Signs of the Times - February 2013 - (Page 52)

Dressed to Impress Building and structural wraps continue to wow. By Steve Aust L ike an Olympic decathlete, a successful building or structural wrap can perform several functions proficiently. Depending on a given installation or audience, it may entertain, inform, brand, conceal, or serve as a hybrid of public and commercial art. In many cases, it can also generate revenue for an owner, property manager or third-party broker who sells prime wall space for commercial messages that attract eyes in high-traffic areas. Unfortunately, not every municipal-code administrator has embraced building wraps’ capacity to revive stagnant areas. Not every community can, or should, replicate Times Square, but large-format wall graphics can both promote local businesses and provide colorful environmental graphics that enhance public and commercial spaces. A look at the colorful, often humorous, building wraps installed in Columbus, OH – particularly around the city’s Arena District downtown (Orange Barrel Media gets credit for much of the work) – illustrate how urban areas can create their own visual vernacular. These projects emphasize building wraps’ diverse capabilities. Revenge Served Hot Los Angeles may not quite have NYC’s reputation – especially Times Square – for supersized wall graphics, but movie-studio and TV executives eagerly embrace them to promote new productions. Turner Networks hired KubinNicholson, a Milwaukee-based company – it also prints jobs at its Dallas facility – founded in 1926 as a billboard-painting shop that’s evolved into a full-service wrap provider, to produce a wrap that covers the wall at a Hyatt Hotel in West Hollywood. The wrap, which was in place approximately three months, promoted the second season of Leverage, a TNT show that starred (it was cancelled in December) Timothy Hutton, whose character is the leader of a team that executes thefts and espionage that target large corporations and wealthy individuals to benefit average citizens exploited by the powerful. According to Mike Rees, Kubin’s president, building wraps are produced within the company’s out-of-home business, which represents roughly half of its work. He noted that its work derives from a combination of advertising agencies, media brokers and property-management companies. “Most locations already have hardware in place, so we ask for written installation specifications because there are many ways to rig a wrap on a wall, and we want to make sure we clearly understand their wishes,” Norris said. “When we’re hired to print wraps for new locations, we usually hire a surveyor to evaluate the property and provide suggestions for how to safely and efficiently rig the display.” Kubin produced the wall wrap as four, 102 ft., 4-in.-long strips for the wall, and 18, 8 in. x 81 ft. 5-in. strips for the windows. The shop printed the wall graphics on Flexcon’s FLEXmark® BILBRD™ BWV RTS, a 3.5-mil, opaque, selfadhesive vinyl designed for heightened color contrast. The window-graphic sections comprise Clear Focus Imaging’s ImageVue® 35%-perforated media. Kubin printed the job on its EFI-VUTEk GS 3250 eight-color, solvent-ink printer. “Color reproduction and consistency are always key considerations, especially when multiple materials are involved,” Norris said. “It’s also important to verify all measurements actually match what the spec sheet says, and to register all of the panels for proper alignment.” 52 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / FEBRUARY 2013 / www.signweb.com http://www.signweb.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signs of the Times - February 2013

Signs of the Times - February 2013
Contents
ST Update
Technology Update
Vinyl Apps
Strictly Electric
LED Update
Software Update
Technology Review
Technology Review
Sign Museum News
New Products
Dressed to Impress
Uniqlo’s In-store Digital Signage
Pursuing a Different Rout
Word on the Street Signs
Industry News
Advertising Index
Editorially Speaking

Signs of the Times - February 2013