Beyond Banners: Taktisphere XL Redefines What Wide Format Printing Can Be

Wide format printing has long suffered from an identity problem.

Ask someone outside the industry what it means, and they will probably mention banners, signs, vehicle wraps or oversized posters. Those applications remain important, but during the inaugural Taktisphere XL Live event, a panel of experienced print professionals argued that defining wide format by size alone misses the larger opportunity.

Hosted by Jason Leonard of Neenah, “WTF Is WF?” brought together Anneliese Gelber of Southeastern Printing, Jason Hamilton of PIQ Consulting and Jamie McLennan of Innvoke. The conversation explored how printers enter the wide format market, what separates profitable providers from equipment operators and why the most important parts of a project often happen after the printing is finished.

The event also marked the launch of Taktisphere XL, an expansion of the Taktisphere community into the wide and large format market.

Taktiful founder Kevin Abergel opened the program by describing the event as the beginning of a larger effort to learn from the wide format community, share knowledge and expose printers to new possibilities. He then handed the discussion to Leonard, who described Taktisphere XL as a place where printers, manufacturers, designers, brands and suppliers could exchange ideas without the usual competitive anxiety.

“It’s a safe space to get creative,” Leonard said.

That spirit of openness carried through the entire conversation.

Wide Format Is a Business Expansion, Not a Department

Each panelist arrived in wide format through a different path, but all three began with established experience in traditional commercial printing.

Gelber has spent more than two decades in print and entered wide format approximately 10 years ago. McLennan began in offset printing before moving through sales and eventually adding wide format capabilities. Hamilton, a third-generation printer, has worked across manufacturing, supply chain, sheetfed, web and digital production.

Their experiences challenged the idea that wide format must be treated as a completely separate business.

Gelber said adding wide format allowed her company to deepen existing customer relationships rather than simply chase an unfamiliar market. Commercial print clients already trusted the company with their brands. Wide format created opportunities to extend that same brand consistency into retail environments, restaurants, cruise ships, windows, walls and other physical spaces.

“I think it 100 percent helps grow your existing business,” she said.

The opportunity, however, requires more than purchasing a machine.

Gelber said brands increasingly expect wide format graphics to meet the same standards as their brochures, packaging and other printed materials. Color consistency, durability, installation and ease of use all matter. A graphic shipped to dozens of retail locations is not successful merely because it looks good coming off the press. It must also arrive intact, install easily and perform as expected.

Printers entering the market should therefore invest in the people and supporting roles needed to deliver a complete solution, she said. That may include specialists who can inspect a location, measure accurately, recommend materials and coordinate installation.

The panel repeatedly returned to one central message: equipment creates capability, but expertise creates value.

Brands Do Not Need Another Vendor Who Says Yes

Hamilton argued that clients are no longer looking for suppliers who simply agree to produce whatever was requested.

They want partners who can improve the original idea.

Instead of saying, “Yes, we can do that,” an effective wide format provider should be able to ask whether a different material, construction method or application might produce a stronger result.

Brands are looking for people with the technical knowledge and creative confidence to take a general concept and make it more impactful, Hamilton explained. That requires an understanding of substrates, finishing, logistics, installation and the customer’s larger marketing goals.

Being a one-dimensional wide format provider, he warned, is a quick path out of the market, regardless of how impressive the equipment may be.

Hamilton described wide format as a “LEGO world” because there is rarely one correct solution. A display may combine corrugated board, acrylic components, printed films, dimensional elements and specialty finishing. The printer’s role is to assemble those possibilities into a solution that works creatively, operationally and financially.

That flexibility is one of the market’s greatest strengths. It is also one of its biggest challenges.

The Job Is Not Finished When the Printing Stops

Much of the excitement surrounding wide format investment focuses on the printing engine: speed, color, resolution, ink technology and substrate range.

The panel said that emphasis can create a dangerous blind spot.

Finishing, fulfillment and shipping can determine whether a project is profitable or disastrous.

Leonard noted that printers frequently underestimate what happens after the image is printed. Cutting, routing, counting, assembling, packing and distributing products can represent the majority of the work involved in a wide format campaign.

McLennan shared the example of a customer that wanted 50 rigid podium-style displays shipped to premium sneaker stores around the country. Shipping the structures fully assembled would have meant sending dozens of oversized boxes filled mostly with air, creating enormous costs and a high risk of damage.

His team redesigned the displays using a material that could be shipped flat and snapped together at each location. McLennan personally demonstrated the assembly process for the client.

The solution did more than save money. It made the entire campaign possible.

“You have to have a good team, and you have to bring them all together in the beginning,” McLennan said.

That means involving shipping, finishing, CNC operators and production personnel before the design is finalized, not after hundreds of pieces have already been printed.

The panel described situations in which companies purchased flatbed printers without having an efficient way to cut the printed boards. A press may produce 100 boards in an hour, but if finishing takes three days, the printer has not created an efficient production system.

In wide format, the step beyond print can become either a company’s best friend or its worst enemy.

From Fine Art to Luxury Wallpaper

To illustrate the range of the market, the panelists shared some of the most unusual projects they had produced.

McLennan described recreating a large piece of fine art for internationally recognized artist Robert Longo. The work had to be scanned, enlarged to approximately 55 by 88 inches and produced on aluminum composite material with dimensional texture.

The final piece incorporated approximately 42 layers of white ink, deep red color and multiple layers of gloss. Each print took about eight hours to produce.

Hamilton recalled an elaborate influencer campaign involving custom display boxes, lenticular elements, jerseys, raised nameplates, engraved wooden shipping cases and extensive hand assembly.

Gelber discussed entering the luxury wallpaper market shortly after her company installed wide format equipment. The project involved expensive designer material, metallic effects, precise scaling, overlaps and pattern matching. It became an intense lesson in how quickly a seemingly straightforward application can become technically demanding.

These projects offered a much broader definition of wide format: not simply larger printing, but a platform for interiors, dimensional graphics, fine art, retail experiences, packaging-like displays and highly customized brand environments.

A Community Built Around Possibility

By the end of the event, the original question, “What is wide format?” had become almost impossible to answer with a simple product category.

Wide format is banners and signs, but it is also textured artwork, interactive displays, wallpaper, acrylic, retail environments and objects that may not resemble traditional print at all.

More importantly, it is a business built around problem-solving.

The inaugural Taktisphere XL discussion made clear that succeeding in this market requires creativity, technical knowledge, collaboration and a willingness to think beyond the press. The companies that thrive will not simply print what customers request. They will help customers understand what is possible.

As Leonard summarized, wide format is everything people already believe it to be.

It is also much more.