Your business name, opening hours, phone number, website, service list and logo, cut to shape and applied straight to the storefront glass. There is no visible panel and no background — just the lettering sitting on the window, which is why it still looks like signage rather than like a poster taped up inside.

Worth being plain about the name, as with all our cut lettering. This is not traditional plotter-cut solid-colour film. Your artwork is printed in full colour and then contour cut to the outline of each letter or shape, which is what makes multi-colour logos, gradients and photographic detail possible. On the two opaque white films, anything left unprinted inside a letter reads as white. On the clear film, the glass shows through it instead.

Three films. Clear Spot On is a clear film where only the ink is visible, so the letters appear to sit directly on the glass with no carrier edge catching the light — for most storefront lettering this is the one you want. 3M-IJ35 and 3M-IJ175 are opaque white print films, for lettering that needs a solid white body rather than a see-through one; of the two, 3M-IJ175 is the heavier-duty cast film and the better choice for outdoor lettering that has to last.

Reverse Printed is standard practice for storefront work. The artwork is mirrored so the lettering goes on the inside of the glass and reads correctly from the pavement, which puts the window between the print and the weather, the window cleaner and anyone inclined to pick at a corner. Printed White backs the colours with white ink on the clear film so they stay dense against a dark or unlit interior instead of dropping away.

Contour cut is the setting that produces the individual letter shapes — Standard for straightforward type, Simple and Complex as the outlines get more intricate. Lamination is available in gloss, matte, optically clear, dry erase or anti-graffiti.

Order by entering the overall width and height of the area the lettering occupies; that is what the price is calculated from, not the cut-out shapes alone. What arrives is the printed lettering, contour cut to shape and supplied on its backing sheet ready to apply. Glass needs to be clean, dry and above about 10 degrees Celsius. Avoid textured, frosted and wired glass, and do not run lettering across the black edge seal of a double-glazed unit. Installation is not included, and these films grab quickly — mark your layout on the glass with a tape line before you commit, because straightening a wonky line afterwards means a reprint.