Resources
Media Guide
A media guide for South African print and cut work, helping teams match vinyl, laminate, board, and application surface to the actual job.
How Media Guide helps with weekly jobs
Media Guide helps match vinyl, laminate, board, and application surface to the actual job. It is useful when choosing material for windows, wall graphics, shop signs, or short-run promotional marks.
For Media Guide requests, note the exact application surface, whether it is glass, painted wall, ACM, foamboard, correx, or existing vinyl. Add the install date and where the site sits, because Highveld sun, Durban humidity, Cape Town wind, and dusty service areas can each change the material call. If anything has lifted, shrunk, silvered, or faded before, mention that with the store name or rollout reference.
A useful photo shows the full area first, then a closer view of corners, joins, frames, or damaged sections. That gives context for laminate choice, print direction, panel breaks, and whether the surface needs prep before application. Keep one copy of the guide in the workshop so cutters, printers, and installers are checking the same details.
Material checks before print
The guide helps narrow the choice between cut vinyl, printed vinyl, laminate, rigid board, and temporary promo media. It is there to stop a window graphic being treated like a wall job, or a short campaign being overbuilt for no reason. Clear naming on the job file also helps when stores reorder single panels or replacement marks later.
Use Media Guide alongside artwork approval and packing checks before any store pack leaves the bench. Confirm size, finish, adhesive type and where the graphic will go, then pass those details on through the contact form. If older graphics are still on site, say what they are and where they failed.
- Vinyl matched to glass, wall, or board
- Photos covering frames, joins, and damaged spots
Site conditions that alter media choice
Retail graphics do not face the same conditions in Sandton, Umhlanga, Bellville, or a smaller inland centre. Some jobs sit in direct afternoon sun, some near grease or moisture, and some on older painted surfaces that are not ideal for aggressive adhesion. Media Guide is there to flag those conditions before print, cutting, laminating, and packing start.
Coastal air can affect edge life and finish choice on exposed shopfront work. Inland dust and cold mornings can interfere with surface prep and application quality, especially on windows and painted masonry. Loadshedding also matters when planning print runs, laminate cure time, and install access at busy centres.
Operated by Astros Marketing (Pty) Ltd from 2 Makro Place, Sunnyrock 1401.
What to include with each brief
Brief the Media Guide with photos of the application area, the install date, and any media that has already failed, shrunk, lifted or discoloured. Keep the subject line tied to the actual store or rollout.
Send the guide with the job record so the buyer, production team, and installer are working from the same material decision. Include photos, install date, substrate, previous failures, and whether the piece is a once-off replacement or part of a wider store rollout. That makes it easier to trace what was printed, supplied, and applied at each branch.