How Acrylic Printing Works: Direct Print, Reverse Print and Face Mounting
Direct printing, reverse printing and face mounting compared: what each one looks like, where it suits, and how the artwork has to be prepared.
There are three common ways to put an image on acrylic. Direct printing cures UV ink onto the front face of the sheet. Reverse printing cures it onto the back face of clear sheet, mirrored, so the image is seen through the acrylic. Face mounting is different: a separate print on paper or film is bonded behind clear acrylic with a clear adhesive. Sun Studio does the first two on its flatbed printers in Al Quoz, Dubai, and has printed acrylic since it was founded in 2011.
This article explains how each method works, what it looks like and how the artwork has to be prepared. Sizes, thicknesses, care and what to send for a quote are on our acrylic printing service in Dubai page.
Sun Studio belongs to the same Dubai group as PRO TECHnology, which distributes Direct Color Systems equipment in the Middle East, so read our view of the machine with that in mind.
Clear, opaque or edge-lit: what the sheet decides
Clear acrylic behaves like glass under the printhead: CMYK inks are translucent, so a white base is printed wherever colour must read opaque, and omitted wherever the panel should stay transparent. Opaque and coloured sheet needs no white behind dark artwork but takes it selectively behind light colours.
Edge-lit work is its own discipline: light enters the polished edge and escapes wherever the surface is printed or engraved, so the artwork placement decides what glows.
Direct printing: ink on the front face
In a direct print the sheet lies on the flatbed, the ink is jetted onto the face you will look at, and UV lamps cure each layer as it is laid. On sheet that needs it, the build is a primer, a white base where the artwork needs one, the colour layer and, where specified, a clear coat. Nothing is laminated over the top, and pieces that are already cut to shape can be printed.
Direct printing is the simplest route for opaque signage, menu boards, awards and display parts. It is also the only one of the three that can carry raised print, because the ink can be built up in layers until a logo, a texture or a Braille dot can be felt. On our Direct Color Systems UV84 flatbed, Braille and tactile lettering are built on the same panel as the printed text. The method is explained in our guide to raised and tactile UV printing, and the acrylic base we printed for an Etihad Rail model shows terrain raised in cured ink.
The limit of a direct print is that the ink sits on the touched face. It wipes clean, but on a panel that people handle every day, the print is what takes the wear.
Reverse (second surface) printing: ink on the back face
Reverse printing, also called second surface printing, lays the artwork on the back face of clear sheet, mirrored, with the layer order flipped so that white goes down last. That puts the acrylic itself between the viewer and the ink. The print gains a glass-like depth, and the front face stays a smooth, cleanable surface with nothing exposed to scuffing. It is the standard specification for panels people touch.
The thicker the sheet, the deeper the image appears to sit. Our gallery wall reverse printed on 10 mm acrylic for an office in Dubai shows the effect. Two things have to be settled first. The artwork is supplied the right way round and we mirror it, so tell us which face is the front. Fixings also need thought, because a stand-off or a screw passes through the image. The same technique on glass panels, splashbacks and partitions is explained in reverse printing on glass.
Face mounting, and how it differs
Face mounting is often confused with reverse printing because the result looks similar: an image behind a glossy sheet of acrylic. The construction is different. The image is first printed on photographic paper or film. It is then bonded, face forward, to the back of clear acrylic with an optically clear adhesive, and usually backed with a rigid panel.
The appeal is that the image keeps the fine detail of a photographic paper print, which is why galleries use face mounting for photographs viewed at close range. The cost is an adhesive layer. Dust or air trapped during bonding is sealed in, and the bond is one more thing that has to survive heat and humidity over the years.
A reverse print has no adhesive and no second material: the ink is cured onto the acrylic itself. For signage, branding, wayfinding and display panels that is normally the more practical construction. Our acrylic work is direct and reverse printing on the flatbed. If your specification says face mounted, send it to us and we will tell you whether a reverse print meets the intent.
Offices and reception areas
Office work is mostly logos, branded wall panels and decorative partitions. Reverse printing on clear sheet suits anything at hand height or on a cleaning round. Direct printing on opaque sheet suits door and room signs. Logos are printed from vector artwork, and every job is approved on a sample before production.
Government and institutional signage
Directional signs, official branding panels and accessible signage are the usual requests from public buildings. This is where raised direct printing earns its place: Braille and tactile elements are built on the panel itself, so the sign is one clean sheet with nothing glued on. The rules a sign has to meet are set out in our guide to Braille wayfinding signage requirements in Dubai.
Property showrooms and sales displays
Developers use printed acrylic for floor plans, branding panels and display pieces in showrooms and at property exhibitions. Floor plans with fine line work print well by either method. Reverse printing keeps a plan that visitors point at and touch clean and unscratched.
Museums, galleries and cultural spaces
Cultural work covers interpretive panels, object labels, reproductions and tactile elements, including Braille for accessibility. Prints are specified for handling, light exposure and public display, and tested on the actual panel. For a fine-art photograph viewed at arm’s length, face mounting is worth discussing with the artist or the framer. For text, graphics and labels, a reverse print is the simpler build. We printed the acrylic for Luminous Shadow, an Abu Dhabi Art commission in Al Ain.
What Sun Studio does on acrylic
Sun Studio was founded in 2011 and prints from Al Quoz for customers across the UAE. On acrylic we print direct and in reverse, with white ink, raised and textured effects and Braille, on full sheets and on pieces that are already cut. We guide a project from artwork through to installation, and each job is approved on a sample before production. There is no minimum order.
Choosing between the three
- Direct print: opaque or coloured sheet, cut shapes, awards, raised print and Braille, and anything where the simplest build is the right one.
- Reverse print: clear sheet, panels that are touched or cleaned often, and work where depth and gloss matter.
- Face mounting: fine-art photographs where the detail of a paper print at close range is the priority, and where the adhesive layer is accepted.
If you are not sure, send the artwork, the panel size and a note on where it will hang. We will say which method we would use and why, and print a sample before the job runs.