Big Picture - April 2018 - 19

When brainstorming a way to make each bar "really pop,"
O'Leary came up with an idea: "Why don't we go old school
and do some neon lights?" The shop fabricated actual neon
lights and complemented them with a backdrop, printing
each city's respective color onto a clear acrylic backer with
EFI Vutek LX3 Pro and HP Scitex FB10000 printers. The
end result? A nod to the classic neon dive bar light, fitted for
the modern era.

DON'T BE FOOLED: WHILE ONLINE SHOPPING IS AT AN
ALL-TIME HIGH, BRICK-AND-MORTAR RETAIL AND P-O-P
DISPLAYS ARE ALIVE AND WELL. BY KELSEY JOHNSON
HIGHLIGHT THE LOCALE
Anyone who has ever visited Cincinnati (home to Big Picture
and the ST Media Group family of publications) will quickly
notice one thing: Cincinnatians love Cincinnati, and their
signage and décor reflect it. We see wide-format prints and
murals depicting the city everywhere from Great American Ball
Park, Jack Cincinnati Casino, and Cincinnati/Northern
Kentucky International Airport to restaurants (Skyline Chili is
even named after the Cincinnati Skyline), businesses, and more.
ArtWorks Cincinnati has created 132 public wall murals on
buildings around the city, many of which commemorate local
history, neighborhoods, or organizations. This doesn't even
include the sheer amount of large-format photography available
depicting Cincinnati's skyline and landmarks.
This isn't a phenomenon unique to Cincinnati. "A lot of
customers (including me) want to see their local flair," says
Robison. While maintaining a corporate identity is important
for national companies, Robison is seeing more and more
companies localize each branch. One major client, T-Mobile,
does this by maintaining a consistent color scheme throughout all sites - the brand's well-known magenta-pink - and
customizing graphics for the specific locations. So, a call
center in San Francisco is clad with landmarks from the city;
the New York City branch has imagery depicting the city's

BIGPICTURE.NET

graphics, AstroTurf, and 5-foot-tall chess pieces for a window
display. "It seems, especially in the markets and the brands
we're dealing with, everyone's going outside the box - totally
experimental," O'Leary explains.
"Customers are always open to whatever is new and cool,"
says Paige Robison, creative producer at superGraphics
(supergraphics.com). The Seattle print shop dedicates about
75 percent of its business to the retail and P-O-P sectors,
with an increase over the past few years. (Who says
brick-and-mortar retail is dead?) And what are all those
clients requesting? "Something that people look at and
that holds their attention."
One retro application that's been making a comeback
recently? Neon lights. Even though "10 years ago it would
have been considered out of date," Robison has seen
neon-inspired signage coming back in a major way: "Using
a neon-signage look in print - without being an actual
neon sign, just looking like one - has become very popular
in this environment."
For a recent project for Patrón Tequila celebrating
National Margarita Day, Graphic Trends was tasked with
turning a warehouse in Silver Lake, California, into an
around-the-country tasting trail, with seven bars representing
seven cities and their personalized spin on the classic drink.

Graphic Trends
transformed a
warehouse into a
pop-up margarita
festival with
wall graphics on
General Formulations Concept 226
WallMark vinyl;
neon lights with
printed clear ¼-inch
acrylic backers; and
window graphics on
General Formulations Concept 209
MetroMark vinyl.
The shop output
the graphics using
it's EFI Vutek LX3
Pro and HP Scitex
FB10000 printers.

http://www.supergraphics.com http://www.BIGPICTURE.NET

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Big Picture - April 2018