Night Glow Signs / Glow-in-the-dark Prints

Safety signs are designed to save lives, which is why their visibility is absolutely crucial, even in low-light conditions or during power outages. And our Glow-in-the-dark (night glow) prints are essential for this reason. These innovative signboards ensure that critical information remains visible and accessible when you need it most (even in complete darkness).

Think about your last visit to a movie theatre or hotel corridor. You’ll notice emergency exit or fire safety signboards or floor plan prints installed at strategic locations. During the day, these signs look like regular, everyday prints. But when darkness falls or if the power goes out, they start emitting a bright, greenish glow, instantly guiding people to the nearest exits and to safety.

In an emergency like a fire, the power supply is often one of the first things to fail, reducing visibility and making escape routes difficult to find. Electrically-lit signs become useless in the absence of power. And that’s why glow-in-the-dark prints that are immediately visible in the dark and that do not rely on electricity to function are vital.

Night glow prints are primarily used in environments such as factories, office complexes, commercial buildings, hotels, malls, movie theatres and anywhere where safety is a priority.

What makes night glow signs unique is their ability to shine without any electrical power. Coated with special photoluminescent materials, these prints absorb light during the day and automatically glow in dark conditions. This self-sustaining feature makes them invaluable in situations where communication must not fail, even in complete darkness.

Night glow prints are primarily used for emergency exit signs, fire escape routes, and assembly point boards, ensuring you can guide people to safety in a crisis, when every second counts.

So let’s take a look at the product variants for the same, available at our place.

How Do Night Glow Prints Work?

Let’s break down the brilliant science behind night glow prints—in a way that’s simple and makes sense

You may recall hearing about ‘phosphorescence’ from your school days. Phosphor is a special chemical, and the way it behaves in the dark is quite cool. When exposed to light during the day (such as from tube lights, sunlight, or even regular bulbs), phosphors absorb that energy, almost like charging a battery.

Then, when it gets dark or there’s a power cut, all that stored energy is slowly released as visible light—a soft, greenish glow that you can see even in pitch-dark conditions.

And this is exactly the magic that makes our glow-in-the-dark signs work. The print media has a photoluminescent coating that continuously absorbs light and recharges automatically whenever exposed to illumination.

The Problem with Low-Quality Night Glow Media

When it comes to glow-in-the-dark safety signs, not all prints are made equal. You might have noticed that some signboards just don’t glow the way they’re supposed to, right? Or prints that lose their glow and fade away in just 5 minutes in the dark. Here’s why.

Many printer shops and printing vendors in the market use low-cost, unbranded glow media. On paper, these cheap Chinese knockoffs promise you a “glow in the dark” effect. But in real life?

The glow is faint and underwhelming, barely lasting for FIVE minutes after the lights go out. Imagine relying on such a sign in an emergency. Not only is it disappointing, but it can also be downright dangerous.

How Long Will My Glow-in-the-Dark Print Actually Glow In Complete Darkness

Curious about how long your night glow signage will light up your space after the lights go out? Great question! Let’s break it down together—so you can plan and buy with full confidence.

Nightglow prints aren’t magic, but they definitely feel magical! During the day—or whenever they’re exposed to a good, strong light source like sunlight, fluorescent tubes, or incandescent bulbs—these prints soak up light just like a sponge. Once the area becomes dark, they slowly release this stored light, glowing cheerfully to keep you safe and informed.

The Real Factors That Influence “Glow Time” – 3 main things play a role in how long your glow-in-the-dark print will shine:

Recharging the Print is Easy!

Don’t worry—your glow sign will recharge itself whenever it’s exposed to light again.

• Outdoors? The sun does the job automatically.
• Indoors? Just ensure your sign is placed near a lamp, tube light or other strong source.

Fire evacuation maps

Fire evacuation maps

These maps help guests, clients, and staff quickly locate themselves in large commercial buildings. Furthermore, these maps indicate the quickest route to safety, helping people find their bearings and escape swiftly, even when they are on unfamiliar premises.

Emergency Exit Signs

Emergency Exit Signs

These signs clearly indicate the nearest exit doors, so in an emergency or panic situation, nobody needs to waste precious time searching for an escape route.

Exit signs for dark areas

Exit signs for dark areas

Whether it’s a movie theatre, a storeroom, or a basement—these exit arrow signs are always visible even in total darkness.

1. Night Glow Prints: Shine in Total Darkness

1. Night Glow Prints: Shine in Total Darkness

Think of night glow prints as the “store-and-shine” type. This means that the print ‘stores’ light much like how the battery in your mobile phone stores power. This stored light is then emitted when it becomes dark, providing visibility to our printed image.

These special signs are coated with a photoluminescent material—a fancy way of saying they absorb light during the day (from the sun or nearby light bulbs) and then release it in darkness, glowing like magic when all the lights go off. No electricity required!

• Night Glow Signs are best suited for places where it can get pitch dark, such as stairwells, corridors, or during power outages.
• Common uses of this material: Emergency exit signs, fire safety info, evacuation maps, etc.

2. Night Reflective Prints Shine When Light Hits Them

Night reflective media, on the other hand, works differently. This specialised material has thousands of tiny prisms embedded on its surface. And these prisms act as mirrors to bounce back any light that hits them.

Both night glow and night reflective media function without requiring any power source or electricity. However, the main difference between these materials is that while night glow media emits light in complete darkness, night reflective media only reflects any light that falls on its surface.   

Think of road signs and direction boards installed on the motorways. These signboards light up when the light from a car’s headlamps falls on them at night. The headlamp’s beam from approaching vehicles illuminates the print, making the message printed on night-reflective vinyl clearly visible. And when the car passes by, the reflective sign dims down.

Key Takeaway: Night reflective prints need some light to work—they won’t be visible in total darkness if there’s no direct light to reflect back.

Fun & Funky: Creative Uses of Glow-in-the-Dark Prints

Night glow prints are all about safety. However, there is also a fun element to this product. Remember those glow stickers that are installed in children’s rooms. The ones that are stuck on the walls or ceiling of the kids’ room, and start glowing once the lights are switched off?

Night glow prints are also perfect for adding a creative touch to your living space with funky, psychedelic stickers or posters that collect light during the day and burst into life at night—great for parties, kids’ rooms, theme restaurants, and special events. They’re real conversation starters and absolutely catch the eye!