18.05.2006

STYLO FINDS SOLUTION TO UNUSUAL ARCTIC SIGNAGE PROBLEM

When it comes to graphics not much surprises award winning Watford base company, Stylo. But even they were left scratching their heads a little following a challenging request by client PizzaExpress for an Arctic expedition banner!

“At Stylo we pride ourselves on being able to provide a diverse range of interior and exterior design solutions for small businesses and big corporates alike, be it printing onto substrates as diverse as doors, blinds, furniture fabrics, carpets, mats, ceramics, woods, metals, or even bread,” says Stylo’s managing director, Simon Olley.

“But even we were temporarily taken aback by this job as we had not been asked to produce anything like it before and we were convinced that a banner of this sort, for this particular purpose and environment, can’t have been fabricated too many times before”, he continued.

The request related to April’s North Pole Marathon and, in particular, the team from PizzaExpress who were taking part in an attempt to raise in excess of £50,000 for the children’s disability charity, Kids.

The brief was to supply an 8m sponsor’s banner that would withstand extreme temperatures of minus 50° and be lightweight enough to be carried to the Pole easily, then taken around the course and used at the finish for the photo opportunity (see attached image).

If the event sounds slightly bizarre, that’s because it is! After landing on the ice, the participants have to run the 26.2 miles in one of the remotest parts of the planet where the sun never sets during April, wearing three layers of clothing and snow shoes, battling against extreme sub-zero temperatures with a wind chill of -30 degrees, and dodging polar bears!

“After some research into the materials on offer we elected to go with Ripstop, the fabric widely used in the manufacture of sails. It is very light and durable. We then set about testing that the inks and our Dyejet print process would also withstand the extreme conditions, says Olley.

“From the feedback we have just had, the whole trip really was quite an experience and the conditions for the race were apparently the toughest in race history. Minus 23 degrees, plenty of ice ridges and lots of very powdery snow. The only element of the project that we weren’t sure about was whether the banner was polar bear proof, but thankfully that was never put to the test as the team completed the course in one piece!”

Stylo is the market leader in the production, supply and installation of display graphics for retail, point of sale, exhibition, and museum interiors and exteriors, with a vast range of customers from small companies including design and advertising agencies, through to large organisations such as Vodafone, Oasis, Caffe Nero, McDonalds, Borders, Paperchase, Mazda and IKEA.