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What our resellers say
Links Signs and Graphics
All first class service. Enquiries are answered quickly and clearly, products always delivered on time and if there has ever been a problem, it is always resolved quickly.
Tones Media
I was impressed by the performance. Whoever designed this product is brilliant. Concerning the Canadian market, most people admired the quality of your products. Several sign shops have ordered demo units to place in their stores to show to customers.
3 Tier Print Management Ltd
That is brilliant service. Thank you so much. It's always difficult when something goes wrong but the real measure of a supplier is how they react and I can't praise you high enough. Thanks again.
Nitro Branding
I find the combination of product range, price and convenience unbeatable. Always a great service and high quality products from Signwaves, thank you.
Mirage Signs
Signwaves are a very professional company and have professional staff that sells quality products at excellent prices.
Signs Express
Swift responses, informative and detailed quotes and our Account Manager at Signwaves is very patient, with endless variations to quote for.
Discount Displays
Brilliant service, detailed information and great performance. The quality of products is superb and consistent. If there are ever any
issues, they’re dealt with quickly and professionally.
Recent News
What Major Outdoor Events Reveal About High-Performance Commercial Signage
High-profile sporting events show what good commercial signage has to do in the real world. The best outdoor displays have to guide people clearly, hold up in demanding conditions, and support the wider event environment without getting in the way. That matters well beyond tennis. If you are planning signage for a high-footfall event, you face the same challenge. Your display system has to help people move confidently through the space while still supporting the look and commercial standards of the event. Sporting events offer a useful reference point. They show how physical signage can shape the visitor experience just as much as the event branding itself, especially when crowd flow, hospitality, and wayfinding all need to work together. How Does Commercial Signage Improve Visitor Experience At Events? Commercial signage improves visitor experience by making your site easier to read. At a major event, guests should be able to understand where to go, where to queue, and where key facilities are without stopping to ask for help. That clarity changes how the venue feels to visitors. In practice, it usually means using a coordinated commercial signage system that combines wayfinding, branded display, and visible markers across the site. Directional signs, entrance markers, and information points all reduce hesitation and make public areas easier to navigate. High-profile tournaments show this clearly. Branding does not need to dominate a space to work well. When display systems are planned properly, they suit the environment while still helping visitors move through it with confidence. Effective signage also shapes first impressions. It helps the venue feel professionally managed, visually consistent, and ready for high volumes of footfall. How Does Outdoor Signage Help Manage Crowds? Outdoor signage helps manage crowds by breaking large spaces into clearer, more readable zones. Entrances, queue starts, refreshment areas, exits, and transport routes all need visible markers so your visitors can keep moving without second-guessing where to go next. This matters most at pressure points. Pinch points, junctions, and open concourses are where hesitation can quickly turn into congestion. Placing rigid boards, banners, or taller markers at these decision points reduces bottlenecks and makes visitor flow easier to manage. Crowd management also has to work alongside sponsor visibility. Event organisers still need branded space, but it has to support movement rather than compete with it. The best outdoor signage supports both jobs at once, which is exactly why branded event signage needs to be planned as part of the wider site layout. Safety sits underneath all of this. When large groups are arriving, queueing, or leaving at the same time, clear signage helps direct people towards the right route quickly and with less confusion. In this setting, commercial signage plays a direct role in keeping movement clearer and more controlled. What Display Solutions Work Best For Outdoor Venues? Outdoor venues rarely need just one type of display. They usually need a mix of formats that can handle long viewing distances, exposed weather, perimeter branding, and clear wayfinding across a busy site. In practice, that often means combining several outdoor displays rather than relying on a single signage format. The right display solution depends on what you need each area to do. Perimeter fencing may call for PVC banners, entrance zones may need banner frames or larger structural markers, and walkways often benefit from taller formats that can be seen above head height. Durability matters throughout. Trade buyers need outdoor signage that can cope with wind, rain, repeated handling, and long event days without losing legibility or visual impact. Good commercial signage also needs to stay consistent across different zones of the venue, from perimeter branding to entrance points and hospitality areas. Flying Banners are useful for marking retail points, food vendors, or route changes along walkways. PVC Banners help cover larger surface areas while carrying sponsor branding across fences or screened sections. Banner Frames and taller structural units such as Giant Poles can help identify entrances, facilities, or central meeting points from a greater distance. Signwaves has more than 30 years of experience manufacturing durable display solutions for real commercial environments. We support trade partners with in-house design, printing, and logistics, helping them specify outdoor signage that works for the site and stays visually consistent across the event. How Can Temporary Signage Improve Hospitality Areas? Temporary signage helps your hospitality areas run more smoothly by defining where people should queue, sit, enter, and wait. In busy outdoor settings, that separation matters just as much as the branding. Café Barriers and Garden Parasols create clearer boundaries around food stalls, seating, and VIP spaces. That keeps moving crowds separate from seated guests and helps hospitality areas feel calmer and better controlled during peak periods. Café Barriers are particularly useful where venues need both queue guidance and branded presentation. Garden Parasols add shelter and visual consistency across outdoor seating while also giving organisers another branded touchpoint. When these areas are easier to navigate and more comfortable to use, the hospitality offer feels more polished and easier for guests to use. This is another area where commercial signage supports both presentation and practical site management. How Should You Plan Signage For High-Footfall Events? High-footfall event signage works best when it is planned around decision points. Entrances, queue starts, refreshment areas, junctions, exits, and hospitality zones all need clear visual cues before visitors start to hesitate. A practical way to plan this is to walk the site from your guest’s point of view. Any place where your visitors may need to stop, choose a direction, or check that they are heading the right way is a likely location for commercial signage. Material choice matters as much as placement. Outdoor signage has to cope with handling, weather exposure, and long event days without losing clarity or stability. This is where a supplier with in-house print, manufacturing, and logistics becomes valuable, since consistency across multiple display formats is much easier to control. Signwaves has 30 years of experience manufacturing durable display solutions for real-world environments. We help organisers specify signage that stays visually consistent across the site and performs reliably throughout the event. Frequently Asked Questions Why Is Signage Quality Important For Outdoor Events? High-quality displays prevent confusion and protect the reputation of the venue. Poor materials can fail in bad weather and look unprofessional to sponsors. Better-quality banners help keep instructions clear and support safer navigation throughout the day. When attendees understand their surroundings, the experience improves. Clear communication reduces the stress of navigating a crowded area. Sponsors also expect their branding to appear on clean, well-presented surfaces. How Does Outdoor Signage Stay Durable In Wind And Rain? Durability comes from using steel bases and flexible fibreglass poles. These materials allow displays to flex with the wind rather than breaking under pressure. Weighted bases and ground pegs help keep tall banners more stable in exposed conditions. Manufacturing techniques like welded hems and reinforced eyelets help reduce fraying. UV-resistant inks also help colours hold up better in the sun. That keeps branding looking sharper over longer periods of outdoor use. How Quickly Can Branded Event Signage Be Delivered? Manufacturers can offer faster turnaround by keeping core hardware in stock. Managing printing and finishing in-house also gives the production team more control over the schedule. That matters for trade partners working to strict opening deadlines. We handle design, manufacturing, and logistics to deliver consistent signage at scale. That is particularly useful when there are last-minute sponsor changes before an event begins. Reliable suppliers also help reduce delays and keep delivery schedules more dependable.
The Power of Polycarbonate
At Signwaves we take great care in selecting the right material for the job, and in the business of designing and manufacturing durable outdoor signage that performs in all weathers, and where safety and reliability counts, polycarbonate has an important role to play. What Is Polycarbonate Plastic? Polycarbonate is an incredibly versatile high-performance thermoplastic that is known for its exceptional strength, durability, and clarity. It is often used as a substitute for glass due to its light weight and shatter resistance. A standout material that is virtually unbreakable with an impact resistance up to 250 times greater than glass (whilst being half the weight) and 30 times stronger than acrylic (e.g. Perspex). Key Features and Benefits of Polycarbonate: Extreme Impact Resistance: It can absorb significant energy without shattering or cracking, making it the standard for safety applications such as bulletproof windows (for example banking tills), riot shields, helmet visors and goggles. At Signwaves it is the first choice for glazing in permanent displays where vandalism may be a risk, such as in our Slimlok Poster Cases, Slimlok Noticeboards and Slimlok Menu Cases. Optical Clarity: It transmits up to 88–90% of visible light, rivalling glass in transparency but without the brittleness. For products in the business of displaying a customer’s promotional print, without fear of compromising a customer’s branding or clarity of message, polycarbonate ticks the boxes. There is no better example than in the use of polycarbonate glazing in our large format Sentinel Forecourt Poster Signs, used by leading supermarket chains, petrol forecourt operators and out-of-town retailers throughout the UK and beyond. Thermal Stability: Polycarbonate maintains its structural integrity across a wide temperature range, typically from -40°C to +130°C. It can withstand high heat without deforming, a property which makes it ideal for the likes of microwave-safe cookware, electronics applications, automotive parts e.g. headlights, and in construction materials exposed to extreme conditions. This is also a valuable feature in any poster display product exposed to direct sunshine, especially when the printed poster beneath is made up of dark heat absorbent colours. This can be further exaggerated in a display mounted to the inside of a shop window, so it is no surprise to see polycarbonate featuring in our larger size Headliner window poster display. Design Flexibility: Being a thermoplastic means it can be easily moulded, bent (even at room temperature), and thermoformed into complex shapes without losing its properties. An excellent example of this is our injection moulded Pivot Gripper for showcard mounting. No other material would provide the balance of strength, light weight and optical clarity which makes polycarbonate the perfect manufacturing choice for this display accessory application. Lightweight Nature: Being roughly 50% lighter than glass, it reduces structural load in building projects and makes it easier to handle and install, it also improves fuel efficiency in the aerospace and automotive industries. It’s high strength to low weight ratio made it the ideal choice for the glazing in our Cyclone Forecourt Poster Sign with its unique counter-balanced display panel. Polycarbonate’s high strength to weight ratio also makes it the material of choice for the poster pocket panels in our Swinger Pavement Signs. Natural UV Shield: It is inherently UV-resistant, blocking nearly 99% of harmful ultraviolet radiation, which is why it's popular for greenhouses and sunglasses. Fire Safety: It is a self-extinguishing material with a high fire rating (B1), meaning it stops burning as soon as a direct flame is removed. Recyclability: Polycarbonate is fully recyclable and, unlike some plastics, can be reprocessed multiple times without significant loss of quality. Primary Recommended Uses: Vandal-Prone Areas: Due to being virtually unbreakable (up to 250x stronger than glass), it is the premier choice for bus shelters and urban advertising where vandalism is a concern. High-Traffic Public Spaces: Recommended for airports, stations, hospitals and schools where accidental impacts are likely. Safety & Emergency Signage: Often mandated for fire exit and hazard signs in industrial settings because it is self-extinguishing and impact resistant. Illuminated Outdoor Signage: Ideal for lightboxes and channel letters in regions with extreme weather (hail or high winds) or high temperatures, as it remains stable at temperatures up to 130°C. Thermoformed Signage: Preferred for 3D or dimensional signs (e.g. the McDonald's "M") because it is easier to shape without losing structural integrity. Fascinating and Diverse Real-World Applications: Bullet Resistance: Thicker laminated sheets are used to create bullet-resistant "glass" for banks, armoured vehicles, and government buildings. Military Jets: The cockpit canopy of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet is made of high-quality polycarbonate—the largest single-formed item of its kind. Medical Innovation: It is used in medical devices like incubators and dialysis machines because it is durable, transparent, and can be sterilised with steam or radiation. Olympic Record: The roof of the Olympic Stadium in Athens (2004) was constructed using 25,000 square metres of polycarbonate, making it the world's largest stadium roof of its type Check out our full range of products here!
Adfresco® Features and Benefits
High streets are competitive spaces where businesses compete for attention. Companies lose revenue when their premises fail to stand out to passing traffic. Signwaves provides high-impact displays to help convert passers-by into customers. Our team delivers resilient display systems designed specifically for commercial environments. If you need to increase your daily footfall, our Adfresco® products provide a professional solution. Outdoor signage changes how a business interacts with its immediate environment. Hospitality venues often struggle to maintain a professional appearance during bad weather. Relying on lightweight boards leads to damaged materials and a poor brand image. Adfresco addresses these issues with durable engineering. Adfresco® System Definition and Typical Use Cases Adfresco® is a professional cafe barrier system designed to define commercial boundaries and display brand messaging outdoors. Retailers and hospitality venues install these heavy-duty posts and banners on pavements or forecourts to create visible, professional borders. Creating a dedicated physical zone outside a restaurant improves the perceived value of the venue. The presence of sturdy metallic posts and taut fabric banners signals quality to people walking past the premises. Business owners use these barriers to manage queues and create comfortable outdoor dining areas. Adfresco® provides a physical structure that organises traffic while serving as an advertising canvas. Hospitality venues use these structures to maximise usable floor space and manage crowd flow. A well-placed barrier system turns a standard pavement into a seating area that generates additional daily revenue. Trade buyers specify this outdoor signage for high-footfall environments because the units withstand heavy daily use. Technical Features of the Adfresco® System Adfresco® hardware uses marine-grade stainless steel and heavy bases weighing nearly twenty kilograms. The system includes a patented sliding ring mechanism for tensioned banners and weather-resistant materials to ensure long-term structural integrity. The base design gives the structure stability in difficult weather conditions. These heavy posts will not blow over when wind hits the high street. The flat base design also removes tripping hazards for pedestrians to ensure public safety. Tensioning is a critical part of this product range. Banners that flap in the wind look unprofessional and make printed text difficult to read. The lower sliding ring allows staff to pull the graphic panel tight so your message remains flat. The primary technical features of the Adfresco® system include: Marine-grade stainless steel hardware that prevents rust. Heavily weighted flat bases for stability. A sliding bottom ring to keep banners tight. Modular connection points to link multiple posts. Commercial Benefits of Adfresco® Signage These technical specifications result in increased footfall and reduced replacement costs for business owners. Robust construction means companies invest in reliable signage once rather than replacing cheap alternatives throughout the year. Financial efficiency is a major benefit for any commercial entity. Investing in hardware that resists corrosion and wind damage prevents ongoing maintenance costs from affecting your budget. The durability ensures the initial capital outlay provides returns over years of use. Brand visibility correlates with profitability. A tensioned banner displays your logo and seasonal promotions to every person walking past your location. The visual impact of a professional boundary line suggests your business maintains high standards. The practical benefits of using this equipment include: High-impact branding that captures attention and draws customers towards the entrance. Clearly defined seating zones that encourage patrons to stay longer. Interchangeable graphic panels for quick marketing updates. Professional aesthetics that improve brand perception. Impact of Weather Resistance on Display Longevity Weather can damage inferior marketing materials through rain and fluctuating temperatures. Professional outdoor signage must withstand environmental factors while displaying brand messaging without tearing or fading. A rusted metal post outside a restaurant creates a negative impression regarding hygiene. Marine-grade stainless steel prevents this by resisting moisture and road salt. Businesses in coastal towns or exposed forecourts find this protection vital for daily operations. Wind is a significant threat to freestanding structures on busy pavements. Lightweight signs can blow into the road and cause safety hazards. The weight distribution of the Adfresco® base ensures posts stay where staff place them. UV exposure can damage printed materials by bleaching corporate colours. Our printing processes use specialist inks that resist sun damage to keep your retail branding clear. Adfresco® Performance Specifications Understanding technical capabilities helps you make informed purchasing decisions. These details address common queries regarding the daily operational performance and physical reliability of these heavy-duty barrier systems. Wind and Rain Resistance The system uses solid steel bases weighing nearly twenty kilograms to anchor posts to the pavement. Tensioned banners allow wind to pass around the structure while marine-grade metal prevents structural rust. The combination of weight and design makes this product resilient in poor weather. Staff do not need to move the banners during a storm. The engineering ensures the system remains stable. Suitable Installation Environments Hospitality venues, retail forecourts, and car showrooms see the greatest return on investment from these barriers. Any commercial pavement space requiring crowd control combined with a visible graphic area is an ideal candidate. The professional finish allows the system to fit outside high-end restaurants and retail stores. The equipment provides industrial strength without sacrificing aesthetic appeal. Expected Product Lifespan Marine-grade hardware lasts for many years of daily deployment without structural fatigue. The polished metalwork only requires a simple daily wipe down to maintain its appearance. While printed banners may need replacing to reflect new campaigns, the metal hardware is a long-term investment. This longevity makes the system cost-effective over its entire life cycle. Professional Boundary Systems for Brand Visibility Adfresco® provides businesses with the tools to manage external commercial spaces. The combination of safety features, visual presentation, and weather resistance makes this a standard choice for commercial operators. Signwaves is a UK manufacturer with over 30 years of experience creating durable display solutions. We support trade partners with in-house design, printing, and manufacturing to deliver high-quality signage. Investing in robust hardware ensures your brand stands out and consistently draws people to your premises. If you have further questions, our team can help you identify the right system. Contact Signwaves to discuss how to turn your pavement space into a revenue generator.
