This post follows a recent publication on Why Choose Illuminated Signage for Your Business. Here, you will learn about the advantages and disadvantages of lightboxes for your business. For a concise understanding of the topic, this post is broken into 3 parts:

1. What is a lightbox?

2. Advantages of lightboxes

3. Are there any drawbacks?

Just like the LED sign and neon sign, lightboxes offer high visibility of your display in the field of signage and advertising communication.

1. What is a lightbox?

The lightbox allows you to display a totally or partially transparent poster, and it has an electrical lighting system (LED or neon backlighting) that helps you enhance your display.

Models of lightboxes

Several types of lightboxes currently exist on the market:

• The single-sided lightbox

It allows you to highlight an advertising poster on the front part of the box.

• The double-sided lightbox

It offers the possibility of displaying 2 models of visuals on its 2 sides—for example, flag signs.

• The scrolling lightbox

It can present several visuals that scroll successively. It is the case in particular for specific advertising panels.

• The lightbox in stretched canvas

It allows the display on long lengths or large surfaces, as is the case for advertising tarpaulins.

Use

You can use lightboxes both indoors and outdoors for your store/company’s signage or advertising:

Indoor lightboxes:

They allow you to light up your advertising posters, POS material, etc.

They can be placed on a wall, suspended or on a stand to meet all your requirements.

Outdoor lightboxes:

They are widely used to support store signs and advertising signs to highlight your company, indicate your presence, enhance your image…

2. Advantages of lightboxes

The lightboxes have multiple advantages:

• easy assembly and excellent mobility;

• a swift change of communication;

• adaptation to all environments and all sizes;

• low cost;

• guaranteed visibility.

3. Are there any drawbacks to backlighting?

 The short answer is YES, mainly in terms of the product cost, installation and maintenance.

 Product Cost

 Despite the sharp decline in lightbox prices, LED lightbox posters and displays are almost always more expensive than traditional non-illuminated signs because there are wires, LED light panels, LED light strips, etc., inside the lightbox.

 Installation

 Besides, the installation of LED lightbox posters and displays generally requires more electrical expertise than traditional non-illuminated posters and billboards. Either a nearby power outlet or a long power cord to connect is required.

 One of the most common use cases is at trade shows and exhibitions. For those who build their trade show booth, wiring all the lightboxes can be complicated.

 Maintenance

 The maintenance of LED lightboxes is different from that of traditional non-illuminated signage.

 Ideally, you should store LED parts in a dry environment – consistently below 85% humidity (unless they are designed to be waterproof);

 Also, the storage temperature should be between -40℃ and 100℃.

 In addition to that, the LED lightbox needs to be cleaned. Of course, the outer layer (namely the cover and frame) is much easier to clean. But you need to be extremely careful when cleaning the inside at a rare event. In this case, you can’t use unknown chemical liquid to clean the LEDs because it may damage the LED resin’s surface and even cause colloidal cracking.

 And of course, it works on electricity!

In our following publications, we will present the advantages and disadvantages of LED signs and neon signs. In the meantime, remember to share this post and share your experience with Illuminated Signage for Your Business.