South Korea-based print provider Asphaltart transformed their business with a fleet of HP Latex large-format printers:
• HP Latex Inks are water-based—designed to avoid the hazards associated with other inks
• Control print operations virtually anytime, anywhere with HP PrintOS tools1
• Vivid colors at high speed and durable and scratch resistant prints2
HP Latex printers support the business success of Asphaltart Korea with the versatility of their materials, the richly expressed color sensitivity, and their robust adhesive durability.”
Who is Asphaltart?
• Founded in 1985 and based in Seoul, South Korea
• Floor graphic and visual communication experts
• One-stop services, including design, production, and installation
• HP Latex printers account for 80% of their output
- Utility
- Signage
- Sculpture
- Floor environment facilities
- Exhibits
- Advertising promotion
The challenges
- Build stronger partnerships with their customers
- Stand up to wear and tear with more durable products
- Branch out with new creative ideas
Asphaltart found their customers were demanding more: closer collaboration with their print providers, longer lasting floor signage
products, and more creative floor signage applications, going above and beyond just wayfinding signage.
To stand out, they needed to be the best. And that meant building a versatile production line that could keep up with their
clients’expectations—both in terms of quality and speed of delivery. HP Latex was the clear choice thanks to its high quality and durability, fast drying times, and media versatility
How HP helped them deliver
Amazing print quality
To win the best clients, you need to produce top quality prints. Asphaltart needed to raise the bar and deliver outstanding products to stand out in a competitive market.
HP Latex printers can deliver vinyl signage with high saturation color at production speeds3 —perfect for producing high-impact images and sharp text for detailed graphic solutions.
Seoul Grand Park Mirinae Bridge
Asphaltart produced detailed floor graphics, including maps of Korea and other complex prints, for the Seoul Grand Park Mirinae Bridge.
This busy tourist area needed highly durable and long-lasting prints that easily conveyed information through sharp text with bold graphics and vibrant colors. HP Latex was the obvious choice.
HP Latex Inks don’t crack when flexed or bent, which makes them ideal for easy installation onto curved or uneven surfaces. This enabled them to fit across outdoor paved and tiled surfaces.
Meteor Volunteer Center Trick Art
The Meteor Volunteer Center provides free English lessons to students and tours of Seoul for tourists.
Asphaltart worked with the center to deliver highquality, vibrant floor graphics to help create a more engaging environment for volunteers and students.
With HP Latex, Asphaltart delivered impressive 3D effects on self-adhesive vinyl.
More sustainable performance
It’s sustainable performance is at the forefront of clients’ minds. With HP Latex, Asphaltart addressed concerns with more sustainable media options.4
HP continues to drive a greater sustainable impact in large-format printing through manufacturing, product design and materials, and product and print end-of-life. Prints made with the latest HP Latex Inks are recyclable, returnable, or non-hazardous and safe for disposal.
Odorless prints
HP Latex is a water-based ink technology, meaning up to 65% of the ink formula is water. The latest HP Latex Inks are designed to avoid the hazards associated with other inks. Prints can be displayed in sensitive areas such as schools, playgrounds, and hospitals.
It’s not just about the final applications: using water-based inks made safer operations easier—enabling a more comfortable and welcoming operation. With HP Latex, Asphaltart created a comfortable environment where their talent could perform at their best, maintaining productivity
"As customer demand for sustainable ink has increased, HP Latex Inks are dispelling worries of harm to the human body and reducing environmental pollution through the use of eco-conscious material.”
UNICEF floor play
With its water-based chemical composition, HP Latex enabled Asphaltart to install a series of floor graphics across Seoul’s UNICEF children’s play area. HP Latex produces odorless prints, for even the most sensitive spaces and HP Latex Inks are UL GREENGUARD Gold Certified at the lowest emissions.5
The latest generation of HP Latex Inks are UL ECOLOGO6 certified, which means they meet a range of stringent environmental performance standards and human health criteria.
Improving the customer experience
Seoul Square Mall wayfinding
Seoul Square Mall is located opposite Seoul’s largest railway station, which sees over 100,000 passengers every day. Asphaltart designed and printed a vibrant wayfinding system that helps these users find the specific services they need in such a busy area.
The system uses bold primary and secondary colors to direct users across the busy mall. Thanks to HP Latex, Asphaltart produced sharp, vibrant, and consistent colors to stand up to a tough outdoor environment.
What’s next for Asphaltart?
The business’s recent gains are only the beginning. Now, Asphaltart is looking to diversify their product selection by printing to new substrates, providing clients with a greater selection of unique products.
For example, Asphaltart is currently exploring possibilities to deliver metallic stickers as part of their offering. That’s all possible thanks to the versatile media capabilities of HP Latex: almost 2,000 unique substrates are available for selection in the HP Media Solution Locator7
"We are expanding our customers into indoor signage and output markets such as hospitals and kindergartens, where environmental pollutant emission standards are emphasized. With world-class aluminum stickers and a wide range of textile/PVC stickers, we expect to be able to meet the needs of a wide range of customers.”
Want to know more?
Discover how HP Latex can transform your business. Our experts can advise you on the best printer to suit your needs and inform you about our latest trade-in program.
Footnotes
- https://www.hp.com/uk-en/commercial-printers/floater/printos.html
- Scratch resistance and image permanence testing by HP Image Permanence Lab. Scratch resistance is comparable to hard-solvent inks on self-adhesive vinyl and PVC banner. Scratch-resistance comparison based on testing third-generation HP Latex Inks and representative hard-solvent inks. Estimates by HP Image Permanence Lab on a range of media. Feature availability and related performance varies by printer, and may be optional. See individual products data sheets for more information at hp.com/go/latex.
- Outdoor mode (Banner) 4-pass, 100%. Based on internal HP testing in September 2020 on Avery 3001. Print speed may vary due to the adaptive printing mechanism to avoid image quality defects.
- https://lkc.hp.com/sustainability/differentiate-eco-conscious-media
- For certifications, see http://www.ul.com/EL and http://www.ul.com/gg or http://www.greenguard.org/ For Roadmap to Zero, see http://www.roadmaptozero.com/ HP 872, 882, and 886 Latex Inks have been tested and demonstrated compliance to the following toy safety methods and protocols: EN 71-3, EN9, ASTM F963-17, US 16 CFR 1303, US 16 CFR 1307, SOR 2011-17, and SOR 2018-83. HP does not recommend using the inks for toys intended to target children under the age of 3 years.
- Applicable to HP Latex Inks. UL ECOLOGO® Certification to UL 2801 demonstrates that an ink meets a range of multi-attribute, lifecycle based criteria related to human health and environmental considerations (see ul.com/EL).
- https://www.hp.com/uk-en/commercial-printers/floater/mediasolutionslocator.html
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