We've used vehicle templates in our shop for over fifteen years. There are so many handy reasons to utilize these templates that they've become another necessary tool.

From my experience I see two really good benefits to incorporating vehicle templates into your sales and design services. Efficiency would be the first benefit, accuracy the second.

Custom templates—ones you create yourself—are part of this. In our shop we use ArtStation Vehicle Templates in addition to our own custom templates. We'll discuss the benefits of both.

Higher Efficiency

When we're selling vehicle wraps and spot graphics it's important that we make the most of our time with the customer. We need to gather all the pertinent information without wasting time at the counter—our time or the customer's time. So, how do templates make us more efficient?

Measurements

Next time a customer comes in for a wrap quote, or even large spot graphics, pull up the template for their vehicle and print it out. Now take quick measurements of the customer's vehicle, clearly noting the information on the template.

The use of a template looks professional and by marking the measurements clearly and accurately on the template it makes your company look competent. In a very short time period you're already building the customer's confidence in your company's abilities.

If you're quoting spot graphics or a partial wrap you now have the measurements of the area and you can proceed to quoting. While you're taking measurements be sure to take the time to discuss coverage options with the customer.

ArtStation Vehicle Templates also offers a Wrap Dimensions Guide. If you're quoting a wrap, check to see if the vehicle you're quoting is in their guide and use their pre-figured square footage to quote the job.

You can also import the template into your sign software and scale it to actual size. Using the template you can then click on coverage areas and note the square footage for quoting.

We like to still take our own measurements of the customer's vehicle for two reasons—one, if we're going to create our own custom template using photos of the vehicle we need the measurements to properly scale the photo. Second, we use these measurements as a reference when we setup our final wrap design for output. Accurate measurements that take into the account the curve of the vehicle or obstacle placement help me size my artwork correctly. We'll discuss this in more detail below.

Quoting

The quote process is an extension of the measuring as we often take the template and mark out the areas we've measured to show what we're quoting. With an outline of the vehicle in front of us it's easy to point out to the customer the coverage areas.

Another common scenario is when a customer calls, describes a vehicle they have and is looking for coverage options and pricing. We recently started working with a local driving school that has used the same logo for nearly 20 years and was looking to update the logo and their fleet graphics.

We gathered the year, make and model information for the vehicle they wanted to start with and we highlighted areas on the template that we were quoting. We offered three different coverage options for the sides with spot lettering on the rear as they requested. The highlighted areas were simple shapes, colored yellow, to denote where the graphics would be so we could figure out square footage and show the coverage.

This highlighted template was saved as a PDF and submitted along with our quotes for each coverage option. We also discussed ideas that would help them decide on coverage for consistency across their fleet, without too much coverage that might hinder cost effectiveness.

Our first option was spot lettering, similar to what they were currently using. The second option incorporated a much larger logo in addition to spot graphics, while the third option was a partial wrap down the sides. They chose the second option, which we agreed would be the best coverage choice for both their budget and for design consistency across the rest of the fleet.

Drawing

Another great way to create efficiency is using templates for sketching and note taking at the counter. It's very hard for some people to visualize graphics on their vehicle; being able to sketch out placement and help the customer flush out ideas speeds the process.

Vehicle templates provide the frame, or shape, to the design. For example, a customer might like a square design or will present a round logo and then want to discuss coverage down the whole side of their vehicle. Using the template you can quickly show them ways to adjust their coverage to better fit their logo or design.

These early drawings also speed the computer design process, when you get to that point. Getting early design direction from the customer reminds us to ask the proper questions to efficiently and effectively design their graphics later.

Design

My personal preference is to design my wraps on photos of the actual vehicle I'm wrapping, but sometimes it's not possible. Sometimes the customer hasn't purchased the vehicle yet or isn't able to bring it to our shop, but they've given us a deposit and want to start the design process.

We'll talk about accuracy more in a minute, but when it comes to partial wraps, spot graphics or wraps that don't have overly tight placement, then using a template for the design process is an efficient way to design the layout. They can be used for both raster and vector based designs and most vehicle contours and obstacles are shown.

From a design standpoint I like the realistic look that designing on the photo of the customer's vehicle provides. There are wrap templates, like The Bad Wrap, that provide a more realistic option and are worth checking into.

Accuracy

I'm currently finishing up the design process on a full wrap for a 2007 Mazda 2. I had to start the design process on a template before the customer was able to bring the car by for photos.

The template was pretty close on accuracy but I knew I was going to have tight registration on this wrap and the car has a lot of contours and obstacles. Once I photographed and scaled the car I brought the photos into Photoshop and superimposed them over the template I was working with.

On some vehicles with tight registration we'll cut some of the text separately and apply it over the installed background graphics. While this vehicle has a lot of contours I think the graphics are going to go on fairly smooth so I want to avoid the separate graphics.