This year’s ISA was a really special one for Roland DGA. In addition to premiering a whole host of industry-changing new large format printing, apparel printing, and product customization machines, we presented a powerfully compelling collection of inspirational new booth graphics and machine output in celebration of our new devices. The quality of prints produced by our machines is definitely something that sets us apart from our competitors at ISA and we received many compliments about the brilliant designs that came off our new TrueVIS VG2 series printer/cutter, the new VersaUV LEF2-200 flatbed printer, and the new Texart RT-640M multi-function dye-sublimation printer.
To answer the request of this year’s attendees who wanted to know more about the outstanding print output, Roland DGA talked to members of its design team about some of the most popular designs from the show.
Sunrise Beauty.psd
- Designer:
Julian Arellano, Lead Graphic Designer, Roland DGA - Software used:
Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 / VersaWorks 6 RIP Software - Printed on:
TrueVIS VG2 series printer/cutter
Triumvirate.psd
- Designer:
Julian Arellano, Lead Graphic Designer, Roland DGA - Software used:
Adobe Illustrator CC 2019/ Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 / VersaWorks 6 RIP Software - Printed on:
TrueVIS VG2 series printer/cutter
A stag design from the Triumvirate collection of designs in Photoshop— showing the complexity of layers, including a Gloss ink layer/channel for printing an additional Gloss ink pass in VersaWorks 6 RIP software and adding a whole new dimension of “touchable color”.
The file set-up in new VersaWork 6 RIP software prior to show printing on the new VersaUV LEF2-200 flatbed printer.
(Top) Julian Arellano’s designs printed on the VersaUV LEF-300 flatbed printer at ISA 2019 onto lunchboxes (bottom) a close up of the gloss ink texture printed with VersaUV technology— the finished lunchboxes had the added element of Gloss ink textures to make them even more unique and desirable.
Talking about his Triumvirate designs, Julian Arellano spoke of the advantages that Roland DG printers have when creating original designs that have added Roland DG print dimension and appeal. These additional design elements were particularly effective in the Triumvirate series of designs that were created to showcase the ultra-bright colors and artistic ink effects of Roland DG UV technologies.
“These designs represent the spirit of UV machines with strong but beautiful animals mirroring the robust yet sophisticated Roland DG technology— more importantly, they feature striking geometric elements that we used as a vehicle to add tactile gloss ink textures”
At the show, these designs were printed on journals and lunchboxes. Julian was excited to see these designs coming off our VersaUV flatbeds and the “wow factor” they had when attendees saw them.
“These designs are so interactive— instead of just appreciating them from a visual perspective, attendees wanted to touch the textures of the printed products. UV printing adds such an amazing new element to design and printing.”
Apollo.psd
- Designer:
Carl Santiago, Graphic Designer, Roland DGA - Software used:
Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 / VersaWorks 6 RIP Software - Printed on:
TrueVIS VG2 series printer/cutter
The file set-up in new VersaWork 6 RIP software prior to show printing on the TrueVIS VG2 series printer/cutter.
Showcasing the amazing Orange ink capabilities of the TrueVIS VG2 series printer/cutter, the Apollo design looked super eye-catching coming off the machine.
Carl Santiago was tasked with creating a design that typified a company brand promotion. It was important for Roland DG to visually explain to people how our new TrueVIS VG2 series printer/cutters offers comprehensive new color options for sign and graphics professionals. Carl explained how these new TR2 Orange ink options allow designers to hit specific brand colors when designing.
“The design I came up with was reflective of the design aesthetic of a major sports company. When designing it, I used a selection of the new spot colors that are available in the new Roland DG Color Library to hit the kind of brilliant oranges and reds that other print technologies aren’t capable of.”
Carl went on to describe the importance of hitting specific brand colors when designing for big clients.
"Screen color and print color are not the same. When you’re able to identify, apply and print a specific company color, then your job as a designer is made so much easier.”
Yaguara.ai
- Designer:
Julian Arellano, Lead Graphic Designer, Roland DGA - Software used:
Adobe Illustrator CC 2019/ Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 / VersaWorks 6 RIP Software - Printed on:
TrueVIS VG2 series printer/cutter
The Yaguara design in Illustrator— the vector artwork contains both print layers and cut layers, plus multiple design variations.
The Yaguara design in VersaWork 6 RIP software— prepped for printing multiple die-cut stickers on the TrueVIS VG2 series printer/cutter.
Attendees admiring the color and quality of the finished decal design coming off the TrueVIS VG2 series printer/cutter at ISA 2019.
When asked about the reason behind the design, Julian explained that he initially developed the idea in support of a Roland DG ad promotion but it worked so well as an image, that it was turned into a print file for our show output— adding cut paths and special ink layers to optimize it for die-cut decal printing and UV product customization in VersaWorks 6 RIP software. He went on to describe how designing for multiple machine types is made easier when outputting PSD, AI, or other design files in VersaWorks 6 RIP software— designs that were originally created for a TrueVIS device can also be outputted in VersaWorks 6 to a VersaUV printer, or a print and cut machine combo.
According to Julian, the reason why it works so well as a print file is because it’s a strong graphical image that embodies the powerful features of Roland DG devices.
“Globally, Roland DG was using an image of a Jaguar to promote the new VG2 series of printer/cutters, so we decided to do our own take on this, paying close attention within the design to the amazing new color gamut that produces oranges and reds that are so vivid and eye-catching.”
He also described the thoughtful process that Roland DG uses to come up with its designs, so that attendees can see their own logos, brand designs, and artwork in the designs coming off our printers.
“When we’re conceptualizing our designs, we like to think of them as real-world projects that we’re creating for clients, and so spend a lot of time illustrating, composing and optimizing them for our machines— we never settle for simply grabbing a stock image from a stock image site.”
Roland DG Graphics in the ISA Booth
Some more graphical highlights from ISA 2019 included our Born-to-Wrap demos that were one of the main show attractions with Digital EFX wrapping a Jaguar F-Type with a supercool wrap, and our “Feel the Color”wall that allowed attendees to see and feel our UV designs.
Machines like the new Texart RT-640M multi-function dye-sublimation printer, the new TrueVIS VG2 series printer/cutter, and the VersaUV LEJ-640FT flatbed printer produced everything from phone cases with powerful geometric designs and unique ink textures to branded sign graphics with beautifully soft and colorful floral motifs.
- It was yet another amazing ISA show for Roland DGA, made successful because of a dedicated team of Roland DG designers, booth representatives, managers and dealers. With a top ISA Innovation award in the “printers” category, amazing new products to showcase, and top-quality machine output from our talented design team, it was a show we won’t forget in a hurry.
