BLOG.ATTENTION-GETTERS.COM

A Purple Van Wrap For Great Product Recognition!

2012-05-17T17:46:28Z

Vehicle wraps and vehicle graphics are a great way to let your potential customers see what you do and purchase your products. We just finished a full van wrap for Snug Pet Resorts, they brought us a white van and left with a bright purple van that showed off their business. We can do the same for you just call us!

Printing Custom Wallpaper on Canvas

2012-04-24T21:27:02Z

Our large format digital printers not only print on banner material they do a fantastic job on canvas and even wallpaper! This is a print done for some friends of a photo they took in Europe. Its going to look fantastic on their wall. We can do the same for you!

What Size Should I Make My Banner?

2012-04-19T17:50:08Z

Size and color are two questions we hear a lot from our customers. Here is a quick little video about making the correct decisions so you get the best return on your investment. Want to see some samples? Check out our gallery.

http://youtu.be/GxC7tzozDcw

How to Hire a Quality Sign Company in San Diego

2012-04-11T16:46:16Z

Having trouble deciding on a sign company for your needs? Here's a short video that gives some questions to ask in your search.

http://youtu.be/wm55UHBG6gI

We also have a PDF file on our web site "The questions you need to ask before buying your banner or sign" that has a few more questions to ask before you hand over your money!

How Do I Apply Vinyl Letters to a Window?

2012-03-30T21:16:05Z

We get asked all the time "how do you apply these vinyl letters to my window?". Here it is!

http://youtu.be/BE7YGJaUuxU

Enjoy it!

How Do I Prepare My Files For Digital Printing?

2012-03-08T23:37:44Z

A quick little lesson on how to check your digital files for printing your table throw, table cover or table runner. This information works great for your banner signs as well!

http://youtu.be/AxbeCzrHtJs

What is a QR Code and Why Should I Care?

2012-03-05T18:04:04Z

What is a QR code and how do I get one?

QR Code or Quick Response Code, is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) first designed for the automotive industry. More recently, the system has become popular outside of the industry due to its fast readability and large storage capacity. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of four standardized kinds ("modes") of data (numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary, Kanji), or by supported extensions virtually any kind of data.

So what does it do? Well... if you have a smart phone you can, with the proper app, scan the code and it will take you to the company's web site, or to their latest sale for a particular product—it can even show you where they are located! Pretty cool stuff, but they don't look so great. So if you want one with some color and possibly your logo give us a call and we'll put it together for you for $75. Here is ours:

Why Doesn't My Banner Look Like My Computer Monitor?

2012-03-01T23:00:42Z

We are asked by customers "why doesn't my banner look as good as my computer monitor?". Well... there are many reasons why your banner sign may not look as bright as your monitor. Here is a short video on color gamut and how it affects the printing process and why.

http://youtu.be/mY-A03-rgX8

Enjoy!

How to Make Vehicle Advertising Work for Your Business

2012-02-14T21:48:58Z

Vehicle Graphics advertising can be as simple as magnetics for your car or truck doors to a full vinyl wrap. The price range for these products can be as little as $100 or upwards to several thousand for a full vinyl wrap. Most businesses spend less then $1,000 per vehicle for vinyl graphics sometimes combined with full color logos. Due to the prominence of large format digital printing, you can add a lot more splash to your graphics with full color. You can expect vehicle graphics to last from 3 - 7 years depending the type of vinyl used and exposure to the elements.

We recently completed the truck graphics for Professional Roofing Services. He followed through with good marketing and advertising guidelines for his graphics and best of all, it works for his business.

The excellent graphics Attention Getters Design installed on my new truck, clearly gives the professional image I need, and the "Please take one of my business cards" signage and magnet cards places my company at my customer's finger tips. I get at least 5-7 jobs per year, every year, from people saying what a nice looking truck. There are thousands of these trucks out there, only one looks this good. Thanks to you.--John M. Houge, Owner PRS

We have several pointers to make the most out of your message.
• Make your business name and logo prominent
• Include the best phone number for people to call your business
• Web addresses can leave off "www" as most everyone knows what it is
• Include license numbers if you are a contractor
• Tell people what you do, keep it simple
• Tell people why they should use you
• Include any awards you have received to establish trust and integrity
• Include any associations you belong to, Example: Better Business Bureau
• Include a QR code so people can look you up on their smart phone right away
• Consider having magnetic business cards as part of your design so people can take them
• Keep your overall message clean, simple, and direct.

Make sure your design provides high contrast with your vehicle color. We highly recommend that whatever combination you choose, the design should be legible. We have seen too many full color vehicle wraps with designs that we cannot read, even though the colors were attractive. If you are considering having graphics for a truck or van, start looking at other vehicles as you drive around. You will be surprised at what you see and even more so finding graphics that you can't read.

Lastly, don't forget about the rear of your vehicle. We think that is probably the most important area for graphics. Just think about being stuck in traffic. Where else can you look but at the vehicle in front of you--well you could be texting or talking on your cell phone but we won't go there.

How to Airbrush a Giant Inflatable Walnut!

2012-02-13T20:57:40Z

Start with a blank giant helium inflatable, add a logo then airbrush the texture!

How to Fix Your Retractable Banner Stand

2012-02-13T18:24:53Z

So you messed up and allowed the banner to go back into the retractable banner stand. Here's how you fix it!

To fix a banner in a Retractable Banner Stand is fairly simple but if you haven't done it before here are a few tips to make it easy. Retractable banner stands are a great way to advertise your product or service and can be used for multiple specials by changing the banner, but doing that sometimes the banner is accidentally allowed to go into the stand. Here is how to fix your retractable banner stand.

Giant Inflatable Spheres Installed at Cowboy Stadium

2011-12-21T18:08:39Z

We just completed an install of giant inflatable balloons at Cowboy stadium for Pepsi. It was a project we had completed a year earlier yet now they needed a cleaning and some refurbishing. It went great and the completed project looked fantastic. It was done to simulate carbonation and the transparent coloring added to the overall effect of bubbles in a soda.

New Inflatables for Sea World

2011-10-05T18:43:55Z

We recently finished a fun project for Sea World San Diego--five giant inflatable balloons for their Halloween Spootakular event. The initial designs were provided by Sea World leaving us to make the inflatables a reality. These characters have lots of airbrushing and hand painted art which we think turned out great and gave an added punch and color to the entrances of their event area.

A Giant Inflatable Baby Bottle!

2011-08-04T19:02:04Z

Every business needs attention and this is what we help our clients with, attention for their business and attention for their events. Recently we had a wonderful project helping "The Candies Foundation" in their desire to inform and curb teenage pregnancies. We worked with the ad agency to make a 35 foot tall giant inflatable balloon baby bottle with their message on the side. This was placed in Times Square and we think it did the trick bringing much needed attention and notice to the subject at hand.

Life of an Inflatable

2011-06-10T18:18:36Z

Having been involved with the advertising giant inflatable balloon market for over 25 years one question that has been asked over and over again is "how long does an inflatable balloon last?" The answer is it varies from customer to customer. If it is taken care of and cleaned regularly it can last 10 years easily. If it is abused they can be ruined in a month.The following image is of "Theo", an inflatable balloon we made over 10 years ago for WGBH Boston. He was cleaned and stored properly after each use so he never developed mildew. He is ready to be used for the next 10 years and will keep on going as long as he is shown the love he deserves.

Giving Back and Teaching Airbrushing Art

2010-07-29T20:23:00Z

One of the things that we practice is giving back to the world with our positive energy. We enjoy sharing with others and encouraging them to find their creative passion. We recently had the opportunity to travel to a library in Tijuana to help some children with their creative growth. Approximately 25 children went through the whole process of producing a theater show from beginning to end during the course of a week. Attention Getters Design helped on the first day with creating the backdrops. Kevin worked with the children to paint the scenes and taught them how to airbrush. Tracey filmed and took pictures of the project in action. Enjoy!

Rastor Vs. Vector files in Digital Printing

2010-06-22T18:02:00Z

There are two basic types of files - Raster (bitmaps) and Vector (outlines). Examples: a photo is usually a Raster image, and a font is usually a Vector or outline. The most common formats for vector files are EPS (Encapsulated Postscript), AI (Adobe Illustrator), or PDF (Acrobat). Common bitmap formats include TIF (or TIFF - Tagged Image File Format) JPG (or JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group), and GIF (Graphics Interchange Format. Be careful of GIF files as these are most commonly used for websites and are usually not high enough resolution to be enlarged significantly.) There are a couple of additional considerations to keep in mind - While EPS, PS, and AI files commonly contain vector data, they can also include bitmap data as well. The opposite is not true. TIF's, JPG's and GIF's only carry raster data and do not carry any vector data.

The biggest difference between Raster and Vector file formats is that a vector image can be infinitely enlarged since the image is created with outlines or line segments and curves. The amount a Raster (bitmap) image can be enlarged depends on the original resolution, and accepted loss of clarity versus the accepted viewing distance. Raster images most commonly used for photographic images, but they are also a bit more complicated to set up and produce a quality large format print. We will concentrate a bit more on setting up Raster files.

A raster image (bitmap) is made up of tiny dots, and each dot can be one of many thousands, if not millions of colors. There is also two color modes or pallets - CYMK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black) or RGB (Red, Green, Blue). Generally, the RGB color space is larger, and many RIP programs like this format to produce the most vibrant colors. I know this might seem odd, as the printer is a CYMK device. Eventually all files will be converted to CYMK by the RIP (Raster Image Processor) program when it outputs to the printer. Non the less, starting with RGB files and letting the RIP make this conversion will generally produce the most vibrant images.

Raster images also have limitations on how much it can be enlarged depending on the original file's resolution. We recommend to keep the final output resolution between 100 and 150 DPI (dots per inch) at FULL SIZE. Below 100 DPI and you will start to see a sacrifice of quality. Over 150 DPI, you're probably wasting hard drive space and processing time This file resolution is not to be confused with print resolution. Even though our input files are 100-200 DPI, we typically print at at least 360 DPI and more often 720 DPI. This ensures the smallest droplet and lack of graininess. One exception might be on a billboard or a tractor-trailer. These areas are so large, a 200 DPI input file will be too large for most computers to deal with. When working in Photoshop, these files can swell to well over 1 Gigabyte. In this case, we may start an input file size as low as 72 DPI to reduce a little overhead.

How can I determine how much I can enlarge a Raster image? In keeping to out 100 DPI at full size guideline, here’s an example: If you take a file that starts out at 600 pixels wide, the largest you can print keeping to the 100dpi rule is 6 inches. (Divide 600 pixels by 100 = 6") Of course it is possible to enlarge the file much larger in Photoshop, but this just multiplies the pixels around each other, and you will just create a fuzzy mess. Basically Photoshop will just take each pixel and create a new pixel next to it halfway in color to the next, and so on. This is why most website images are not useable for large format output. There is just not enough pixel data. Website graphics are created at as small a resolution as possible to create a reasonable image to view on a monitor and reduce bandwidth. This makes the website load as quickly as possible.

So what about that uber expensive digital camera I just bought? Can't I just use that? A high end digital camera on the market today may be as high as 12 Megapixels or more. (a megapixel = 1 million pixels) A 12 Megapixel camera, for example, may have a resolution of 4288 pixels wide x 2848 pixels high. In keeping our file within our 100 DPI guideline, the maximum size we can output with minimal distortion is 42.88" wide.(4288 pixels wide divided by 100) The larger the original and more pixel data you have, the more leeway you have to work with. With this much pixel data, we can go a reasonable amount larger than 42.88" and still achieve good results. Keep in mind, the larger we go from the original, the more fuzzy and pixilated the final output will occur. The next consideration is how much "fuzziness" is acceptable. Well, it depends on how the image is viewed. Just as you would not be viewing a 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper from 40 feet, you would also not expect to view a tractor trailer from 6". Billboards would be another extreme and their resolution might be as low as 2 to 20 DPI. But the billboard might be 40 feet in the air, and viewed from many hundreds of feet, the resolution can be much, much less.

There are also filters that can do a nice job smoothing out the "jaggies" of less that optimal files. One that we like is called Photozoom. It's proprietary algorithms filter a less than optimal artwork to result in a more acceptable image than Photoshop when enlarging artwork, as long as there is sufficient pixel data there to start with. It can't perform miracles, but it can make a significant improvement.

A special thank you to Ordway Sign Supply, www.signsupply.com for this article.

Designing a Quality Vehicle Wrap for Your Business

2010-05-25T19:08:00Z

At its core, a vehicle wrap is a dynamic outdoor advertising medium that has a very limited time frame to catch your customer’s eye, and convey your message. With digital printers becoming more and more affordable, the skills used to create an expert design, are becoming second to the ability to print anything and stick it to your vehicle.

Below are 10 tips to help you make sure you get the most of your vehicle wrap’s design:

1. Choose a company with a graphic design background.

This is quite possibly the most obvious and crucial tip of them all. Vehicle wraps are a graphic medium. As mentioned above, anyone can buy a printer & laminator. A background in graphic design is a must to know how to convey your businesses' message and create an interest in your product or service. Don’t be afraid to ask for the design qualifications from the firm.

2. Synchronize your wrap.

Your vehicle wrap is an extension of your company’s brand. It is a rolling business card of sorts. Make sure to synchronize your vehicle wrap design with your existing marketing materials. Your designer’s first job should be to gather your current branding and marketing materials to create a design that is an extension of your brand. It is extremely important that the first step of your wrap design is the compilation of your logo, any ads you are currently running, your yellow page listing, your sales fliers, etc. to create a final product that gains brand awareness for your company. Anything less is hurting your company, not helping it.

3. Don’t oversell!

Nothing is harder to read than a vehicle wrap jammed to the gills with information and/or products. Remember you have a very limited time frame to catch your potential customer’s eye. Pick your best selling points or products, and make sure they are utilized in your wrap design.

4. K.I.S.S.

Another well known commonly used term. Keep It Simple Stupid. As mentioned in #2, the same applies for the design itself. You may have your message nailed down and well organized, but if you clutter the design aspect of the wrap, you are falling into the same trap. Our rule of thumb, is no more than one high resolution image for each side of the vehicle, mixed with a couple of vector or raster design elements that compliment your current marketing materials. Anything else will leave the viewer scrambling to focus on your message that is crowded out by confusing design.

5. Location, location, location.

Ah the old real estate term. Well guess what. It applies just as much in the world of vehicle wraps. A good artist must know how and where to place each individual message or element on your vehicle to make it as effective as possible. Every vehicle has a different shape, and can be potentially compounded by the amount or size of graphic coverage that you chose. Make sure your designer understands how to utilize this space to get your message across. For example, you wouldn’t want your text to be stretched across a flared fender rendering your phone number or web address useless by making it look like a crooked line. The same applies to your logo and other elements. Vehicle wrap templates are 2 dimensional, not 3 dimensional. An experienced designer will be familiar with your vehicle and understand these limitations of templates. Just because it looks good on paper, doesn’t necessarily mean it will on the vehicle.

6. Fills are for soft drinks, not wraps.

With the popularity of vehicle wraps growing daily, and the people with a lack of a design background offering them to their customers, an unfortunate product has come to be a mainstay of vehicle wrap design. This product is called a “fills” collection. These are usually purchased on disks from companies that specialize in these types of designs and they are typically dropped into your wrap as a way to “fill” the background. Text is usually hovered over the fill with some sort of stroke, or drop shadow that is usually heavy and bold to float it above the fill. This is a dead giveaway that you are dealing with a designer that doesn’t have a graphic design background and may or may not know how to design your wrap properly.

7. Utilize the back of your vehicle.

Sometimes you can’t get around it. You have a complex message to convey and you need to list out some bullet points, multiple service lists, or just a large amount of text. If this is the case, just remember that the back of your vehicle is where your impression time will be increased. This is for obvious reasons. The back of your vehicle is where traffic behind will spend longer amounts of time than drivers passing by the sides. Use the sides of the vehicle to brand your company’s logo, phone number, web address and/or imagery. Use the back of the vehicle to spell out your complex messaging to the people that will have the time to absorb it.

8. High resolution is your friend, and so are vector illustrations.

You may or may not have experience with graphic design and resolution conversions of images or design elements. It is very important that you and your designer understand the difference between vector and raster based images, and how they are scaled to fit your design. Industry standard for vehicle wrap prints is 72 dpi printed at 720×720 resolution. Technical jargon isn’t it? Well, lets break it down. What you are looking at right now is 72 dpi. It’s sometimes called screen resolution. Offset printing is typically done at 150 dpi to 300 dpi. This is not necessary for vehicle wraps and digital printing. What this means in relation to the resolution of your stock photography is simply a bit of mathematics. While 72 dpi resolution is a suitable print resolution, you DO NOT want to go below as you will get grainy pixelated images on your wrap. So when your designer creates your wrap, you want to provide them with high resolution quality images. The mathematics involved are very simple and give you an idea of how large of an image you can yield from your stock photography. The equation goes something like this:

final size allowed (at 72 dpi) = current resolution / 72 * stock size

In simple terms, if you have an image that is 6″x6″ @ 144 dpi, you will be able to increase that image up to 12″x12″ at 72 dpi. That will be the largest size you can use to design your wrap.

This is for raster based images and designs ONLY. If your logo, design element, text, etc. is vector based, you will have no problems scaling them as large or as small as needed without any quality loss.

Long story short, make sure that your designer is not only aware of these terms, processes, and file types, but that you provide them with imagery and files that will meet these criteria.

9. Overlays, contours, and changing content.

Let’s face it, a wrap should last NO LESS than 3 years. Typically up to 5. If you own a fleet of vehicles, or you have vehicles that have specific text, or design elements, ask your designer about overlays for the changing text or elements. Overlays are typically text such as vehicle numbers, phone numbers, or other elements that are created from high performance cut vinyl and applyed over the wrap after it is installed. This provides several benefits to the finished product and you as the customer.

Allows text to be placed in a perfectly straight line over contoured surfaces after the wrap is installed
Allows one design to be created with different numbers, or elements for different vehicles saving the customer time and money
Allows certain elements of the design to be changed on the vehicles as time goes by to suite businesses that may change text, numbers, etc on a regular or scheduled interval Overlays are also useful to add reflective logos, text or elements to your wraps.

10. Paying for design.

Design rates typically range from $65 to $75 an hour. This is standard for any design firm and again, is a reason why you should only deal with a wrap firm that has a design background. If you are paying for it, you should get what you pay for. Some companies will throw in design, some will charge a flat rate, and some will bill hourly.

I always recommend that if paying for design, never agree to pay for anything other than hourly services. It is customary in this scenario for the designer to spec out a time frame estimate based on the vehicle and the customers needs. For a passenger vehicle, cargo van, or typical vehicle, this should be no more than 4-5 hours of time. Unless custom elements, illustration, or logo design are necessary, there is no reason a wrap should take longer to design.

If your firm requires a design charge, and you have agreed to the hourly model as I mentioned above, make sure that your wrap company bills you as an allowance for the design. Some firms may estimate you the 4-5 hours, when it may only take 2-3 hours time, and the balance of the monies are kept in the firm’s pocket. This is unethical and unnecessary. Trained graphic designers are accustomed to keeping accurate billing time tables for each project they work on. Any unused design time should be applied back to the final balance of the wrap.

Choosing Effective Colors and Letter Height for your Banner or Sign

2010-05-24T21:00:00Z

Designing your own vinyl banner, custom magnetic or banner sign can be a great way to get exactly the final look you want. But remember – quite often your custom sign or banner is the first thing people see that is associated with your business, so a professional-looking readable design is of the utmost importance.

To help you get the most out of your custom banner design experience – whether using our graphic design services or your computer - Attention Getters has some design tips to help.

1. Choose appropriate font styles
Avoid using more than two type styles on a banner. The more fonts used, the harder it is to read. Sans serif fonts like Helvetica, Futura and Antique Olive are the easiest to view from a distance. They should be used for the primary message on banner. Likewise, serif fonts such as Goudy, Benguiat or Times are appropriate for a secondary message. Fonts such as Old English Text or Engraved are almost impossible to read correctly from a distance and should only be used when the viewer is stationary for a period of time (such as in a conference hall, meeting room or retail store) to be able to absorb the entire message at their own pace.

Take into account the type of business or event where the banner will be used. A bridal shop or beauty salon banner can be dressed up with a script font such as Brush or Commercial Script; however, these fonts would be out of place in an auto parts business.

Also, try to stay away from using all upper case lettering on your banner. It can be used for one word or a line of text for emphasis, however, it takes the human eye longer to read and process words in upper case.

2. Visibility
You can order your custom vinyl banner in a variety of sizes. Make sure you have chosen a size that is appropriate for the distance you expect your custom banner to be seen from. Consider where it will be located and what obstacles may be in the way. Readability is the most important part of your signage.

The following chart from the United States Sign Council (USSC) will help you to determine what size type is needed for your custom banner.

3. Overall Design
How do you plan to use your custom vinyl banner or any other product? Are you creating a custom sign that is event-specific or is it intended for use in a variety of settings? This can help you decide what text styles, colors and backgrounds you will want to use on your custom sign.

4. Less is More
When designing any signage less can be more! Leaving space around the edges and not filling the space completely with your text will add impact to what you do use on the banner. Put a minimum of information with some sort of contact information (like a phone number or web address) instead of everything about your event on your sign. Be concise but make sure needed information is included.

5. Photographs and Colors
Although Attention Getters can print your banner in full color giving you no limit to what you can do, choosing one color scheme and sticking with it can give your custom banner or sign a more finished look. Bright colors, patterns or images will draw attention to your sign, but overuse can take away from your message or make it hard to read. Using full color photographs is a great way to emphasize the main message on your custom sign.

Color combinations with high contrast between the background and letters are easier to read and can be viewed from greater distances. Always consider the type of business or event when choosing colors. Pink,purple, teal and orange colors aren't shown on this chart, but still can be used for certain holidays, special events or parties.

Highest visibility color combinations to use on your custom sign according to the Outdoor Advertising Assoc. of America (OAAA) is as follows:

Have fun with your banner or sign, but make it easy to read and appropriate for your target audience and your business. Every banner or sign that you use is a reflection on your company. If you want your custom banner or custom sign designed by one of our professionals, please contact us for a quote.

Painting an Eco-Friendly Mural for Toyota of El Cajon

2010-05-04T18:50:00Z

We just completed another mural at Toyota of El Cajon. Their service area wall is 16' high x 32' wide--a very large and intimidating space to work with! Toyota asked us for ideas of how to provide information for their customers when they drop off their vehicles and how to make it much more friendly and bright at the same time. After several artistic concepts, they decided on a yellow brick road theme.

We loved being able to help them with this hand-painted mural and provide a more inviting and relaxed environment for their customers. One of the reasons we like doing work for Toyota of El Cajon is that they are a completely eco-friendly dealership. We had to use low VOC paints to keep in line with what their mission is and it matches our mission as well to be an environmentally conscious business.