LARGE & WIDE FORMAT PRINTING GUIDE

L A R G E A N D W I D E F O R M AT P R I N T I N G G U I D E

DisclaimerWe’ve written this document and it is as true and accurate as we can make it. However, situations change, technologies change and individual circumstances differ from person to person so we do not claim that the material inside will guarantee results.

We present this material as educational and of general interest to large and wide format users based on our own experience and the shared experiences of our clients and customers.

This publication was prepared by Commerce Color, Inc. and it is available free at CommerceColor.com

LARGE & WIDE FORMAT PRINTING GUIDE

L A R G E A N D W I D E F O R M AT P R I N T I N G G U I D E

How to Buy Wide Format PrintingOkay. You’re ready to jump into the world of wide format printing. You know how powerful it can be. But you’re on the fence about what products are best suited for you and which printer you should use. For your convenience we developed a quick checklist that should help point you in the right direction.

Location is important: Begin by looking around your town. Are there any large and wide format print-ers close by? If you have a relatively simple local project that doesn’t require complicated planning or extensive installation, you may want to give your local printer a go.

Capabilities and experience counts: The absolute best way to really understand what a printer can accomplish is through their previous experience. Printers traditionally like to flash you a laundry list of their printing equipment and associated hardware. That’s all fine, but wouldn’t you prefer to learn what kind of projects they have successfully completed? And wouldn’t you like to hear what their satisfied customers have to say about their experiences?

How many years in business? Printing companies come and go. The ones who have been around a while know what it takes to build and keep long term relationships with there suppliers, their associ-ates and their customers.

Who’s my contact? Choose a sales rep that knows the details of his business. The best ones grow up in the business. Maybe they’ve worked their way up in the plant or spent a few years running printing presses. Those are the sales representatives that are genuinely equipped to help you with your project.

Hire a Graphic Design Pro: Don’t be tempted by the “I can save some money if I do it myself” con-cept when buying large and wide format printing. In almost every case, a qualified graphic designer will not only improve the effectiveness of your sales message, but he will save you from the pricey pitfalls of poor art file production. Once your creative concepts are complete, you’ll want your art files to race through the production process.

Poorly prepared art files not only cost you time, but the repairs and rework in your printers production facility can be very expensive.

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Smart Project PlanningBuilding reliable budgets for large and wide format printing projects can be a daunting task. There are a variety of considerations that go into every printing project we produce. It’s also important to men-tion that many large and wide format projects are comprised of a variety of different printed products and services.

Our quick quote forms help us to establish an authentic exchange of information with our customers. We understand their need for project planning and there are often extenuating circumstances that can impact material choices and installation procedures.

When we receive a quick quote submission, it is immediately evaluat-ed by a large and wide format expert. In many cases we can establish a reliable quote with a minimal amount of information, but we always try to consider external circumstances that may impact how a job is produced or installed.

Our goal is simple. We want to help our customers collect important and realistic budget information as quickly as possible. Our quick quote forms help us do that.

In addition our in-house signage experts help our customers identify appropriate materials, plan time lines for production and assist with every type of installation.

We encourage you to use a quick quote to get your next project off the ground.

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Art File PreparationPrepress Guidelines: Effective communication and understanding between you and your printer will insure superior print quality. Our prepress department is happy to help you with any questions you may have. Please do not hesitate contacting us if you need assistance preparing your art files.

Recommended File FormatsAdobe Photoshop® Adobe InDesign® Adobe Illustrator® QuarkXpress® We recommend embedding graphic files instead of linking them. There is less chance for images to “get lost” when updating, editing or making changes to files.

When using publishing programs (i.e. Adobe InDesign / QuarkXpress) include all fonts and graphics used in the file. Outline all fonts whenever possible.

The size of Photoshop files greatly affect the outcome of the finished job. We often receive unneces-sarily large files in excess of a gigabyte in size. We recommend 300 dpi at a reasonable size. Your final file size should be no larger than 200 mb.

We do not recommend submitting PDF files.

BleedsAny element that extends to the final edge of the paper needs to be extended beyond the final trimmed edge of the art.

We recommend adding 6 inches of bleed on all your billboard art files.

888 781-7702For technical assistance

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Scaling Your Art FilesFINISHED SIZE* SCALE PROPORTION MAKE YOUR ART SIZE

Up to 4 feet x 8 feet 1/4 of finished size 12 inches x 24 inchesUp to 8 feet x 20 feet 1/12 of finished size 8 inches x 20 inchesUp to 14 feet x 48 feet 1/24 of finished size 7 inches x 24 inches

*Finished Sizes Larger than 14′ x 48′ – Final Art File Size: 1/24 of the Final Size.

Image and photo resolution: 300 dpi CMYK

Art File Scale and Resolution can be different depending on final project size. Art files prepared in other scales are acceptable, provided that the art files are proportional to the final size of the printed project and a notation is made indicating the scale used. Please advise your project coordinator.

Please specify the bleed requirements for your project and incorporate them in your art files.

Color Matching Convert all colors to CMYK. We recommend all tint-mixed colors be specified with PMS coated swatch samples. The Pantone Matching System (PMS) is recommended for this purpose. All PMS col-ors are reproduced in 4 Color Process. Fluorescent / Metallic PMS and 800-series PMS colors will be reproduced as closely as possible in 4 Color Process.

Low quality ink jet printouts are not a reliable source for color matching. If a specific PMS color match is not indicated we will adjust appropriately to achieve pleasing color.

Rich Black: Printing large black areas as 100% black generally makes a poor-looking and dull black. For a deep, rich black, specify 40% cyan, 30% magenta, 20% yellow and 100% black.

888 781-7702For technical assistance

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Designing For OutdoorWe live in a rapidly advancing world with an ever increasing amount of attention grabbing distractions. To be one of the select outdoor advertisers who remain in the forefront of effective messaging you must understand the power of simplicity.

Effective outdoor advertising speaks to its audience immediately and without complication. Use these fundamental principles as a guide for creating your own out-of-home designs.

IDENTIFY THE PRODUCTIt is vital that the advertisers name and product is easy to identify. Focus on making it a prominent part of the adspace.

MAKE COPY SHORT AND SWEETOutdoor advertising data collection has shown that short content messaging is the most effective. Industry standards recommend ten words in total. Whenever possible construct your headlines in 5 words or less.

USE SIMPLE LANGUAGEData has shown that short and easily identifiable words are easier to grasp and provide quicker com-prehension. Time is short with outdoor.

LARGE AND READABLE CONTENTTraditional outdoor ads are viewed from extended distances. Making your ad text large will help de-liver your message from 400 to 800 feet away.

BOLDER IS BETTERTry to avoid using thin outlines and strokes. They are hard to discern from distances beyond 600 feet. Increase line and stroke thicknesses to improve your ad

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MAKE IT BIGGERWhen in doubt, increase object size. Review the design elements in your project. Always be aware that your audience is viewing from large distances. Small and subtle objects can be lost and only serve to inhibit your messaging.

BIG AND STRONG COLORDo not hesitate using strong color in your designs. Once again, the use of simple but powerful color combinations will serve your projects well. Strong colors help your message hold up from distances 500 feet and beyond.

THE ADVANTAGE OF CONTRASTMuch like the concepts of powerful color, contrasting colors increase long distance legibility. Experi-ment with different combinations of color until you achieve maximum visual impact.

KEEP IT SIMPLECommit yourself to one simple idea or message. Review and revise your ad concept with the idea of conveying a single message, simply and powerfully. Eliminate the unnecessary extras that do not sup-port your commitment to one message.

TEST DRIVE YOUR CONCEPTGreat creative development is a process. Use this simple testing procedure to simulate an outdoor ad experience. - Print your concept and paste it on a wall at standing eye level.- Stand 10 - 15 feet from your ad.- Spin around and view your ad for five seconds.- Use these guidelines as a checklist to assess whether or not your ad will be a winner.- Revise and repeat the process until your ad meets the recommended guidelines.

TIP: Use these guidelines to evaluate other outdoor advertising in and around your town. How do they stack up? Can you improve on their ads?

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Window Graphics for The MeadowsCommerce Color was engaged to create a program of custom window and vinyl signage for spaces that were not yet leased at the time of the opening. According to Bridget Geiss, Marketing Director at The Meadows at Lake St. Louis: “We needed to cover the windows and doors of the unoccupied spaces, and at the same time, convey the brands of The Meadows at Lake St. Louis, the existing stores and the coming stores. The development has 260,000 square feet of retail space. We were 70 percent leased at the time of the Grand Opening, so it was a large project, with Commerce Color providing window graphics and vinyl banners for the remaining 30 percent.”

In addition to the window graphics, Commerce Color also did the Grand Opening light pole banners, some strategically placed hard signage, vinyl banners and wallscapes.

Commerce Color provided mock-ups in advance, so that the program could be reviewed by various people at Davis Land Company. There were several rounds of design revisions and a number of dif-ferent substrates were considered. The project also had a tight schedule: although The Meadows had been in development since 2006, all of the tenants moved in at the same time and the contractors were still finishing up work on some of the buildings as the Grand Opening neared. All of the signage had to be installed while construction was still under way.

Notes David Freeburg, General Manager of The Meadows, “It was quite a custom job. There were around 450 windows and doors. Each had to be measured individually because each of the window graphics had to fit perfectly into the window or door frame.

Also, the project presented a unique problem: No pressure-sensitive material could be affixed directly to the windows or doors because it would void the manufacturer’s warranty. Commerce Color devised a system whereby the branded graphics were printed on a rigid material, and then clear spacers were used to keep them from coming in contact with the glass. Finally, spring-loaded rods were mounted between the window and door frames to hold them into position.

It was an inventive solution and worked beautifully.”

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Dramatic Event Graphics in PhoenixCreative agency Bozell concepted and designed the event graphics for the fete, held at the US Air-ways Arena in Phoenix. Renderings provided by Callison Architects were superimposed onto photos of the existing skyline and printed onto 40-foot vinyl banners.

At a key moment in the celebration, the event banners were unfurled from the ceiling and dropped dramatically into place, offering a real-time/in-perspective view of what the city of downtown Phoenix will look like.

Bozell’s Michael Pitzer found Commerce Color through a search on the Internet and selected them after visiting their website and seeing the size and scope of their previous work. What he saw gave him confidence to move forward with this project, which involved some things that had never been done before with printed vinyl banners.

The event graphics presented some unique logistical challenges: The banners were huge, so shipping was a challenge, as was installation: Commerce Color was selected in part because they had the ability to print on very lightweight material.

Commerce Color also printed custom floor graphics for the event. Bozell contracted with an art-ist to do a “sidewalk chalk painting,” which was then printed as a vinyl floor graphic. It looked like a huge hole in the floor, with guests peering down into a view of the park being developed as part of CityScape.

Says Pitzer, “Commerce Color did a great job. They worked really hard, got the event graphics done in an insane amount of time and the banners worked perfectly. The whole thing came off beautifully. If anything, I was amazed at how simple it was to do something so dramatic.”

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Wall Murals for LEGOLANDCommerce Color created a 12-foot high by 33-foot long custom digital wallpaper that lines the en-trance to Mini-land, a 1,500 sq.ft. room housing a replica of the city of Chicago built entirely with LEGOS. In the Hall of Fame area, Commerce Color provided all of the backdrop wall graphics for the characters of Harry Potter and Hagrid Indiana Jones and Batman. Commerce Color also created wall murals in the Build and Test area, a do-it-yourself model-making area for children.

Commerce Color printed massive vinyl wall murals for the Factory Tour, an attraction demonstrating how LEGO bricks are made. Standing 9 feet tall and spanning 110 feet, the custom wall murals depict the interiors of a factory, replete with gears, conveyer belts, electrical systems, pipes and safety tape.

The client, LEGO Group, felt that accurate color had never been achieved in the wall murals for this room in the previous two LEGOLAND Discovery Centres and commented that the color accuracy achieved by Commerce Color is the best that they have seen. States Rich Hill, designer at Sally Cor-poration: “LEGO had a ‘color universe’ with which we had to work. LEGO Group was extremely happy with everything we and Commerce Color did, and felt that the color quality of the murals was incredi-ble--the best of the LEGOLAND Discovery Centres to date.”

Commerce also created for three birthday party rooms: two with a jungle theme and one with a castle theme. Finally, they produced specialty graphics in the form of a 12 x 8 ½ foot map located near the ticket counter in the lobby of the entire Discovery Center.

According to Hill, “Working with Commerce Color was incredible. They produced vibrant colors and excellent quality in all of their custom wallpaper graphics. And when we had a tight deadline issue and didn’t provide them with artwork for one of the walls until the last minute, they turned the project around quickly and the mural was installed in time for the opening. They really contributed to the suc-cess of this project.”

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Visit Us OnlineCommerce Color specializes in the planning, production and installation of high quality large and wide format printing projects. Our customers are located throughout the United States and Canada.

Contact us toll free anytime at 888 781-7702 or email one of our sales professionals through the Contact section of our website.

Browse our products:

Wall Murals and Custom Wallpaper Graphicshttp://www.commercecolor.com/wall-murals-and-custom-wallpaper-graphics/

Vehicle Wraps, Bus Wraps and Car Wrapshttp://www.commercecolor.com/vehicle-wraps-bus-wraps-and-car-wraps/

Wallscapes and Building Wrapshttp://www.commercecolor.com/wallscapes-and-building-wraps/

Window Graphics and Window Signagehttp://www.commercecolor.com/window-graphics-and-window-signage/

Vinyl Banners and Outdoor Signagehttp://www.commercecolor.com/vinyl-banners-and-outdoor-signage/

Event Signage and Event Bannershttp://www.commercecolor.com/event-signage-and-event-banners/

Light Pole Banners and Street Pole Bannershttp://www.commercecolor.com/light-pole-banners-and-street-pole-banners/

Commerce Color1555 South 3rd StreetSt. Louis, MO 63104(314) 781-7702