Big things can come in small packages. Big Guy Signs is a good example. They are a modest company that is generating some mighty impressions throughout the Indianapolis market where they are based. The staff, or the gang as they prefer to call themselves, is founder and owner Asher “Big Guy” Collins, three employees, and his dog, Biggs, who has the job of overseeing shop security.
Though the size of their operation is limited, they provide many products and services beyond just signs to include printing, printed apparel, graphics, a variety of displays and their specialty—vehicles wraps.
Like many of us in the sign industry, Asher learned the business the hard way; hands on, in the trenches, and earning the opportunities that would lead to becoming an expert and eventual owner of his own shop. He describes himself as an artist first, a sign specialist second. Combined, he’s able to use his imagination and talent with the skill and experience he’s gained over the years to create and produce graphics that not only grab attention but are also effective forms of advertising for his clients.
"The 26 years of experience I've acquired has helped me to know what works and what doesn't," says the Big Guy himself. "When it comes to wraps, I've seen a lot of awesome looking ones ... when not moving or parked in a parking lot. That's because the pictures or images often outweigh who the customer is or what they do. The pictures and graphics overtake the entire visual display. With any movement at all, you might see some of the cool graphics, but miss the point of the advertisement. You can put all the imagery you want all over the exterior of a vehicle, but let’s face it, if it isn't effective, than what good is it?"
One of the keys to coming up with the right wrap design, according to Asher, is to figure out what the customer does not want as well as what they do want. Knowing what a client wants to stay away from, and why, helps to understand their business, their goals, and their ideas. You can also better determine a budget and not waste time on designing things they won't like.
"As an artist," Asher says, "I know that the finished product will only look as good as the artwork. So the artwork needs to be darn good. This is really true of vehicle wraps as well as signs."
He's also a believer in doing his work for a fair and honest price. There is no such thing as "nickel and diming" in his shop.
"It's important to me," Asher says, "that here at Big Guy Signs we work hard to build our reputation as well as we build those impressions for our customers. I just love it when someone familiar with our work calls to tell us they just saw one of our vehicle wraps on the road. They knew it was the sort of quality design we put out—a professional look with style. That's a great reputation to have in this business."
A recent example of a bigger and more challenging wrap project came in the form of a unique box truck owned by SHS Pool & Spa Supply Service, LP. They nicknamed this vehicle "the big odd truck" because of the unusual build of its shape and surfaces. This unusual make of truck was going to require extra care, caution and consideration of numerous special details before prepping, printing and applying any vinyl.
The truck's unique rigid metal corrugated sides presented a challenge that required the Big Guy Signs crew to design and print the graphics taller than normal in order to compensate for all the ins, outs, ridges and grooves. Because this particular truck was so unconventional, there were no design templates available to aid the layout process. Instead they had to rely on photos and transpose their artwork over the photos. Once the concepts were approved, a more scientific approach was taken to measure and produce the graphics for application. Plenty of 3M primer helped them apply the vinyl into all these tight areas successfully.
As far as copy goes, it's their standard to apply the copy separately in most cases. They make exceptions with some standard box trucks and vehicles with large flat surfaces, but in general they prefer to apply the copy and information separately for two reasons; first to make changes easier in the future if the customer wanted any—like a change of website, phone number or address, and the second reason has to do with providing more flexibility to making design adjustments to those elements than would be possible if the copy was printed into the background graphics. This philosophy enables them to maneuver around obstacles, such as door handles, without changing the overall layout very much, if at all.
The Big Guy Signs preferred wrap material is Avery's MPI 1005 SC Easy Apply RS, with DOL 1360 Gloss Perm Laminate. All of their graphics for signs, banners, displays and wraps that are produced in house are printed with their Roland SolJet Pro III XC-540 and laminated with a 54" Royal Sovereign Cold Laminator.
When it comes to vehicle wraps and graphics, the big guys at Big Guy Signs are doing what it takes to build big impressions.