Signs of the Times - December 2012 - 18

VINYL APPS
By Steve Aust

“Here are a half-dozen prime examples that suggest how to grab eyes behind the wheel.”

All Wraps Great and Small
A round-up of cool projects from our contest pool

We’ve congratulated the winners from the 2012 Vehicle Graphics
Contest (see ST, October 2012, page 66). However, the quality entries aren’t limited to what’s published. The judges painstakingly pored over scores of worthy entries, and modern publishing’s realities have curtailed our former practice of presenting first- through fifth-place winners (plus honorable mentions). Whether it’s a behemoth food truck that bellows for customers to come grab lunch, or a decked-out hybrid or Smart Car that subtly nudges the viewer to call or log on to displayed contact information, vehicle wraps remain the most impactful form of off-premise advertising. Here are a half-dozen prime examples that suggest how to grab eyes behind the wheel. ■

Bao to the Bowl
San Francisco rivals L.A. for the heaviest food-truck concentration. With a young population – many of whom ply their trade in the fields of information technology or software development – that craves exotic, international flavors, the Bay Area has proven fertile ground for mobile-food vendors. Custom Vehicle (CV) Wraps Inc., which operates San Francisco, Emeryville and San Jose shops, as well as a location in “SoCal,” has built much of its reputation through food-truck decoration. Bao & Bowl, a San Francisco food truck whose owner, James Chan, extols the importance of healthy eating on the truck’s website and walks his talk through use of naturally raised meats and organic vegetables, hired CV Wraps to deck out its truck with a 630-sq.ft., wrap. Kwasi Boyd, CV Wraps’ director of marketing, said the customer found him through

foodtruckwraps.com, a website the company uses to attract such customers. Chan developed his own graphics, and he hired DiMarino Design, a Fremont, CA-based, graphic-design firm, to set up the design on a template using Adobe Photoshop. CV Wraps’ designers refined it in Photoshop and proofed it during printing with Onyx Graphics’ ProductionHouse RIP. “On our website, we proudly proclaim that our cuisine has evolved through a 3,000-year-old tradition, and this wrap’s high-energy color scheme reflects that,” Chan said. CV Wraps executed the project on Avery MPI 1005 Supercast Easy Apply RS air-release media, which it printed on the shop’s HP L25500UV

latex-ink printer. Avery’s DOL 1060 glossy-finish topcoat, which the shop applied with a 62-in. Seal Pro S laminator, will prolong the lifespan of the dragon’s snarl. The installers, whom Chan praised as exemplary, applied the wrap in four panels using felt squeegees and an array of torches. “The process was very successful because the designer and CV Wraps didn’t treat any part of the project like a sacred cow,” Chan said. “Each step of the process was carefully reviewed with effective, critical feedback. As a result, we have by far the most attractive truck at any venue. This has helped us tremendously with growing our business.”

18 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / DECEMBER 2012 / www.signweb.com

http://www.foodtruckwraps.com http://www.signweb.com

Signs of the Times - December 2012

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