What better way can an organization create a visual mission statement than with a wallcovering? For a specialized organization such as The Chicago Area Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, it’s imperative that environmental graphics resonate with a group’s target market. The chamber hired O’Signs Inc., also of Chicago, to create an approximately 200-sq.-ft. wallcovering for a common area of its headquarters.
Pat O’Leary, who runs O’Signs with his wife, Elizabeth, said wallcoverings – all fabricated with vinyl or wallpaper, because of fabric’s expense and limited application range, he said – represent roughly 20% of the shop’s business (“An underserved market,” O’Leary stated), with retail stores, office space and schools as primary markets.
As is often the case, a relationship helped forge the deal: “A friend from a networking group who’s on the board at the Chamber introduced us to its executive director. They wanted the graphic to be attractive, but professional and not flamboyant. [Elizabeth] suggested we feature the colors of the rainbow, but in an innovative way that makes them the mural’s focal point. It also incorporates the Willis Tower and several Chicago landmarks. Damien Reyes, our production manager, designed waves from Lake Michigan in a rainbow pattern using Adobe Illustrator, which provided great Windy City flavor.”
O’Signs Inc. printed the job with HP PVC-free wallpaper, which Pat said he liked because of its durability and eco-friendly properties, on its HP Latex 260 latex-ink printer at 300 dpi. He said the wallpaper’s bright-white face amplified the mural’s colors, and a PVC-free product being feasible without a laminate for such a job would’ve been impossible a few years ago.
When installing, Pat said the most important tool was a water-filled paint trough. O’Signs folded the wallpaper and dipped into the trough for a minute, which activated the paste and enabled the material to be installed with standard squeegees.
He said the job’s main challenge involved aligning the panels, because the wall’s height varied 2 in. from one end to the other: “It was difficult to place all the lines in our design, both in HP’s Wall Art software and in Illustrator. We made the panels longer, which provided a larger margin for error, and cut and pasted in a few small areas to make the design fit. The Chamber had an unveiling party to showcase the mural, and we’re proud they were pleased.”