Kings of the Road

Dating to medieval times, when nobles had family crests painted on their carriages, vehicle graphics have served as a proven, cost-effective forum for delivering promotional messages. However, vehicle graphics continued to be handpainted until the early ‘80s, which made them labor-intensive, and they were largely confined to modest jobs on commercial work vehicles. The advent of cut-vinyl graphics helped speed up production efficiency, but cutting a single color of film at a time still made graphic application somewhat laborious.

Digital printing’s 1990s revolution yielded full-color, full-vehicle wraps, which empowered many more signshops with the ability fabricate vehicle graphics. Market competition, as well as technological and material enhancements, helped move the price of printing hardware and consumables down to a threshold still more shops could afford.

The latest linchpin to better, more economical wraps, air-release media, has helped cut labor hours considerably. According to Jim Miller, proprietor of Woodstock, GA-based Miller Decals LLC and a 30-year, vinyl-installation veteran, using air-release media can cut an average jobs’ two-man installation from 10 hours to three (if non-air-release media isn’t allowed to outgas).

But, if you’ve read this far, you probably already know all of this. You also know that vehicle graphics have proven an invaluable boon to many signshops. Their importance is a big reason why we gave this signage format its own venue with the Vehicle Graphics Contest. ST is conducting the 5th edition of the competition this year, and the deadline – just extended to July 19 – is rapidly approaching. Winning entries will be featured in the October 2010 issue, as well as on www.signweb.com.

To access the entry form, which also includes photo-submission guidelines and fee information, go to http://www.signweb.com/form/2011-signs-times-vehicle-graphics-contest-entry-form-0. For more information, contact me at (513) 263-9308 or steve.aust@stmediagroup.com.