Retail signage and mounted graphics for shop displays are be an incredible marketing communication tool. With the right design, shop displays can help your business stand out from the competition, increase your customer flow and turnover immensely, whilst re-enforcing your brand identity to keep customers coming back time after time.

Designed to increase sales, control customer flow or trigger a call to action, display boards and retail display graphics can be produced for shops, bars or restaurants. The applications are endless.

Whatever you requirement for retail signage, shop display boards or graphics, contact ADS Window Films & Graphics to discuss your requirements

Supported by the outstanding energy-efficiency levels of today’s low-emissivity glasses, current architectural designs favor a large number of windows with clearer glass than ever before. Consumers also drive this trend, with their demand for large, open interior spaces flooded with natural light.

While this trend has brought more light into buildings, and in many case energy savings due to reduced electric lighting usage, another trend has, at the same time, made interior fabrics and finishes more fragile: the emergence of environmentally friendly materials.

Driven by pollution laws, fabric dyes, wood stains, paints and other coatings found in modern buildings have been formulated to have a more benign environmental impact, but may in consequence be less stable than their predecessor materials, typically, solvent-based. Today’s water-based products have a number of obvious environmental benefits, but some are more susceptible to fading over time, a significant drawback.

In addition, because of ozone depletion, higher levels of solar UV now reach the surface of the earth. This further contributes to the rate of fading. These three trends—more natural light transmittance, more fragile interior components, and a higher concentration of UV—have resulted in a greater awareness of fading.

What is Fading?

Fading is a change in color with time.  It is measured by evaluating the color of a material at two or more points in time. Often it is a loss of color or a reduction in color saturation due to bleaching.  For the purposes of this discussion, we are also interested in additional material damage due to solar exposure, such as embrittlement and cracking.

Causes of Fading

Fading has two main causes.  The first is chemical, where chemical changes in the coloring agents of a material can cause a change (or reduction) in color.  Chemical reactions that lead to fading can be influenced by many environmental factors, such as the type of coloring agent/chemical, the chemical environment of each coloring agent in the material, the ambient chemical environment of the material, and the temperature, humidity, and radiation environment. In addition, wear or abrasion can physically remove coloring agents from a material’s surface.

Ultraviolet Radiation

The sun’s energy is made up of three distinct spectral components: ultraviolet radiation, visible radiation, and near-infrared radiation.  What distinguishes these from one another is the wavelength ranges that characterize them, commonly measured in nanometers (nm).  A nanometer is very small.  A human hair is over 100,000 nanometers thick.

Ultraviolet radiation is invisible to the human eye and has the shortest wavelengths of the three types mentioned, from 300 to about 380 nm.  Visible light covers the approximate range from 380 to 780 nm, while the near infrared radiation (sometimes called invisible solar heat) has the longest wavelengths, from 780 to 4045 nm.
Ultraviolet radiation (UV) is the single largest contributing factor in fading of fabrics, carpets and other furnishings.  Although visible light, electric lighting, heating, humidity, age of fabrics and fabric dyes all play a part in the process, UV radiation is attributed to 40% of the damage.  Protecting against UV is not just important in hot, sunny climates.  Even in cold, cloudy climates, UV radiation can damage furnishings.
UV can also be hazardous to humans.  According to the American Academy of Dermatology, exposure to the sun and its harmful UV radiation is causing an epidemic in skin cancer cases in recent years.

Several products are moderately effective at blocking ultraviolet radiation.  Low-emissivity coatings on glass provide additional protection from UV.  However, even the best of these coatings still transmits 26% of the UV radiation incident upon them.  One PVB interlayer supplier states that laminated architectural glass made with clear or tinted interlayer is essentially opaque to UV radiation.

Quantifying the Effects of Fading

The most authoritative research on quantifying fading damage was done in the early 1950s by the United States National Bureau of Standards.  The U.S. Library of Congress undertook this research, in order to design a glass filter to protect the original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  Scientists found that blocking all of the ultraviolet radiation portion of the solar spectrum would not eliminate fade damage for most fabrics, but will slow down the rate of fading by a factor of about three.

Because so many factors influence fading, finding the effect of one factor is extremely difficult.  All parameters except the one being studied must be held constant for the duration of an experiment, which may run for months or even years of testing.  That is why there is relatively little research in this area.  To study the effect of radiation on fading, it is important to focus on one type of material while keeping the environment constant.  Factors in the environment include chemical composition of the atmosphere, temperature, and humidity.  The known exposure to radiation, including the known spectrum, and known dose (intensity X time) must be identified.  Then there must be sufficient duration to observe the rate of color shift, or fading.
There have been studies like this of the fading and other damage effects of solar radiation but no consensus has yet emerged on which portion of the solar spectrum is most responsible nor on what spectral weighting function is appropriate for assessing in a single “UV transmittance” figure the contribution of different solar UV wavelengths to the damage.

For a while, the straight integrated spectral transmittance from 300 to 380 nm was used, given the symbol T-UV. More recently, the spectrum of interest has been extended beyond the UV portion to cover the range from 300 to 700 nm, and a different weighting function was selected for use. With this system, the human photopic visibility function, often given the symbol V(λ) and called the V-lambda weighting function, is replaced by another function purported to better represent the damaging portions of the solar spectrum.

The damage-weighting function most often used is:

The resulting damage-weighted transmittance has the symbol T-dw. The methodology is based on the work of Jurgen Krochmann in Germany and stems from his studies of the damaging affects of radiation on paintings and other museum artifacts. The Krochmann damage weighting function was incorporated into ISO/CIE publication 89/3 “On the deterioration of exhibited museum objects by optical radiation” and is referenced by NFRC [National Fenestration Rating Council] optical properties standard NFRC 300 in computing the damage-weighted transmittance T-dw.

It is extremely difficult to isolate the influence of radiation on the fading process.  The best currently available indication of a glazing’s effect on fading is the damage-weighted transmittance, T-dw, of the glazing system.  T-dw is the weighted transmittance at normal incidence for the center-of-glass region.  The wavelengths of radiation that have the most influence on fading (when all other factors are held constant) are given the most weight.  In determining the weighting curves, the type of experiment described above is repeated using different radiation sources and analyzing the results.  Each weighting curve is specific to a given material, environment, and history.

The current method for calculating T-dw is based on studies of art materials, not furnishing or construction materials, so its applicability to those types of materials is unknown.  In addition, there is a difficulty in communicating the fact that T-dw is a relative measure (ranking) for glazing systems, not something that can be used to predict the actual amount of fading in any given situation.

The Aluminum Frame is the perfect way to demonstrate the versatility and safety features of safety/laminated glass. Glass can be placed into the frame and various demonstrations performed; such as striking with a crowbar, dropping steel balls etc. 

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The Celer 200 is an invaluable resource for cutting film. Whether you want to cut out 100 identical window shapes, or create 2 x 30″ rolls from 1 x 60″, the Celer 200 is the way to go. The Celer 200 can also measure what you have left in a roll. Simply load the roll and get it to rewind; it will measure what’s in the roll while it rewinds.

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The roller line is ideal for manipulating the laminated glass from the Allin 165. It can be placed behind the Laminator to receive the glass allowing you to trim film or work on glass while avoiding the potential for accidents. 

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Reflective Films, Opaque Films, Decorative Films and Blackout Films can all be used to create visual impact or privacy.

A variety of different colours and shades are available
to compliment other elements of your building structure and help create a uniform look, even when an unattractive combination of blinds, draperies and other diverse interior furnishings present an aesthetic problem.

The simple application of tinted, opaque, coloured or reflective films can rejuvenate a property’s exterior appearance while the use of graphics can help establish a corporate identity for your building.

In fact the whole range of films available give you the architectural and decorative flexibility to project any image you so desire.

Privacy, on the other hand, can be achieved by the application of several different types of film. Translucent/Opaque Film allows the determination of light and dark movement, but not detail, to the passer by, whereas Daylight Reflective Film allows people to see out but not into your property and for total privacy, Blackout Film can be utilised.

All these film types can assist in providing privacy to sensitive areas such as office partitions or living accommodation, particularly bathrooms etc.

Manifestation of transparent glass is a means of identifying glazed areas of a building to members of the general public or your employees to prevent human impact with the glass.

The presence of glazed areas may not, in some cases, be evident by the normal positioning of glazing elements (eg mullions, transoms, door frames etc) increasing the likelihood of collisions occurring. It is in these situations (eg Shopfronts, Car Showrooms etc) where some form of Manifestation of the glazing must make the glass apparent.

An inexpensive solution to glass identification is the application of applied materials to the glazing. These Manifestations, which must be of sufficient size to be obvious and placed between 600 mm and 1500 mm above floor level, can take the form of broken or solid lines, patterns or a Company Logo, transforming your glass into a viable advertising media.

Manifestations can be designed to your specification or can be chosen from the standard stock range of colour splash vinyls including translucents, metallics, opaques, simulated etched or sand-blasted effect film or Scotchprints (4 colour image system).

All Manifestations are durable and not easily removed, although Specialist removal is available for updating or replacement, if so required.

ADS Window Films will be more than happy to discuss any aspect of Decorative or Privacy Films with you. Either contact us direct, or via on on-line Enquiry Form.

We can supply and fit, to your exact requirements, window film to suit most commercial, domestic, automotive and vehicle tinting situations.

Reducing Heat and Glare
Providing Beauty, Elegance, Privacy, Safety and Security

• Businesses benefit by providing a cooler more comfortable environment for employees and reducing heating and air conditioning costs
• Homes benefit by making occasional rooms, conversatories and large windowed areas more accessable in bright weather.
• Soft furnishings, carpets and stock items benefit from reduced fading
• Window films provide security and privacy
• Your car or motor vehicles will look better, feel cooler and be more secure

• Heat gain through glass is cut by up to 80%, so interiors are kept far cooler and more comfortable
• Solar glare is cut by up to 80%, so eye strain is dramatically reduced
• Damaging UV light is cut by 98% or more, so vulnerable materials are protected from fading
• Glass is strengthened for safety and security
• People and valuables are shielded from view

Window film can reduce unwanted summer heat gain by up to 80 percent, considerably lowering the temperature of a room in the vicinity of the window. And in winter, valuable heat is reflected back into the room, minimizing that cold-wall effect.

Our Window Film Range covers a variety
of applications including Solar Control Film, Energy Control Film, Conservatory Film, Privacy Screening, Architectural Enhancement, Manifestations, Safety Film and Security Film to improve the quality of your glazing and to ensure compliance with current building regulations.

As with the Residential and Commercial application of Window Films, Automotive or Auto Films and Car Tints will, as well as blocking out heat, obstruct an extremely high percentage of harmful UV rays whilst still allowing visible light through the windows. This effect increases the comfort levels, whilst driving, for you and your passengers, as well as helping to prevent the interior upholstery from fading.

And the benefits just keep on coming …
	Heat gain through glass is cut by up to 80%, so interiors are kept far cooler and more comfortable Solar glare is cut by up to 80%, so eye strain is dramatically reduced Damaging UV light is cut by 98% or more, so vulnerable materials are protected from fading Glass is strengthened for safety and security People and valuables are shielded from view