Design

Best Food Trucks of 2016

Graphics good enough to eat

Published

7 years ago

October 25, 2016

Steve Aust Signs of the Times September 2016 Issue

FIRST PLACE
Fabricator
Creative Color
Burnsville, MN
(952) 746-4164
www.creativecolorstudio.com

Designers
Tyler Anderson
Brent Luther
Jennifer Sanchez

Installers
Nick Oja
Seth Ramaley

Client
Baldy’s BBQ

An apt summary of why the judges liked this truck’s graphics: “There could be no text on this wrap, and customers would know they sold BBQ.” The design team completed the wrap’s rendering using Adobe Illustrator, and the Creative Color Studio generated the wrap with 3M Controltac IJ180-10C media that’s decorated on its HP DesignJet L28500 latex-ink printer. Scotchcal 8518 glossy overlaminate will keep the swine smiling for several years.

SECOND PLACE
Fabricator
Palmer Signs
Roseville, CA
(916) 773-5815
www.palmersigns.com

Designers
Justin “Juice” Lee
Tony Palmer

Installers
Chad Compton
Jimmy Mazur
Tony Palmer

Client
Cowtown Creamery

After Bay Area food-truck aficionados get their fix of spicy or savory food from a lunch or dinner truck, they can satisfy their sweet tooth here. Using Adobe Photoshop and CADlink’s Signlab to digitize his initial, pen-and-paper creations, Lee let his creative juices run rampant with more than a dozen characters that pay homage to classic-rock and pop-music icons (the main characters, Cochran and Connie Cow were named after Eddie Cochran and Connie Francis; there’s also a dog named Presley, a rooster and hen named Johnny and June, a bat named Orbison … you get the idea).
A wrap for what Palmer called “the biggest food truck I’ve ever seen” – Cowtown Creamery spans 30 ft. and is 7 ft. longer than Bacon Mania, which placed 2nd in last year’s Food Trucks category and was the second-largest the shop has done, he said – entailed printing panels of 3M Controltac media on the shop’s HP L360 latex-ink printer. To protect the critters and the red-barn backdrop, Palmer Signs applied a protective layer of 3M Scotchcal 8518 to the graphics on its Royal Sovereign 1650-HR laminator.

THIRD PLACE
Fabricator
Creative Color
Burnsville, MN
(952) 746-4164
www.creativecolorstudio.com

Designers
Tyler Anderson
Brent Luther
Jennifer Sanchez

Installers
Nick Oja
Kyle Willemessen

Client
New Bohemia Wurst + BierHaus

If this wrap looks familiar, it’s because this project was recently featured in our Strictly Commercial step-by-step column (see ST, March 2016, page 26). The job required design using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator software, production with 3M Controltac media on an HP DesignJet L28500 latex-ink printer, protection with Scotchcal 8518 applied with a Seal 54 EL pressure laminator, and installation with Knifeless Tech Systems knifeless filament tape, nylon squeegees, transfer tape, seal tape and BernzOmatic torches.

HONORABLE MENTION
Fabricator/Installer
Arizona Color
Phoenix
(623) 580-7386
www.arizonacolor.com

Designer
Matt Nisbet

Client
Enchiladas Plus

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