When it comes to film and graphics solutions for your building’s interiors and exteriors, you may have started to look into your options already… but you probably realized quite quickly that the vast range and variety available to you can become overwhelming. This blog will help orient you to some of the more popular solutions and manufacturers so you can continue your research with more ease.
As you read through this blog, remember that there are many, many more options and manufacturers available to you and your company. Call (866) 925-2083 to find out about the full range of your options.
But first, let’s talk about the various types of films you have available to you.
In a world of thousands of film options, the sky’s the limit for the film properties or combinations you can get, but some general options include:
- Reflective/Traditional – keeps heat out and modernizes building aesthetic
- Low E – reduces temperature loss to keep costs down year-round
- Exterior – applies to the exterior of your windows
- Ceramic – blocks heat with a warm, natural-toned look and low reflectivity
- Neutral – offers great transparency without color tones
- Spectrally Select – offers heat rejection while allowing maximum light transmission (with minimal, if any, change to the appearance of the glass)
- Security – provides anti-theft, anti-graffiti, and anti-blast protection
- Plastic Glazing – applies to impact-resistant polycarbonate glazing
- Daylight Redirecting – uses cutting-edge tech to eliminate glare while harvesting light in your building, so you can comfortably reduce lighting costs
- Decorative – provides privacy and visual appeal for exteriors and interiors with customizable patterns and colors
Each of the following manufacturers offers a combination of these films, leveraging their own unique spin and expertise to help you get what you need for your building’s size, energy needs, architectural and glazing features, and other factors.
3M
With a focus on scientific innovation, 3M leads the pack in solar, architectural, decorative, and security film manufacturing, offering well-known brands such as:
- Thinsulate – one of the leaders in insulating, Low E capabilities
- DI-NOC – highly durable architectural film that updates interiors and exteriors of any material with astonishingly realistic, natural-looking patterns such as metals, woods, leather, stone, and more
- Fasara – polyester-based decorative films in various colors and patterns
In addition to classic tinted, reflective, or clear solutions, 3M also provides a full-range of energy-saving films proven to reduce HVAC and lighting costs as soon as they’re applied.
Along with their well-known film brands, 3M also offers print media films for printed graphics that enhance your building’s interiors and exteriors, windows, sidewalks, and floors so that, no matter where your customers or prospects look, your brand will be right in front of them.
Hanita Coatings
Hanita differentiates themselves by providing world-leading solutions for solar and security film made for glass or plastic windows. Hanita’s name brands, SolarZone, SafetyZone, and PolyZone may be less well known than 3M’s brands, but they offer the same outstanding 12-year warranty for commercial films.
A leader in print graphics as well, Hanita’s plastic substrates provide highly durable, distortion-resistant print media that offer water resistance, tear resistance, optical clarity, and other long-term benefits ideal for a variety of applications and locations.
Madico
Providing award-winning laminating and coating solutions that offer high performance for a wide range of uses, Madico’s complex, multi-layered films span brands such as Sunscape (Sun-Gard), SafetyShield, and Decolite.
Madico wasn’t only the first company to successfully commercialize transparent reflective window films in 1958, they have also maintained a stance of consistent innovation for nearly 100 years to provide outstanding solutions for many applications. Most recently, they’ve been focusing on safety films, including coverage for technical glass such as fire-rated and wire glass.
Madico’s safety solutions reduce spall from small and large missile impacts, and they have performed admirably when tested with ASTM, ANSI, and other testing standards. Madico does not manufacture print graphics.
Solar Gard
Yes, we know it can be hard to remember the difference between Madico’s “Sun Gard” and the manufacturer “Solar Gard”, but it’s worth it to know how these brands stand apart from one another.
Solar Gard’s films include brands such as Ecolux, Solar Gard, Panorama, and Armorcoat, offering everything from solar protection to energy savings to security film to anti-graffiti solutions.
Solar Gard is part of Saint Gobain, the world’s only manufacturer of both glass and window films. Saint Gobain has over 350 years of experience in glass manufacturing, which, when combined with Solar Gard’s more than 40 years of film and coating expertise, makes for a great product with proven results.
Solar Gard does not manufacture printed graphics media, but they do offer decorative films that come in custom colors, patterns, and designs to meet your precise needs.
Eastman Chemical
Founded in 1920 by George Eastman of Eastman Kodak, this company focuses on the chemical compositions that create both window films and print graphics. That’s right: not only does Eastman Chemical offer several well-known brands from their window film manufacturing plant—the largest in the world—they also invented many of the materials that compose modern window films. Their brands include:
- LLumar – a wide variety of films: reflective clear, spectrally select, Low E, ceramic, decorative, security, and more; used in Buckingham Palace and the Vatican
- Vista – also a wide range of window film variety, with custom colors, solar films, exterior and interior applications, or virtually any combination of LLumar and Vista offerings
- V-KOOL – the first high-tech, clear film in the industry and one of Popular Science magazine’s Top 100 Inventions of the Millennium; uses “sputtering” for clarity and is great for storefront displays
- SunTek – highly secure films tested to government standards for break-ins, blasts, and impacts, includes innovations such as one-way privacy mirrors, dual-reflective films, and solar/decorative combinations
Though Eastman Chemical doesn’t directly manufacture signs, graphics inks, or substrates, their leading status in the chemical industry means that there’s a high likelihood your print graphics leverage Eastman’s expertise to ensure the finished product’s quality and longevity.
Whatever You Need, NGS Films and Graphics Has Got You Covered
When you’re looking for the best solution for solar film, security film, decorative film, energy-saving film, anti-graffiti film, architectural film… or even gorgeous print graphics and substrates, NGS can help you find the perfect solution.
Other window film vendors limit themselves to partnering with only one manufacturer, which gives you a limited palette to choose from; with NGS, your palette is never limited. NGS Films and Graphics believes you deserve to know the full spectrum of your options all the time – and that includes many we haven’t mentioned here in this post.
Contact NGS Films and Graphics at (866) 925-2083 to learn more about your options for film and print graphics. You’ll be surprised at how much there is to see.
