Smart business owners know the value of well-designed signs. They capture the customer's attention, provide the first impression and communicate the type of business. Sign Gallery 7 offers a wide ...
Look at the shops that best helped themselves with vehicle wraps.
By Steve Aust
FIRST PLACE
Fabricator
Grafix Emporium
Spring, TX
(281) 350-2040
www.gfxwraps.com
Designer
Andrew Flanagan
Installer
Carlos Reyes
GFX Wraps, Grafix Emporium’s vehicle-wraps division, wrapped its own 2006 Ford F-150 Crew Cab shop truck as part of its branding transition over the past two years. Flanagan said, “The color scheme is extraordinarily noticeable and has done a great job of turning heads and giving us a competitive edge in the Houston market.”
He designed the program using Adobe Creative Suite 5. The design files were cropped in Photoshop to fit vehicle panels for seamless installation. The job required removing door handles, mirrors, rubber window gaskets and antennae to ensure no exposed vinyl edges. GFX Wraps printed the project’s 13 panels with approximately 75 linear feet of 54-in. 3M Controltac with Comply film, which was printed on a Roland DGA VersaCAMM VP-540 eco-solventink printer/cutter and protected with 8519 lusterfinish overlaminate applied with a Seal 54 Base laminator.
Reyes installed the wrap over two days, which included disassembly and removal of the truck’s prior wrap, using Geek Wraps Inc.’s soft-edge squeegees, #11 X-acto knives and a propane torch for the installation.
SECOND PLACE
Fabricator
Media 1/Wrap This!
Longwood, FL
(407) 331-6161
www.pushtheone.com
Designer
Jason Wissig
Installers
Christian Cortez
Pete Dow
Kias’ status in the automotive world has clearly risen; they’re now deemed worthy of wraps – especially a luminescent job that commands attention on sales calls. After having designed the graphics with Photoshop, Wrap This! produced the first-surface wrap with 3M Controltac with Comply film, which it printed on a Mutoh Toucan LT solvent-ink printer.
The web address and logo were printed as a second surface, which comprises 3M’s Scotchlite IJ 680CR-10 reflective film, which was also printed on the Toucan. After having prepped the body with 3M’s Primer 94 body filler, Dow and Cortez executed the wrap using 3M V-CAT 2 rollers, heat guns and Gold Teflon® squeegees.
THIRD PLACE
Fabricator
iMgX Kreativ by Benchmark Inc.
Coeur d’Alene, ID
(800) 664-1266
www.imgxkreativ.com
Designer
Jeremy Deming
Installers
Jeremy Deming
Sam Parmley
When Jeremy Deming merged his own business, Imagination Graphics, with Benchmark, another Coeur d’Alene signshop, he wanted to showcase his design skills on his personal truck. And, thus the “Art Monster” was born. Deming began his concept as a 30 x 42-in. sketch, which he drew with Prismacolor colored pencils on an illustration board.
He digitized a sectioned, high-resolution scan using a desktop Epson scanner. Deming stitched the scans together using Photoshop, color-corrected the piece, and scaled it to be large enough for a truck wrap. He also manipulated the image to create an alligator-skin pattern for the background.
He and Parmley produced the wrap using 3M Controltac with Comply air-release media on iMgX Kreativ/Benchmark’s Seiko ColorPainter 64 solvent-ink printer, along with Avery DOL 1060 glossy overlaminate.
HONORABLE MENTION
Fabricator
Laid Vision
Phoenix
(602) 300-9736
Designer
Brad Adamic
Installer
Rob Miller
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