MX Display

23/06/2026

We loved working on this project with our friends at Michon Creative. There were plenty of interesting challenges for our team to navigate along with a lovely mixture of textures and materials that delivered a beautiful and visually engaging result.

View it here:

We worked Michon Creative to deliver a full suite of Office Rebrand Graphics for Heidelberg's Leicester office

16/06/2026

Setting up artwork for large format printing is different to small format. Here's a fix for a problem that often catches people out...

Large format graphics are often supplied as a high resolution PDF at a reduced scale. Perhaps half scale, a quarter, or even at tenth scale. This is perfectly fine. (Side note, don't forget to scale the bleed too).

The first issue we often see occurs when we upscale for printing. Sometimes designers forget that the 300dpi image in their artwork, will no longer be 300dpi when it is scaled-up to full size. If the file is at 'half-scale' the bitmap imagery needs to be 600dpi, which will become 300dpi at full scale. Whatever dpi you're working with, the output will be affected when working at scale.

⚠️ The real Number One Error is found in the PDF export. The wrong PDF preset can undo all that artwork-scaling math – in just one click. A standard 'High Quality Print' preset will compress all imagery back down to 300dpi. 😱

✅ The fix: Check the compression options. Make sure all bitmaps images are set to 'Do Not Downsample' using the drop-down menu. You can double-check the dpi of your PDF in Adobe Acrobat.

02/06/2026

We delete them.

We remove the crop marks – or 'tick marks' if you prefer – every time. Crop marks are great for hand cutting or using a small guillotine, but for printing like us, they're a bit of a nuisance. So we delete them.

We ask in our artwork guidelines that you don't add crop marks on artwork. And here are three reasons why:

1. We print large format graphics, sometimes up to 50 meters long. The tiny marks are just not reliable on a very wide rolling flatbed cutter. We use specialist software that can identify the trim and bleed within the artwork file which will cut in the correct place much more effectively.

2. Those pesky little printer marks are hard to spot on large graphics. And if we don't find and remove that teeny-tiny cross hair on that 20m banner, we'll print it, on your artwork, forever!

3. When we print large format wall and floor graphics, it is common to add 'excess' artwork for fitting. Excess is like bleed, but it is not trimmed off during the production process. Our installers will trim off the excess on-site. That little bit extra is there as a contingency – for when the wall isn't square or a bit wonky. If there are crop marks on the artwork, there is a chance they'll be on your fancy new wall graphic too.

Our studio team can support you with your artwork setup and chat through any questions you might have. Contact one of our lovely account managers for our artwork guidelines.

17/04/2026

🎂 🥳 Happy Birthday to us!
30 years of MX Display is worth celebrating. So we did, with fizz and cake. (Our clients can rest assured, their prints and projects will be delivered to the usual high-standard – the drinks were non-alcoholic 😊)
Here's to another thirty years of working with all our great customers and making big ideas come to life!

16/04/2026

🥳 It's our 30th birthday tomorrow!
This is David Lister's business card from way back in 2006! Still the same phone number and email too!

14/04/2026

🎂 🎉 🥳 Here's some more blasts from the past to celebrate MX turning 30 this week! This was a Derby Telegraph article from 2012... recognise anyone?...

13/04/2026

🎂 🥳 🎉 This week we are celebrating turning 30!

Multiprint began in 1986 processing, developing and finishing prints for professional photographers around the UK. In 1996 MX Display became the large format arm of the business. This Newsletter from 1999 included a section called 'Nick's Notes' and a photo of our wonderful CEO. Can you spot him?