For a print shop with 19 years of color accuracy – consistency is everything, according to Mike Goldner, an account manager at Artisan Colour, a digital commercial printer, located in Scottsdale, Arizona. Artisan Colour uses Dibond aluminum composite material for anything from retail point-of-purchase signage, to die cut letters and logos for corporate offices, to fine art prints. They also use a variety of other Graphic Display materials including Sintra Board and Gatorfoam. They are the experts in digital printing, so when it comes to recommending product, they recommend 3A Composites USA products for their consistency, durability, and ease of fabrication.

“This is our “go to” brand for 90% of our brushed direct-to-board prints. Our product team loves the consistency of the boards, both in texture, surface uniformity and ink adhesion. We print UV cured ink with our OCE 480 XT flatbed printer and the results of the ink and brushed surface adds amazing depth to fine art prints – with the right image, it’s almost 3D. While there are other generic aluminum composite boards available, we feel that this surface delivers the best result for modern abstract prints,” Goldner explains about 3A Composites USA Graphic Display’s Dibond material.

Goldner works directly with clients and offers his expert advice on what substrates are best to use. Dibond is an extremely popular product for fine arts clients as well as commercial print applications. When printing for a fine art client, the print on brushed aluminum will take on a life of its own.

Goldner and his team primarily use Dibond for UV cured direct printing. In some instances, they use Dibond as a mounting board for archival rated photographs. When cutting the material, they use their ZÜND router table where they “score” and fold the sides to create complex three-dimensional shapes. Goldner reinforces, “The sign makers [at Artisan Colour] really like cutting the material because of its precision.”

We discovered the advanced color work of Artisan HD before through a Scottsdale artist printing on Dibond where extensive steps were taken to get the color just right for an outdoor application. Another reason the material is so well-liked Goldner says, “The fact that it’s so durable outdoors, even here in the Arizona sun, has allowed us to print on it for some of our customers ‘outdoor art’ lines.”

There is hardly ever a day that goes by that Goldner and his team are not using Dibond. His team will go through over 40 sheets of the brushed aluminum Dibond boards and ten of the white boards a month, “We will continue to use it for many years to come.”



Information and photography courtesy of Mike Goldner of Artisan Colour