Fishing for Business with Backlits

Phasmid Rentals, located near Bozeman, Mont., rents vehicles with a twist. Say you want to fly fish… Phasmid will rent you the vehicle to get there, fully outfitted for fly fishing. When Phasmid needs someone to outfit them with everything they need for signs and graphics, they turn to INK Outside the Box.

Printing backlit signs with a laminateINK Outside the Box recently upped the ante of its product line, adding a lift truck to its equipment inventory. This is a big deal for a company that’s been focused primarily on large format inkjet output, but the move made sense because customers were demanding help with their backlit signs.

INK Outside the Box was happy to oblige and has successfully grown business in this direction. Now, instead of just selling the printed sign face, they can service the installation as well.

“Since we’re there we might as well service the sign; it’s easier to fix the lighting when you’re replacing the sign face. Fortunately, I already had expertise; I was a journeyman electrician for awhile,” explains Justin Lind of INK Outside the Box.

Lind also decided to experiment with the production of the sign face, printing directly to LexJet Performance Gloss Vinyl Laminate (3 Mil) with the company’s Mimaki JV3 solvent printer, applying the printed laminate to a milky white polycarbonate sign face, and then protecting the image with either a matte or semi-gloss ClearStar liquid laminate.

“It’s almost like doing stained glass; the light comes through it really nice,” says Lind. “It lets a lot of light through, a lot more than if you were to print to a semi-translucent white vinyl, so we’re getting bright colors out of it.”

The sign face for Phasmid Rentals pictured here was printed using this method and Lind says it lights up spectacularly at night, especially with the black-printed background and the light-colored lettering. We’ll post a nighttime shot soon, so check back here for an update. 

Dee-O-Gee on the Windows Update: Win-Win-Win for Print Shop, Client and City

Printing window murals with a large format inkjet printerThe last time we checked in with INK Outside the Box, Bozeman, Mont., and its ongoing project with local pet store Dee-O-Gee, the sign code restricting window murals was still up in the air, but INK Outside the Box was aiming to change that. What wasn’t up in the air was the success of the project, which has led to a change in the sign code.

Justin Lind of INK Outside the Box says Dee-O-Gee has been able to attribute a 35 percent increase in the pet store’s business since the murals went up last year. Over the past year INK Outside the Box has added thematic touches to the original murals that draw additional interest and anticipation from residents, tourists and other passersby in Bozeman. Moreover, INK Outside the Box has realized additional business due to the visibility of the project, not to mention the added revenue from simply changing the mural every season.

“We’re getting a huge response. A lot of Dee-O-Gee’s client base is always curious about what the next theme is going to be. We have a lot of tourists that come through and they’re interested in it as well,” says Lind. “And, all we have to do is tell one of our potential clients that we printed the dogs and they always recognize the project. It was a hot topic for awhile in the paper; it definitely gives us a lot more clout with our customer base, especially customers who have never done business with us before.”

The latest theme, shown here, celebrates spring in the Bozeman area, where the rivers begin to flow from snow melt and fly fishing is king. INK Outside the Box will reveal the summer motif in the next couple of weeks. As Lind puts it, “Summer is finally arriving here in Montana.”

The thematic accessories, such as the hats and fly fishing gear of the spring-themed dogs, are printed on LexJet Simple Low Tack White Vinyl with INK Outside the Box’s HP UV curable printer then die-cut on a Mimaki plotter. Transfer tape is applied to the die-cut images so the customer can easily apply them on top of the original base image, which is about 92 in. x 92 in. The fly fisherman vest is about 24 in. x 36 in., to give you some idea of scale.

Creative Applications with Dee-O-Gee on the Windows

Dee-O-Gee is actually the name of the establishment that sports a creative application of inkjet printable vinyl to advertise and inform customers and passersby about its natural pet supply store in Bozeman, Mont.

Originally reported on this blog earlier this year, the project by Ink Outside the Box is ongoing and changed slightly depending on the season. As the photos show, Ink Outside the Box embellishes the original images, printed on LexJet Simple Low Tack White Vinyl with an HP Designjet 35500 flatbed UV-curable printer, with removable bits and pieces that coincide with the season.

“We thought it would be a great idea to print ornamental images on a repositionable material to dress up that same image. Then, they can peel those off and save the materials for the following year,” says Justin Lind of Ink Outside the Box. “The material we use from LexJet is perfect, because of the consistency you get for the price. Every time I get a roll of material, one roll is the same as the next. I like the adhesive with the 24-hour cure that you can pull back up and stick back down again during application and then it sets within 24 hours.”

Lind adds that this particular project has helped loosen up the sign codes in Bozeman a bit. He says it’s simple economics.

The original window graphics project for Dee-O-Gee before the Christmas additions by Ink Outside the Box. The dog photos are by Loneman Photography in Bozeman.

“This one client has increased his walk-in business by 35 percent just by having those murals on his windows. We took this information to the city and told them that we’re trying to help businesses survive during tough times, and this helps the city’s tax base,” explains Lind. “The way we advertise now is so different than what we did even five years ago. The window graphic is a great solution because it’s right there, it tells a quick story of who you are and what you do, plus it’s economical.”