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(January 2010) posted on Tue Jan 05, 2010

Several vehicle-graphics professionals offer insights into their tricks of the trade.

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By Steve Aust

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The benefits vehicle graphics provide their end-users are seemingly endless. For starters, hey provide an extremely cost-effective form of advertising; they’re mostly free of regulations (hopefully, that won’t change), save DOT safety and visibility requirements, and their message can follow the user home, on sales calls or virtually anywhere.

Although fabricating vehicle wraps is conceptually simple for most sign professionals, producing them well provides significant challenges. Every phase of a successful wrap can be considered an art form – the art of design, the art of printing and finishing, the art of installation, and the art of the deal.

Three vehicle-wrap providers, all of which have earned recognition in ST’s last Vehicle Graphics Contest, offer insights into their techniques and tools that have helped them achieve success in this hyper-competitive field.

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Garden Style
Arizona Designs (Maple Shade, NJ) proprietor Jeff Chudoff began his vehicle-graphics career in 1985 with cut-vinyl graphics and pinstripes. A decade later, he became an early adopter of vehicle-wrap design in1995. Because of the expense of first-generation, inkjet printers, he contracted the printing to Gregory Inc. (Buhler, KS). In 2005, the shop received its first inkjet printer, a Roland DGA Corporation VersaCAMM. Today, vehicle wraps represent approximately half of Arizona Designs’ business. Chudoff vividly remembers his first wrap job.

“A representative from a cellphone company contacted me,” he said. “He wanted a mobile advertisement that could spread a message on major roadways and outside major sporting events. The same truck ended up at 9/11’s Ground Zero six years later, where onsite workers were provided with free, mobile-phone services. You can’t underestimate the power of the thousands of views a vehicle wrap receives every month. Whether you’re going to the store or home for the evening, your wrap continues to advertise for you.”

Experience has taught Chudoff to segue into promoting other graphic applications. “In my earlier years, I would just make a wrap someone ordered and move on,” he said. “Now, I’ll promote my other digital-printing capabilities, such as banners and floor graphics, or additional design services for business cards, stationery and other specialty items. A vinyl-graphics shop owner needs to approach his business as more than just a job shop; he needs to think of himself as a full-service designer, as well as a fabricator.”