A Metro Exploration

Three years ago, Valley Metro, the Phoenix area’s bus-service provider, contacted bluemedia (Tempe, AZ) sales rep Mike Greco for a bus-wrap quote. However, it didn’t entail a typical, transit-authority project; for a competition, Valley Metro wanted distinctive artwork from Phoenix high-school students. Because bluemedia regarded the project as community enrichment, it agreed to produce the wrap at cost – and donate four Arizona Diamondbacks baseball tickets to the winner, as well as a banner that promotes the event at the winner’s school.

More than 120 students participated. Judging occurred via a committee of Metro officials and area designers. Armando Martinez, a student at Trevor G. Browne High School, prevailed with “Hop Aboard, Let’s Explore,” a two-sided design that features frogs, flora and vibrant colors.

For the 845-sq.-ft. wrap, Greco said, “When you wrap a bus, you have to be careful where you place text because vinyl won’t stick everywhere. For example, on the rubber gaskets around the windows and the rear, where the vent is, there shouldn’t be any small text or graphics, or the message will lose continuity.”

Valley Metro presented the graphic as an EPS file, and Chris Keal and bluemedia’s design team conformed the artwork to the required format using Adobe® Illustrator® and Photoshop® software. Before installing the wrap, the bluemedia crew wiped it down with isopropyl alcohol and applied 3M’s Primer 94 to ensure the vinyl would bond to challenging parts of the bus surface.

The shop produced the wrap using 3M’s IJ 46-20, a one-year, 4-mil, UV- or solvent-ink-printable, wrap material designed specifically for transit vehicles. Bluemedia printed the job on its HP Scitex TurboJet 8500 printer with TJ100 inks and Onyx Graphics’ Productionhouse X10 RIP. Four installers required slightly more than a full day to remove mirrors and apply the wrap. Thanks to bluemedia’s recent expansion into a 55,000-sq.-ft facility (previously, the shop included several buildings that totaled 25,000 sq. ft.), it could wrap the bus in-house with several other vehicles under the roof.

Armando’s wrap will remain in place for one year, until a new design is selected in spring 2012.