design:retail - January 2015 - (Page 32)

the visual eye 032 The Great Cover-Up PETER-TOLIN BAKER VISUAL MERCHANDISING SPECIALIST P-T B DESIGN SERVICES ptb@ptbdesignservices.com H OLDING MY BREATH, while carefully peeling the glossy backing off an oversized vinyl wall graphic during a recent store promo installation, I got to thinking about how it was that we were adding another large visual message to an already crowded and competitive graphic universe. It's impossible not to notice the growing number of vinyl graphics being applied on every imaginable surface- within retail interiors, on store exteriors, around buses and beneath our feet in the aisle at the local grocers. Along with more standard attention-getting devices, such as backlights, oversized posters and banners, no surface seems to be oﬀ limits, with many retailers using entire building façades as a canvas with which to express the current brand message. Not surprisingly for retail designers and visual merchandisers, the impulse to use vinyl graphics is driven by the same factors that always push retail design into new creative directions-a combination of new technology, improved manufacturing techniques and market demands. It was not that long ago that the use of vinyl in retail environments was quite limited; perhaps simple, cut-vinyl on the front door posting the store hours. For many retailers, anything beyond this was not readily available, awkward to install or too expensive. And while humans have been adorning their markets and streets for centuries, from Egyptian papyrus wall posters to Victorian billboards, it only is recently that we have the capacity to cover and color our world with the range inherent in today's vinyl graphics. JANUARY 2015 DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM Vinyl itself was a surprise development in the early 1920s by a rubber scientist named Waldo Semon while he was researching synthetic adhesives. A mixture of chlorine and ethylene, with a few other ingredients, the material was called polyvinyl chloride (PVC), or simply "vinyl." It quickly became a popular material for an array of industrial and home products. Improved vinyl coating techniques and new colors provided more options for a growing demand for graphics throughout the 1940s. In the early 1950s, massproduced die-cut letters made vinyl a more acceptable alternative to traditional hand-painted signage, while pressuresensitive vinyl ﬁlms arrived later in that decade, followed by silicone-release liner paper that has changed little since. The '60s and '70s brought about ﬂuorescent film, short-term vinyl adhesives, embossed eﬀects, faux wood and metalics. Translucent films appeared in the '80s, and their wider widths ignited a huge demand for backlit graphics. In the 1990s, innovations in ﬁlm came via "self-healing" micro-replicated air channels and air-egress technology, which reduced issues with air bubbles during installation. The electrostatic printer appeared on the scene, noted as a ﬁrst in successful, large-scale digital printers, soon to be replaced by a more advanced direct-printing process. The new century ushered in advanced inkjet printers that allowed for even more durable graphics and excellent color. Today, improvements in print speed, size and resolution are driving vinyl graphic usage, according to Omar Mejias of King Displays, an innovative display and signage company based near New York's Times Square. He notes that while the material costs have not dropped, the cost savings related to faster http://www.DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of design:retail - January 2015

design:retail - January 2015
Contents
Editor’s Note
Show Talk
On Trend
We Love This!
Designer Picks
Innovation
How’d They Do That?
Postcard
Mingle
Have You Heard?
The Visual Eye
Searching for Steve Jobs
West Elm
Winning Windows
Birchbox
Holt Renfrew
Visual Products
Products
Backstory

design:retail - January 2015