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Winners from the Vehicle Graphics Contest category

By Steve Aust

First Place
Fabricator
Arizona Color Vehicle Wraps & Graphics
Phoenix
(623) 580-7386
www.arizonacolor.com
Designer
Steven Sinek
Seven Sin Design
Phoenix
www.sevensindesign.com
Client
Unique Heavy Recovery
Selling Price
$3,950
Sinek understood that, if you aim to create toughness with a brand, a rhino sells. He created the designs using Signburst’s Supernova design-and-wrap workstation with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator software. Arizona Color decorated this heavy-duty wrecker with 3M’s Controltac IJ180 with Comply v3 air-egress film on the body, and Clear Focus Imaging perforated film on the windows. The shop output the graphics on its Mimaki JV3-160SP solvent-ink printer with Onyx Graphics’ ProductionHouse RIP on a Signburst Inferno RIP PC. 3M’s 8518 glossy overlaminate, which Arizona Color applied with its Seal 62 Pro wide-format laminator, protects the beastly graphics. Installers Angel Pena, Carlos Castrillon and Travis Schrock handled the task.
Second Place (Tie)
Fabricators
National Print Group
Chattanooga, TN/Las Vegas
(423) 622-2254
www.nationalposters.com
T.J. Tuntland
Driving Impressions
Seattle
(206) 378-5535
www.hauling-ads.com
Designer
Leopold Ketel & Partners (LKP)
Portland, OR
(503) 295-1918
www.leoketel.com
Client
Tillamook County Creamery Assn.
Tillamook, which has operated as an Oregon-based, farmer-owned cooperative for 100 years, enjoys a nationwide reputation as a leading provider of artisanal cheese, ice cream and other dairy products. According to LKP’s Lauren Finley, “We wanted to showcase Tillamook products being transported in a fun, whimsical way. And, we wanted people to do a double-take as they saw an enormous loaf of cheese or carton of ice cream cruising down the road.” LKP’s Austin Hilde executed the design.
Driving Impressions (Seattle) produced and installed the Flexi-Frame rigid structure that holds the graphics, and National Print Group’s Las Vegas office produced the graphics on its NUR Expedio UV-cure printer using Ultraflex’s Ultima Supreme 1602 tear- and fade-resistant media. To protect the more than 800 sq. ft. of graphics, fabricators used INX Digital’s Trinagle Clearflex waterbased, liquid laminate.
Second Place (Tie)
Fabricator
Nu-Form Graphics
Burnsville, MN
(952) 746-4164
www.nuformgraphics.com
Designer
Brent Luther
Client
Geeks PC Repair
Selling Price
$4,999
When we Gen Xers were growing up during the ’80s, to call someone a geek was to conscript someone to the bottom rungs of the high-school social caste. Now, a geek is someone who probably commands a better salary and investment portfolio than most of us (as they say, living well is the best revenge). This upstart PC-repair shop sought to differentiate itself from chain-store technical staffs with this wrap.
Nu-Form’s Brent Luther designed the program with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CS4, and installers produced the graphics with 3M’s Controltac IJ180-10C with Comply v2 film on its Mimaki JV3 solvent-ink printer. 3M’s glossy overlaminate protects the graphics
Third Place (Tie)
Fabricator
Ferrari Color
Salt Lake City
(801) 355-4124
www.ferraricolor.com
Designer
Jelly Belly Creative Services
Client
Jelly Belly Candy Co.
While no confection will ever match the capability of the mythical Bernie Bott’s Every Flavor Bean from the Harry Potter series, the Jelly Belly Candy Co. endeavors to create every jelly-bean flavor imaginable. Ferrari Color’s Salt Lake City facility produced this full-trailer and partial-cab wrap; its Sacramento shop installed them. The project comprises 3M Controltac with Comply film produced on Ferrari’s Durst Rho 160R printer, and coated it with 3M’s 8519 luster-finish overlaminate. Kirk Green, Ferrari Color’s president, quipped, “I can’t think of anything better than grand-format candy.”
Third Place (Tie)
Fabricator
CSI Sign Co.
Titusville, FL
(321) 269-7108
www.csisignco.com
Designer
Michael “Scheid” Manderscheid, CSI Sign
Client
WackaDoo’s Grub & Brew
WackaDoo’s serves as a very popular hangout for students at Orlando’s University of Central Florida, and it’s parlayed its team of competitive barbecue chefs, the Smokin’ Knights, into a catering service. The restaurant hauls its trailer to tailgating areas outside the Golden Knights’ football and basketball games. CSI prepped the trailer’s surface with 5 Star automotive wax and degreaser and 3M’s Primer 94. Then, it printed the wrap on 3M’s Controltac media on its HP DesignJet 9000s printer and coated the media with 3M’s 8518 gloss-finish overlaminate.
Honorable Mention
Fabricator
Arizona Color Vehicle
Wraps & Graphics
Phoenix
(623) 580-7386
www.arizonacolor.com
Designers
Jeni Crawford
Matt Nesbit
Arizona Color
Client
Nogales (AZ) Fire Dept.
Selling Price
$2,220 truck, $3,600 trailer