Product category:
Outdoor and ambient
News Release from: Totally Dynamic | Subject: Vehicle wraps
Edited by the Marketingservicestalk Editorial
Team on 25 September 2007
How to design the perfect vehicle wrap
Vehicle wraps are a great way to get your brand noticed but there are many ways to get them wrong. Here, expert Totally Dynamic offers top tips for designers wanting to make an impression.
1 Get to know the vehicle Vehicle outline templates are supplied as 2D files but of course a vehicle is a 3D object
This article was originally published on Marketingservicestalk on 14 Aug 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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It is therefore important that you refer to photographic images of the vehicle before you start to create your design so you can check the contours, lines and recesses you will be working with.
You also need to check what trim appears on your client's actual vehicle and whether it is painted (so it can be wrapped) or unpainted (unpainted plastic trim cannot be wrapped).
You will find that the trim shown on a vehicle outline can differ from what is actually found on your client's vehicle, so always check first.
2 Which Design Application should you use? Any vehicle wrap artwork file should be created in either Illustrator, for predominantly vector-based designs or layered Photoshop files if your design primarily contains photographic images.
Applications such as Quark are not suitable for creating vehicle wrap artwork as they do not provide you with the ability to view your artwork at full size.
3 Size IS Everything.
Before you use an image, check to see that it can withstand being blown up to the size required on the finished wrap.
Remember, everything is magnified in large format: if it looks rough on your screen, it will not look any better once it has been printed.
4 Colour Matters.
Before you give the final go-ahead to your vehicle wrap supplier, always ask to see a sample print of your design on a piece of the actual material your wrap will be produced on.
It is also really important that the sample is produced using the actual machine that will print the finished job.
If colours are important then you need to specify that on your order.
Large format digital print systems operate in very different ways to litho and small format digital applications.
If you can't specify Pantones then you need to supply your vehicle wrap provider with a printed hard-copy showing what colours they need to try and match.
Do not supply CMYK breakdowns - the colour will vary from machine to machine.
5 Jigsaw Puzzle.
All vehicle wraps are produced in individual sections - for example the sides, bumpers and bonnet are all separate panels which need to line up.
Any good vehicle wrap provider will give you advice throughout the design process and warn you of any potential problem areas before you submit concepts to your client for approval.
There's nothing worse (or more embarrassing) than creating something amazing that your client falls in love with only to find that it simply will not work as a wrap.
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