The car above, as you can see is a brand new Mercedes. The customer, an older lady, says it was a gift to her from her husband.
Here's what she wants:
STARS & STRIPES over the hood and spilling down both sides, over the top and onto the rear deck, with "UNITED WE STAND" across the back. She wants NO PAINT. So I told her digital printing was the only route to go....
I am confident I can lay it out in photoshop, that part is not the problem, I just wanna know if anyone have any advice as to how best to proceed on this, or ideas about pricing?
Thanks in advance! Barry
[ April 21, 2003, 04:28 PM: Message edited by: Tasmus ]
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
Do you do your own digital printing in-house? If I had this request, even though I have an Edge, I would consider just cut vinyl.
With a white base already I think you could come up with an awesome layout in flat colors (2D, not matte)& save yourself a lot of coumpound curve wrapping trouble.
Of course you would still be wrapping some red & blue around some tough spots, but instead of a full coverage wrap, you could plan out a design that makes the tough spots less of a nightmare (& expense)
Photo-real waving flags with depth & shadow look great, but to cover the whole car, both sides, I think you will be inventing a new star & stripe configuration & could get by without 3d effects.
Posted by Brian Diver (Member # 1552) on :
I agree with Doug. I just did a nice banner for a lady with "we support our troops" on it and put a nice waving flag on it. I only needed blue and red vinyl instead of a digital print (I have an edge too).
Wrapping single stripes will be easier than one wide stripe too. Best of luck,
Posted by Steve Aycock (Member # 3612) on :
I agree too. You could almost freehand blue and red stripes over the hood and down the sides in vinyl. Use thin stripes (not too thin) and good premium vinyl for ease of placement. Maybe some "shadow" vinyl for a 3d effect.
Cool project, Jump in !
Steve
Posted by Mark Fair Signs (Member # 289) on :
hey barry, i always get a little nervous when i letter a vehicle that cost more than my first house!!!!!
calm down, put some design thought into it and sell the job.
i wish i had a mercedes to "letter"
cha-ching!
go bubba!
Posted by Bob Burns (Member # 268) on :
MF....can tell that YOU dont live in that MERCEDES.....the tires are NOT on the roof! Posted by Mark Fair Signs (Member # 289) on :
you are a funny man bob burns.
no, i don't live in a mercedes and i don't have tires on top of my house.
but it does **** me off when someone such as yourself tries to insult me because of my geographical location.
ease off please, your point has been made.
(it will take a hellava lot more than you to make me abandon letterville.)
the best to you bob,
mark
[ April 21, 2003, 10:16 PM: Message edited by: Mark Fair Signs ]
Posted by Bob Burns (Member # 268) on :
THANKS MF....."snort"! I guess there's no point in developing a sense of humor for some people. They just plan to take offense no matter what! and.... YOU remaining in LETTERVILLE is certainly not my problem. THAT problem belongs to someone else!
[ April 22, 2003, 10:45 PM: Message edited by: Bob Burns ]
Posted by Mark Fair Signs (Member # 289) on :
sorry tasmus, i was trying to make a good post.
mark
Posted by Tasmus (Member # 445) on :
Man what the heck is it with folks around here...
I respect the heck outta both your stuff....as well as everyone here. Most of us have talent....and egos to go with it.
Respect, mutual repect goes along way to keeping them things from flarin' up.
We are all talents, living in freedom doing what we love to do, and, of our own free will we come here to share about it.
Whatever fued or ego bashing that has happened around here in the past is ultimately pointless. Nobody is gonna like everybody, but good gosh, when most often all you have to cuss is your monitor, surely you can restrain yourself!!
I am no longer a newbie to this forum, or this field. I have owned my own company for nearly ten years now and i have done signage for better than half my life. When I come here,to letterville, it is for the cool and unique opportunity to share and hang out with folks from every eschelon in the industry, and for the largest part we aren't competitors! Where else can you go and actually talk and make friends with your own "celebrities" and be treated (in theory) as an equal? I don't have to hedge my bet or hide my hand in this place. I can come here to receive help and friendship, and, on those rare occasions that I am able, give some of the same in return.
To everybody: Lets let it start with RESPECT, whatever we say to one another. The world is too crazy, life is too short, and this place is too cool to do it any other way.
NOW THEN, I'd REALLY respect it if somebody'd give me some help on pricing this job!!!
B
Posted by KARYN BUSH (Member # 1948) on :
ask her what her budget is...explain your time is valuable and you don't want to waste your time and her $ to design something elaborate if you're not on the same page...tell her the price range could be from 300-3000..it's up to her.
Posted by Ted Nesbitt (Member # 3292) on :
Wow, well said Barry.
Ummmm, a few have mentioned to stay away from an actual print and go with individual cut stripes. I'm a print guy, but I'd echo that advice---alot easier to bring a few stripes over and around than a one piece print---much greater flexibility, allowing you to improvise on the fly.
As for pricing, offer her a few options. Sell her on the 'removability' of a certain film. Do you use specialty vinyls---ie/Avery Luster-looks, etc. It would be real nice to use blue and red ultra metallics to jazz it up if that's what she's after----doesn't sound like she's an understated type.
What's the car worth? Depending on your talent for layout, and the products you use, I'd start around 10% of the MSRP of the car and work backwards from there!...
Posted by Laura Butler (Member # 1830) on :
I am into the vehicle wrap idea. You could do so much more using PhotoShop files. I know Gregory's will print it for you but they are on the expensive side. There has to be others out there that can do it cheaper.
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
I would seperate the design job from the wrap job. Discuss the budget like Karyn said, then within that budget discuss starting with design work at somewhere around 25% of the budget. get a 50% on that & then design a 3 tier array of solutions.
First a low end cut vinyl 2-color below budget economy job (this could still represent a starting place to build back into the budget if she like the general design of it)
Then maybe a best-of-both-worlds print/cut solution that has some photoshop 3D effects within each stripe, but that is still cut into stripes to simplify installation & coming in right on budget (if she wants to spend that much)
Third, show her a full blown auto wrap of digitally printed some photo-realistic rippling flag action with eagles or statue of liberty ghost images & all the trick image filters & plug-ins that can fit into a balanced composition with killer lettering effects to top it off. Just in case she can't refuse the chance to INCREASE her budget at the last minute.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)