PUBLICATION CENTER

USA Image Technologies blazed trails for transit advertising, and continues to evolve along with the market. Tips on planning, designing, and installing transit and big-wheel graphics.

One of the first applications for wide-format printing was the bus wrap, which quickly adapted itself to other forms of transit, like trains and monorails, and even airplanes. In those early years of the transit wrap, you were hard-pressed to find a full vehicle wrap outside of the odd bus in your town.

As the technology became easier to access, particularly with the introduction of solvent printing, the application possibilities exploded.

Now it seems that everyone is in the wrap game in one form or another. There’s even a magazine devoted to the vehicle wraps.

The vehicle wrap market’s relative ease of entry brings with it a new set of challenges.

Though the market is growing, it’s also constricting. Increased competition has made a growing market tighter, which calls for greater expertise and the ability to offer new services in order to add value and differentiation.

Transit in Play

Though it might seem old hat to provide transit advertising – whether it’s a full bus wrap or the kings and queens that adorn the sides and backs of buses – advertisers still crave this moving space. Transit advertising of all shapes and sizes – including delivery trucks, tour buses, shuttle buses, 18-wheelers, and even RVs – is now up for grabs.

On paper, it all seems so simple, but the execution of a successful program takes a lot of planning and detail. Plus, you have to use the right material for the project.

For a high-performance product that has a lower overall total applied cost and is designed for transit applications, USA Image Technologies uses FLEXcon’s Bus and Train Wrap System – BUSart™ V 400 F White A-69 vinyl and BUSart™ OV5020L laminate from LexJet.

Since bus and train wraps have fewer rivets and compound curves than 18-wheelers and vehicles like Mustangs and Mini Coopers, USA Image Technologies has found the BUSart™ vinyl and laminate combination to work best for the application. LexJet also offers other cast vinyl products from 3M and Oracal for vehicle wraps with unusually difficult compound curves.

FLEXcon’s printable base film and overlaminate provides an excellent bond to fiberglass, painted metal, and stainless steel, with clean removability at the end of the ad program’s life. Plus, it’s easily removed when the advertising program has reached its end.

When installing the graphic, it’s best to use a felt squeegee for the majority of the wrap, whether it’s a bus or a RV, and a hard squeegee for corners, nooks, and crannies.

Measure Twice

Though each step in the process is equally critical, and requires its own set of requirements and details, the planning stage sets the stage for either a smooth application or a miserable one. Most prefer the smooth type, so measure carefully from the very beginning.

Judd Morgan, USA Image’s marketing director, says the ideal situation is for both the graphic designer and the installer to collaborate on field measurements. This collaboration ensures accuracy as the two can compare and contrast their measurements, reevaluate, and verify as necessary.

Those measurements will be important, not only for the installation, but for the design phase as they are reconciled with the template the designer is using. There is an outline template available for most vehicles through software developers like Digital Designware. Plus, vehicle manufacturers can often provide schematics that can be imported and used for the layout.

“You might lose the copy in a window, behind a mirror or on a compound curve, so you have to take the 3D model in mind when you’re designing. The templates are broken up into four flat planes. It may look spectacular on a flat box, but it might not necessarily translate that way in three dimensions. That’s why it’s crucial that you do two to three measurement steps,” says Morgan.

Vehicle applications require more planning than a typical graphics installation, particularly if the vehicle is huge. The bigger the vehicle, the more variables there are to account for, as well as finding a good space to do the installation.

“We have a facility next door we rent that has a 100-foot garage. We have one or two vehicles installing weekly, which is the primary use for that space,” says Morgan. “We found that we had to have a space available, because you can’t be in the rain and snow if you expect to have any wrap business here in the winter. It allows you to control the variables, and there’s a lot of prep work involved.”

If possible, have the customer wash but not wax the vehicle. Remove mirrors, trim, and other obstacles, and prep the surface with rubbing alcohol or something comparable. Make sure the paint is in good shape, because rusted and oxidized areas will cause the material to fail in those areas, which will ultimately spread to the rest of the graphic.

If there are problems with the surface, let the customer know about it, and why it’s a problem. That way they can fix it before you go through the process, or at least you can warn them that there will be an extra charge for touch-up and any other extra preparation needed. Minor surface problems can be easily fixed with automotive detailing products such as ClayBar.

For bigger surface problems that can’t be easily fixed, recommend a body shop you know will be fair and do the job you need to ensure a smooth installation. So, it’s a good idea to develop relationships with local body shops, so that you can recommend a business you know and trust. This provides more control over the project and shows the customer that you’re willing to go the extra mile.

Since there are so many variables and details to take care of, it’s important to document everything that will be involved in the project, so the square-foot pricing needs to incorporate all of those extra items beyond the simple price of the materials to ensure a healthy profit. Other factors to consider in the pricing scheme include the cost of renting a facility, any time taken to prepare for the installation (including measuring and design time), and travel.