We are delighted to be working on Pat the Baker’s new fleet consisting of full vinyl wraps in full colour applied to new Renault Master vans.van-1

These van wraps are being completed to the highest possible level using the best cast vinyls and laminates. All of the trim, handles and door rubbers are removed first, and the bodywork given a thorough solvent clean before any vinyl is applied. These van graphics are very striking and we wish Pat the Baker every success with the new fleet, and we are very grateful for their vote of confidence in choosing Spectrum Signs, Athlone!

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Pizzeria il Basilico is the latest food offering in Athlone from the people that gave us the popular Il Collosseo and Lord Bellamys. Specialising in wood fired pizza, they employed Spectrum Signs to create their identity which resulted in a fabulous shopfront in carved timber and authentic vintage wall graphics.

Carved wooden shopfront

Carved wooden shopfront

Aldo, our client wanted his new venture to have a ‘rustic’ feel to reflect the uniqueness of his products and explained that the interior fit-out consisted of lots of timber wall panelling and that he would like to have this portrayed outside. From that point, the obvious choice was timber. Rather than simply build a wooden shopfront with some nicely designed raised letters, we agreed that carving the letters directly into the timber would create a better impression of the business. The lettering was filled in with bright gold by hand, some tastefully chosen lighting and some simple frosted window graphics finished it off.

Carved timber shopfront

Carved timber shopfront

Inside, we added some vintage style wall graphics to both the walls and front of counter. these graphics blend in beautifully with the wood panelled interior. A vintage style menu display was installed above the counter. The interior design creates ambience and points of interest for customers as they wait for their orders.

Vintage style wall graphic

Vintage style wall graphic

Vintage wall art

Vintage wall art

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Pizzeria il Basilico is situated in Northgate Street in Athlone beside Il Collosseo and Lord Bellamy’s where we recently installed a  brand new fabricated Dibond shopfront with downlighting. Now it has to be on of the most appealing places in town!

Lord Bellamy's

 

 

 

 

Spectrum Signs has just designed, built and installed a magnificent Stainless Steel Shopping Centre Totem sign at MacDonagh Junction Shopping Centre in Kilkenny.

Our brief was to design a striking three sided totem or monolith sign at the main entrance to the shopping centre. It had to be three sided so as to be seen from every approach, and designed to reflect the fact that MacDonagh Junction is a very modern and large shopping centre with high profile anchor tenants. Our client required it to be illuminated and built from hard wearing materials both for durability and to be able to withstand any potential malicious damage.

MacDonagh Junction, Kilkenny

MacDonagh Junction, Kilkenny

After the design phase was completed we decided to build an internal steel framework which would be fitted to a new concrete foundation. This in turn had high grade fabricated stainless steel signage panels installed over it, followed by the corner sections and capping section, also in stainless steel and finished to corporate colour. The capping section has high output LED lighting which downlights the entire structure in bright white light. Our client was very happy with the result, and have planned to reinstate the landscaping around the area in which it stands.

Shopping Center Totem Sign, Kilkenny

MacDonagh Junction, Kilkenny

MacDonagh Junction, Kilkenny

Vinyl wrapping is fast becoming an alternative to painting on every sort of vehicle, whether it’s a full colour printed advertising wrap, or a colour change wrap to enhance the looks of a car or van.

In this example, we look at a truck that was fully wrapped for our customer, Grennan Agri, where they wanted to explore vinyl wrapping as an alternative to painting to save both time and money. The pictures below show what the truck looked like when it arrived to us. The cab was in it’s original factory green, and the body in bare aluminium

before

Before wrapping. The truck as it looked on arrival

Grennans run a large fleet of both articulated and rigid trucks. They take pride in their fleet, and all trucks to date have been sprayed to their trademark blue, with their branding added afterwards in cut and printed vinyls. This time they chose to have the entire truck vinyl wrapped, a cheaper and faster process with the convenience of having both the colour change and the advertising graphics applied under the one roof.

The job began as usual with the artwork being generated and approved by the client, and then we set about preparing the truck for its new vinyl covering with a thorough top to bottom power washing, and then a wipe down with solvent especially formulated to remove any tar or traffic residue. We began with the cab… the tricky bit with all it’s curves and contours. The change was dramatic as the bodywork changed from green to blue, panel by panel as it received it’s new covering of 3m cast gloss vinyl

work in progress

Work in progress!

The body section was then wrapped in the blue vinyl, with Grennans branding added on top in cut vinyls. The ‘cows’ image was integrated into the wrapping process, and covered in a gloss laminate to protect it from sun bleaching and scuffing. Another advantage of vinyl wrapping is that it can be removed when the time comes to sell the vehicle if the customer prefers not to do so with their company colour still in place. There is a wide range of colours and speciality vinyls to choose from,  both in matt and gloss finishes. See how the finished truck turned out below!

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This is the second year of the vehicle wrapping championship, hosted by Sign + Digital in Dublin

2014 was the first year that the vehicle wrapping championships were hosted in Ireland, and Robert was keen to represent Spectrum Signs. Although the competition was fierce, he came out on top and took the title home. Then he decided to defend his title…

I have to admit that I was apprehensive about Rob going forward this year, because the wrap championships had really gathered momentum since last year, attracting many more participants from some of the best known names in the vehicle graphics business from all over the country. However, I’m glad to say that his enthusiasm could not be dampened, and off he went. The competition was held in conjunction of Sign + Digital’s Sign Summit trade show, meaning that all competitors were under the glare of a lot of expert spectators throughout the day’s heats.  And now, with both the 2014 and 2015 championship titles under our belt, our other vehicle wrappers are hoping to have a crack at the title in 2016. How will they do? Well, they all learned their skills from Robert!

Rob will again this year, be representing Spectrum Signs in Cologne, Germany, having another crack at the world title in the World Wrap Masters Final at the FESPA Sign Expo. This year he will be accompanied by Rosie, our business manager and buyer, and Amanda, our bookkeeper, who will not only be supporting Rob, but also they will be sussing out all the latest innovations and equipment in the digital printing world, to see what our next investment will be. Best of luck Rob!

Check out this blog to see the great benefits of good vehicle branding. Thanks for looking!

Paul

Some pics from the 2015 All Ireland Vehicle Wrap Championships

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Spectrum Signs’ Robert with his trophy

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Robert in action During the Vehicle wrapping Championship

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The winner with the runners-up and the judges

Is Your Business beginning to look a lot like Christmas?

Surveys prove that a shop that is tastefully decorated for the Christmas rush will attract more shoppers. At Spectrum Signs we design and fit seasonal window graphics, display and window backdrops and props for window dressing. We can whip up signs, banners and  pull-up displays to advertise all your Christmas events and promotions at short notice, so don’t think you left it too late! There’s something to suit every pocket… we can offer a selection of easy to apply window graphics for collection or posted to your address if you’d like to make a saving by trying it out yourself!

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Christmas Window Graphics

A nicely chosen Christmas scene on a backdrop is a great way to add dimension to a product display either behind mannequins in a shop window or on the main shop floor. And…. it can be rolled up and used again next year! The backdrop shown here is the snowy forest scene behind the reindeers and christmas trees

Christmas backdrop

Christmas backdrop

Give us a call today…. and remember, there’s something to suit every budget, and we have a very fast turn around so it’s never too late!

 

Extra revenue from your van, truck or car with quality vehicle graphics and branding

Vehicle graphics are like a moving billboard, with the huge benefit of a one off cost. You’re already paying for the insurance, road tax, maintenance and fuel, so it makes perfect sense to make your vehicles pay for themselves by contributing to your turnover with the most cost effective advertising that money can buy! Simply put, vehicle graphics is like having a sales team working for your business, 24/7!

With well designed vehicle graphics, your van, car, truck, bus or trailer will attract a lot of new customers, and generate huge awareness of your brand or service. But do remember, that well designed, striking graphics is the key. Your brand and details must be visually pleasing, with a nice balance between branding, colour, placement and text.

When considering vehicle graphics, it is highly recommended to work with a professional graphic designer with experience in designing graphics specifically for vehicles, because there are so many things to consider such as body contours windows and trim.

At Spectrum Signs, we have highly experienced designers and fitters. In fact, we are award winning! We won the title for the commercial vehicle wraps category at the Irish Print Awards, followed by winning the title of All Ireland Champions at the All Ireland Vehicle Wrap Championships. This led us to represent Ireland at the World Wrap Masters Final in Munich, Germany, where we took home Bronze.
awards

Awards won for vehicle graphics, van graphics, and van wrapping

What’s more, if you do not have any existing logo or branding you would like to use, we design it for you. Then you can go on to use this on your business cards and flyers, or any other promotional material

What kind of Vehicle Graphics should I choose?

The short answer is that there is something to suit every budget that will do the job really well. Here are the different options explained, with some images of examples.

Full colour vehicle wraps: Vinyl vehicle wraps cover the full painted surface of your vehicle with a high performance, weather resistant, vinyl covering that has your advertising printed on it. As a bonus, the car wrap, van wrap, or truck wrap doubles as an outer layer of protection for your vehicle. It is easy to remove if you are selling the vehicle using a little heat. Vinyl wraps are fully laminated to protect them from sun bleaching and general wear and tear. A full vinyl wrap will also leave a vehicle with “tired” bodywork looking brand new! A full colour wrap has huge impact, and its job is to shout out your brand loud and clear, impressing all those potential customers who see it.

Full colour van wraps

Examples of Full Colour Van Wraps, total Vehicle graphics

Half and partial vehicle wraps: Half and partial vehicle wraps are a way to use both the effectiveness of a custom design, with the head turning capabilities of an image or splash of full colour, supported with the simplicity of vinyl cut letters and the convenience of a smaller payment. A half van wrap can be equally as effective as a full wrap depending on your branding and the effectiveness of the overall design.

half and partial wrap

Examples of half and partial vehicle graphics

Vehicle window graphics or contravision can be used in conjunction with either a full or partial wrap, and can range from standard white vinyl letters, to perforated vinyl with imaging. Perforated vinyl is a way to create an attractive custom design with full colour printed material, applied to any window of the vehicle. Perforated vinyl is a very attractive form of vehicle branding. With perforated vinyl, you can actually see out of the window as if there was nothing there, and on the outside your design is visible in all it’s glory!

Cartridge World

Ford Focus car with Contravision or perforated window graphics

Vinyl Vehicle graphics: Standard vinyl graphics do not involve the printing process and therefore no images or full colour. However, fantastic results can still be achieved through clever design and the fact that these vinyls come in hundreds of “off the shelf”colours. Flatter areas of the vehicle can still be wrapped to achieve blocks of colour, with lettering or logos placed on top, in fact, vinyl lettering can very often be the best option for businesses with a more formal identity.

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Examples of vinyl van graphics

Regardless of what option you choose, it’s important to remember about the secondary information within your vehicle branding. It’s great that you have a new, striking logo proudly displayed, but you also need to let the hundreds of the potential customers who are now noticing you, how to contact you, and where you are. Placement of your phone number, address and website are hugely important.

Designing your vehicle branding: Firstly, we talk over what you want to achieve, and the best sort of graphics to achieve this. We take a full brief and allocate one of our highly experienced graphic designers to your job, then you’ll receive a first draft of design work by mail and give us your feedback. We keep revising and tweaking the design until it is exactly what you want, and we’ll keep you advised in best practice all the way.

Our philosophy on design is simple. We have a responsibility to our clients to produce designs that will result in extra revenue, visitors, membership, or whatever the design is meant to achieve. We do not consider a design to be finished until we are certain it will produce results, and our client is completely satisfied.

Here’s what’s important to display in your vehicle branding…

*Your logo or brand, so that people will make a visual association with your business,     and recognise your brand wherever else it pops up.

* Your phone number and address. The fastest way to get a return on your investment is to receive a phone call or for people to call to your shop etc.

* Your website

*Your list of product or services, as briefly as possible. Less is more with vehicle advertising!

Tap into the huge potential of vehicle branding!.Call us today to discuss your options.

090 6492107, sales@spectrumsigns.ie, rosie@spectrumsigns.ie, www.spectrumsigns.ie

We look forward to working with you

The Spectrum Signs Team

 

Midland Industrial Maintenance Limited has many solutions to offer to the manufacturing industry

And now you can see what they have to offer on their brand new website!

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Midland Industrial Maintenance Limited is an Athlone based business specialising in all aspects of industrial maintenance, from installations and breakdowns, to the design and manufacture of complex projects in stainless steel, plastics, and aluminium profiles. Although their head office is in Athlone, they boast extensive nationwide coverage, dealing with some of the biggest players in manufacturing, to SME’s. If you run equipment and hit a problem…. call Midland Industrial Maintenance!

We were delighted again this year to be asked to judge and sponsor the award for “Best Display” at Scifest, hosted by AIT.

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Did you know that lots of everyday items can be transformed with a digitally printed vinyl wrap?

We design and apply fantastic full colour wraps to items like fridges, doors, furniture and a huge range of retail fixtures such as displays and counters

Items can be totally transformed by using a striking printed design or image, or you can choose from an extensive range of special vinyls in effects like metallic and carbon fibre. Save money by revamping existing items instead of replacing them!

We have a range of wallpapers and wall coverings ready to print to your requirements… either with your own design or image, or by one of our graphic designers. Transform an otherwise dull wall into a dramatic talking point in any space, in the restaurant, pub, hotel, creche or at home! They are available in a great range of textures, ready to paste or apply, or we can do it for you.

Call us for more information Today!

Digitally printed vynyl wraps