By Sabine A. Slaughter
The doors are open and exhibitors and visitors alike once again make their way to the World Trade Center in Dubai – yes, you are anticipating it rightly, SGI Dubai occupies the Sheikh Saeed Halls!
Once again, Sign and Graphic Imaging Dubai opens the global trade show carousel of the new year. Who can believe that it is already the 18th edition? Well, us who have witnessed most of the past exhibitions even cannot believe it. The show has matured from a marginal note in the international trade show calendar to a truly international event that draws visitors from near and far away. 18 years old – in many countries this means that you have developed yourself and are considered an adult. And yes, once again, SGI Dubai 2015 has grown up. It now features not only the exhibition but also a special textile printing area, a seminar series, the Signage Middle East Conference 2015, and, of course the Signage Middle East Awards 2015. The winners have been announced last night and you will read more about them on the following pages. However, this is not all that comes with being 18 years old: Let's not forget the birthday party for SGI Dubai. The exhibitors have done their utmost to present their newest and best products, be it printers or consumables to you, the visitors that are keen to see what offerings can be gotten.
New applications are enabled – be it with new machines such as the latest textile printers or roll-to-roll or flatbed printers. Highly sophisticated cutters that enable contour cutting among others, featuring different routers for different jobs are on display. The textile printers on show will print on different substrates offering not only flag printing or curtains but, enable printers to cater to the most diversified demands their clients have. Starting with T-Shirt to full dress printing, printing on seats, bedding, paravents or whatever textile application one can think off. Individualism does not stop there, of course. The amount of printers enabling printing on flooring, furniture, glass and marbles rises constantly. You will see some of them at the show. However, the (r)evolution of digital printing does not stop at yours or your clients home. Outdoor applications for all kinds of personalised and individualised messages as well as mass messages such as billboards rises constantly. New and more environmentally friendly consumables add the "green touch" that every responsible printer and print client should consider. Those materials are quite often even more light weight than conventional substrates and in addition biodegradable. Does your client want to know how often people looked at their signage that you printed and put up at a certain location? Well, sure you can give him those data – solutions for this are at the show. They even tell you which part of the signage has been drawing the most attention. Or does your client like some fluourescent ink to draw even more attention to his sign – well, even those are available nowadays and are showcased at SGI Dubai 2015.
Outdoor and indoor applications do not escape the digital evolution – yes, digital signage is already here. You see it everywhere, from the airport to the metro station and for sure in shopping malls and even outside. Visitors will find solutions for their clients requirements on the showfloor – be it billboards or "just" indoor displays.
And if this is not enough, then look closely at the new offerings for car wraps, and how you can help your client transport his message via his fleet of cars.
However, nothing is complete with matching the right colour of your clients order. Colour management software as well as a multitude of software solutions helping you to achieve and outperform your clients expectations by seamlessly integrating and adding value to your workflow can be seen. We hope you will enjoy and celebrate the newest edition of SGI Dubai as much as we do.