Like: West Coast Signage

Acrylic Signs by West Coast Signage
Customers really Like these super-colorful acrylic signs by West Coast Signage printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene and applied to the back of the acrylic with an optically clear adhesive.

David Druckerman and Mark Lawrence have each been in the sign industry for more than 30 years. Old-timers, you might say, but using the new-fangled ways of doing things to get things done.

Banners by West Coast Signage
West Coast Signage has had great success with LexJet TOUGHcoat Blockout Scrim Banner, another customer favorite.

Case in point: social media, like Facebook and LinkedIn, which have been beneficial in more ways than just spreading the word.

About two years ago, the two long-time sign industry veterans partnered on a new venture, West Coast Signage, based in Woodland Hills, Calif. Since then, the company has seen steady growth and diversification.

“Whenever we do something nice that we’re proud of, we post it on Facebook, LinkedIn and sometimes Google+,” says Druckerman. “We think that keeping our social media updated has helped drive some business our way.”

Architectural Renderings by West Coast Signage
West Coast Signage prints posters and produces other signage for Lexus, such as this architectural rendering on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene.

Liking Facebook, or more specifically, Liking LexJet’s new interactive catalog, brought a $500 LexJet Gift Card to West Coast Signage: they Liked and were drawn as the winner of the Facebook promotion.

West Coast Signage’s specialty is architectural signage, but the company recently added wide-format printing to the mix with a Canon iPF8400 from LexJet.

“LexJet had an incredible deal on the Canon, which we’re very pleased with. We were jobbing a lot of stuff out, like banners. We didn’t have the ability to do even a temporary banner, so the Canon printer has helped out a lot,” says Druckerman. “Dave Mayer, who takes care of us at LexJet, has been wonderful in helping us find the right product for whatever project we’re working on.”

Trade Show Prints by West Coast Signage
West Coast Signage has diversified its product offering with wide-format printing, including stellar trade show graphics.

Adding wide-format inkjet printing has allowed West Coast Signage to expand into more promotional and interior applications, like posters and trade show graphics. Druckerman says that LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene has been a versatile, multi-application material.

“We use the polypropylene and an optically-clear adhesive to make full-color, second-surface acrylic signs. It’s been a popular product for interior signage, whether it’s some type of promotional graphic or a photograph,” says Druckerman.

Supplementing Photography with Printing

Banner Stand GraphicsProfessional photographer Dan Johnson, based in Grand Rapids, Mich., has built an amazing photography studio and an outstanding portfolio of top-notch work over the years. A creative artist, Johnson is also a creative businessperson.

In past posts at the LexJet Blog, we’ve covered Dan’s work at the annual ArtPrize competition, his method of building a spray booth to coat prints, and the portable photo booth he takes to special events he’s photographing.

Johnson’s most recent initiative is to supplement the traditionally slow winter months with additional income from printing. Recently, Johnson launched GoProPrints.com, a site that touts his printing capabilities geared toward photographers, businesses, churches and schools.

“We have the equipment so we may as well print for other people as well. So, we licensed the name, GoProPrints.com, and got the website started to see if we can build it into a workable system to print for other people,” says Johnson. “It’s a way for us to offer printing to other people without using our photography studio name. Over time maybe it will grow enough that we can hire salespeople to sell printing services to businesses.”

Johnson says that printing provides a “nice supplement” during the winter months, increasing revenue during that time. He adds that the most popular products are canvas wraps, banners and banner stand graphics. He uses LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene for the banners and Sunset canvas for the canvas wraps.

“With all the stuff we can get from LexJet we can offer a lot of different types of applications,” Johnson adds. “The website helps get us started toward marketing to different segments and gives us a presence that lends some credibility to what we do on the print side.”

Dew the Graphics

 

Dew Downtown Flagstaff Signs
One of hundreds of signs and banners produced by the P.O.P. shop at Nackard Companies for Dew Downtown Flagstaff hangs in front of the main event.

Dew Downtown Flagstaff is gaining momentum, thanks in no small part to the work of Nackard Companies, a regional beverage distributor based in Flagstaff. Nackard Companies and its P.O.P. shop crank out hundreds of banners, signs and displays to brand the event while it’s in full swing and to promote it beforehand.

Dew Downtown Flagstaff BannersNow in its third year, the annual ski and snowboard festival is based around a slopestyle course on San Francisco Street in downtown Flagstaff.

As the event has grown, so has the number of tents and activities that surround the course. So, of course, the number of graphics required for the event has grown. Steve Lalio, P.O.P. shop manager for Nackard Companies estimates that they printed about three times more banners and signs for this year’s event than they did for the event’s inaugural in 2012.

Dew Downtown Flagstaff Fabric Banners
These banners leading into the slopestyle course at Dew Downtown Flagstaff were printed on LexJet Poly Select Heavy fabric.

“We printed about 40 banners just in one day. The event has really gotten a lot bigger in three years. There were about 20,000 people at the even this year; even my cousins came up from Albuquerque to see it,” says Lalio.

Dew Downtown took place the weekend of Feb. 8-9. Mild weather leading up to the event meant that most of the snow was man-made, though it snowed a few inches during setup the day before.

Dew Downtown Flagstaff Medals
Nackard Companies even provided the medals, which were printed on LexJet Extreme AquaVinyl. The backdrop was printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene and applied to Coroplast.

Most of the signage was printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene, laminated with LexJet 3 Mil Luster UV Standard Low Melt. Graphics applied to metal and Coroplast were printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene. A smattering of other banners and flags were printed on LexJet Poly Select Heavy Fabric, and all the graphics were printed with a Canon iPF8000S inkjet printer.

Pre-Event Promotion with Big Graphics at the Point of Sale

Large Inkjet Printed Store Banner

Dew Downtown Flagstaff is rolling like the proverbial snowball. Now in its third year, the event turns downtown Flagstaff into one long terrain park where boarders and skiers compete for prizes.

As the event gains traction and grows each year, the P.O.P. print shop at Nackard Companies pumps out increasingly more graphics year over year. This year, Nackard has also been printing pre-event promotions, the largest of which is currently hanging in a local Sam’s Club over a 400-plus case display of Mountain Dew beverages.

The graphic is 16 feet wide by 8 feet tall, double-side, divided into four sections to make transportation of the graphic easier. Printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene, the four sections are actually made up of six print panels, paneled together with double-sided tape.

“I used my ONYX RIP software to panel it properly before I printed it. Each panel is 35” x 8’: it was about six pieces total with a 1/2” overlap. I designed it at the final size and told ONYX to give me a 1/2” overlap,” explains Steve Lalio, P.O.P. shop manager. “I took the printed pieces, laminated it, trimmed off the excess and used double-sided tape to put it all together as one big banner. I also placed gray lines in the RIP to tell me where the four-foot sections were, and then cut it at each line for transportation.”

Lalio adds that they were trying to bridge the gap between a graphic that was too heavy and one that was too light. Originally, the customer wanted the graphic applied to Coroplast, but Lalio explained that it would make it too heavy. Fabric would have been too light, and Lalio wanted a material substantial enough to attach the 3D snowboarder to on the right side of the graphic.

Inkjet Printed Truck BacksLalio also reinforced the top and bottom with strips of 2’x 4′ Coroplast, which also acted as anchor when Lalio drilled the snowboarder into the banner. The snowboarder was printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene, laminated with LexJet 3 Mil Luster UV Standard Low Melt laminate, applied to a piece of Coroplast, and die cut.

Among other pre-event promotional graphics, Nackard also applied graphics the company’s Pepsi truck backs with LexJet Extreme AquaVinyl w/ PSA, laminated with LexJet 3 Mil Luster UV Standard Low Melt. Meanwhile, the shop is printing virtually non-stop for Dew Downtown Flagstaff, which runs Feb. 8-9.

Check back here for a recap of the graphics production for Dew Downtown Flagstaff sometime after the event. And, pray for snow (they could use more of the natural stuff for it).

Holiday Spirit at the Point of Sale

Holiday Donation Train by Nackard CompaniesThe Nackard Companies recently partnered with a number of sponsors, northern Arizona police departments and area stores to help with a food, coat and toy drive this Holiday season.

This worthy cause is being set up around a Pepsi products display with 12-packs formed in the shape of a train. Shoppers can find out more from the informational flyers attached to the “train” and make their donations.

The Nackard Companies sales department, led by Daniel Josytewa, built the display and the P.O.P. sign crew printed the graphics that complete the “train” with printed wheels. All of the graphics, informational flyers and banners promoting the drive were printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polyproplylene.

Donation Train Display“For the indoor graphics we use a luster laminate to cut down on the glare from the lights, and outdoors we typically use a gloss laminate to give it a little more pop,” says Steve Lalio, shop manager. “We hand-cut each train wheel out and attached them to the display with double-sided tape. We’ve used adhesive-backed material before, and it looks great, but it ruins the packages.”

The “roof” of the “train” has a 1×1 frame with a sheet of 4×8 Coroplast and 6″-diameter PVC piping for the “smokestack.” The banners that point to the display are 3×10, the flyers are 11×17, the big wheel on the train is three feet in diameter, the smaller wheels are about 17″ x 17″ and the arms connecting the wheels are five feet and two-and-a-half feet long.

Toy Drive BannerThe display will be up and collecting donations, and thirsty patrons, through Christmas. “We’re trying to create displays that are simple and cost-effective, yet are effective in getting the information across,” adds Lalio.

Complementing Fine Woodworking with Tasteful Banner Graphics

Banner Graphics for the Fine Furnishings Show by AW Artworks

It’s always a balancing act: how to promote someone’s product at a trade show without overshadowing that product. To find that balance, Andy Wredberg, owner of AW Artworks in Sun Prairie, Wis., decided to incorporate banners into a Neevel’s Fine Woodworking back wall display. Wredberg also created the logo, the color scheme for Neevel’s trade show presence, and photographed the oak tree image that’s the primary image on the banners.

Neevel’s Fine Woodworking specializes in what’s called “live-edge” furniture, a method that incorporates the natural edge of wood into the furniture design. Neevel’s built the back wall for its display at the Fine Furnishings Show in Milwaukee using its unique techniques. The panels not only incorporated Neevel’s woodworking methodology, but acted as recessed banner stands.

“I wanted to create banners that would highlight his business clearly but not detract from the furnishings,” says Wredberg. “When you do that, you grab people’s attentions and create a perceived value. People at the show loved it and he helped raise the standards of the show. You can walk in and easily see who is being promoted without a gaudy sign that overshadows his woodworking.”

Wredberg printed the banners on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene, an excellent choice for this display as the material lays flat and doesn’t tear.