How Screen Printing Works

Have you ever worn a lanyard with a simple, slightly raised design? It was probably a Screen Printed Lanyard, and you're about to see how that kind of product is actually made!

If you want to watch each step, we filmed the whole process. The video is linked at the end of this post.

Digital Design

Before the physical screens are created, the lanyard must be designed on a digital screen. Most important in this step is precisely spacing out the design elements, and ensuring the details are clear enough to show up well on the final product. This design is then printed onto a clear film for inkjet printing.

Printing & Prepping the Screens

In order to not disrupt the materials, this part of the process takes place in a dark room. The clear film is placed on a red screen (the namesake of this process!), and into a vacuum screen UV exposing unit. The screen and film are pressed together, and then removed. With a little water, the ink from the film is washed off, revealing a clean design, ready to head to production.

Screen to Lanyard

The final step, of course, is to transfer the print from screen to lanyard. This is arguably the most satisfying part of the whole thing. The screen gets covered in ink, then placed on top of blank lanyards. The ink is pressed into the lanyards, and then the screen is lifted to reveal the beautiful design.

Final Product

The lanyards are then placed on a conveyor dryer and hung on a rack. Once dried, they get a little love from the production team to give them their attachments, resulting in the final product!

If you'd like to see this whole thing in action, the below video shows the entire process in less than 30 seconds.