What was produced?
French’s came to the safety signage firm earlier this year, plain white van in tow, and Word-document brief in-hand. The van was measured up and a proof created in-house, which was instantly approved.
The van’s new look would see it wrapped in clean blue vinyl, with decorous white logo and text suited to its high-end holiday park destination.
What did the job entail?
The design was drawn up in CorelDraw, before – via Onyx RIP – around 20m of vinyl was printed through SSS’ HP Latex 310. The vinyl was then laminated on a Seal 62S laminator.
Ben Steward, SSS sign department manager, chose Drytac’s Polar Premium Air White Gloss and Weathershield Matte UV for the blue print. He used Mactac’s 9800 series vinyl for the overlaid white text, cutting the lettering on a Graphtec CE6000-60 plotting cutter.
The blue print was then applied to the van like wallpaper, before being trimmed and overlaid with the text. Almost the entire process was done by Steward alone.
What challenges were overcome?
The fast job was just in time. Thanks to French’s freshly won contract, the van had to be in use at the holiday park on Mondays and Fridays – giving Steward exactly three days to redress a van that initially did not even fit inside his workspace.
After a little modification – removing some of the van roof’s chimneys and vents – Steward could get to work. “Printing 20 metres of a single colour has its difficulties,” Steward added, highlighting another challenge.
“Making sure the colour was consistent for the duration of the print meant keeping the room’s temperature consistent, and making sure there was enough ink remaining to prevent a mid-print cartridge change.”
What was the feedback?
Marcus French, owner of French’s and grandson of founder William Thomas French, said the family was extremely happy with the final result.
“[SSS] were very helpful with ideas for design, and the work was carried out very quickly. They catered for everything and went above and beyond what we’d asked for.”
Alongside covering the van, SSS had made some menu A-boards to place outside it, and even used leftover Drytac to cover the tabletop that would be used for customers’ cutlery and sauces.
French added: “We’ve had many comments about how professional the van looks, and how well-designed the graphics are. The van is a real talking point.”
Do you have a Killer App? We are interested in special, difficult or simply fabulous print jobs of all shapes and sizes. Email printweek.newsdesk@markallengroup.com.
