Breathing Life with Inkjet into a Colorless Façade

Wndow Graphics with Simple Perforated Window Vinyl

The Department of Education in Union City, N.J., recently procured warehouse space as a storage and shipping area in what used to be a large garage with windows facing two sides of the street.

Union City High School Window GraphicsUnion City High School graphic design teacher John Slater was asked to come up with graphics to both identify the building and give it a more welcoming feel.

“People loved a Christmas window display we did so much that we wanted to go bigger and bolder. From where we are you can see New York City, so I came up with a pop-art urban theme. It was a lot of fun and I’m glad the board gave me the chance to do it,” says Slater.

Consulting with his customer specialist, Vincent Bejar, who is part of LexJet’s Government Team, Slater settled on LexJet Simple Perforated Window Vinyl (70/30). Slater’s designs were printed on an Epson SureColor S70670 64″ low-solvent printer and applied by Slater and a team of students.

Window Graphics with Simple Perforated Window Vinyl“Though each window is different, I wanted the continuity of the pieces to blend over. I took a picture of the windows first, and measured everything. The bars that criss-cross the garage windows were around 1 3/4″; I just substracted those and built the file in Photoshop using guides and rulers for each section and put each section in, minus where the frames are,” explains Slater. “The biggest challenge is large pieces, so we had two people holding the ends and another applying it with a squeegee. The perforated window vinyl is great, because you can’t see in but on the inside you can see out.”

The result is an almost street-long piece of pop art that helps bring the converted garage and the area around it to life with color and panache. Slater says it was quite chilly when the window graphics were being applied, but the students who pitched in helped make the project a lot easier to install.

“These graphics will be up for at least the summer before it’s transformed into something else. I feel like this is only the beginning because LexJet has so many different materials we can use for other projects, like wall murals and floor graphics,” adds Slater.