Reflective on Reflective or No?

[Malkin]

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I have to agree. I don't see much use for it either and I feel like it would effectively "reflect" and essentially "white out" therefore losing the message.​

It does.

Years back I made a sign with a Reflective Black background and Reflective White copy per customers request. It was a big mistake and he had us re-do it later on. The reflective black reflected so much light that it completely obliterated the copy.
As a rule of thumb, any time black is used on a sign (as the copy or the background) that is intended to reflect, the black should be normal opaque (whether vinyl, screen ink, solvent ink, UV ink, thermal transfer ribbon or whatever you have) and any other colors should reflect.

 

[Signed Out]

I am in the camp that thinks when doing reflective traffic sings that black should be opaque. However when we do full color digital prints on reflective, the black parts of the print don't seem to reflect back white. This is on a roland using rvw black spot color on oralite 5600. We also print on this stuff in 1440x1440 unidirectional, and it lays down quite a bit of ink. I guess this is why the black seems fairly opaque. So we have been using an overlay of black cut vinyl for traffic type signage, but when we have requests for reflective decals or non-traffic signs we will usually print.

 

[Tom Dalton]

I'd use regular 2 mil black vinyl on top of yellow reflective. That is how the vast majority of traffic signs are made (like Pedestrian Crossing signs).. if that's what you're after.

Tom
SignsDirect

 

[Billct2]

What is an appropriate use of reflective black on a sign? Honestly, I have no clue.

I use it on cop cars all the time, "black" during the day reflective at night (readable even on white)

 

[HIGHSPEEDGRAPHIX]

I would just use standard black vinyl on reflective yellow......highway signs ie speedlimits.....are high intensity or Diamond Grade reflective with Black vinyl or screen printed black opaque. and they shop up just fine at night

 

[Gino]

Just about any sign I've seen in my lifetime which has reflective on it, regardless of the color underneath it doesn't need to be reflective during the day, therefore the colors are just for aesthetics. At night with moving light or beams.... anything reflective from Stop signs to State Highway signs to fire plugs...... all light up and and can be instantly seen and read by anyone..... anyone who can read English.

The debate of reflective background to reflective copy or both areas being reflective..... just about any street sign has both areas being reflective. However, they aren't using the same stuff you guys are talking about.

Black reflective, I think, is one of the neatest vinyls out there. You can put it on a white background and it reads perfectly in the day and at night it just pops and the white background literally becomes dark, due to the contrast of the reflective-ness of the black.

To save money and still be quite effective, a plain yellow background with black reflective will work the best. The other way is just a huge waste of money going 10' long. Really 20 sq ft of yellow vs. about 12 sq ft of black... almost 1/2 the cost and have the exact same effect... if not better.

 

[vid]

I use it on cop cars all the time, "black" during the day reflective at night (readable even on white)

Do you outline it with black?

I get that in most real world applications it's still legible on a white surface. The flash of white from the reflection is going to diminish as one moves through the angle of reflectivity. But, for stationary signs or where one is in that angle for a longer duration, I have a hard time thinking it's going to be legible --- or at least, visually cumbersome to read --- without some contrasting border.

That's why I ask.

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A few years back, I had a customer request van lettering with reflective black vinyl. He owned an alarm company and wanted to be noticed as he traveled the neighborhoods at night.

It was the first time I ever heard of such a thing and the concept confused me. Admittedly, I'm a follower of the belief that black describes color with no reflectivity. His position was that it would make the black brighter... a theory that still escapes me. Nonetheless, we lettered his white van with black reflective.​

A few days later he emails a photo he took at night using a flash setting on his camera. [bawahaha] The lettering disappeared in the direct reflection of the flash.[/bawahaha] --- He actually loved that it did that. It gave the lettering a nice shimmer, and called attention to the van.​

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[Billct2]

Do you outline it with black?

No. Th ereflective black lettering is just straight balck, the design includes a large white reflective stripe that has a black fade
& white reflective lettering with a black outine.
It looks pretty cool at night.

 

[2B]

I would just use standard black vinyl on reflective yellow......highway signs ie speedlimits.....are high intensity or Diamond Grade reflective with Black vinyl or screen printed black opaque. and they shop up just fine at night

+1

do a fair amount this way