Switching to printing signage and banners relating to Covid-19 is saving Moray-based Signworks according to its founder Cameron Philson. He said his work has gone from “zero” to “crazy” in the past few weeks with such orders, which he can turn around in hours using his HP Latex 315 printer.
Philson, who set-up Signworks in 2008, said that when crucial social distancing guidelines were introduced in March 2020, his typical orders - retail signage, banners, flat-cut letter signs and magnetic panels - abruptly stopped, but then he began receiving orders for temporary graphics such as distancing posters and key worker thank you banners.
"I'm a small sign maker working from home and with the lockdown and zero jobs on the horizon things were looking bleak," he says. "I put a little post on social media promoting social distancing signs and things started to go crazy for me."
He added: "Banners and posters printed on my HP Latex are instantly dry, so if my customers request next-day - or even same-day - delivery I can tell them 'yes'. I come from an eco-solvent background where you'd have to wait 24 hours for prints to be finished, so compared to five years ago that's unbelievable."
As lockdown guidelines change and more people return to work, Cameron is now producing more permanent graphics. "Many of us didn't realise how long this situation would go on for, but now we're seeing how long term this is there is a need for more permanent signs for social distancing, stickers for hand sanitiser, and so on."
