Driving Success in Vehicle Wrap Design

The idea behind graphic design is amazing. As an applied art, its many digital tools give way to infinite possibilities, and a talented designer can begin with a blank screen and quickly develop an aesthetically pleasing design. But there are limitations: Just as an architect may at first work conceptually, quickly sketching swooshes and blobs to imagine a compelling shape, the limitations of physics, the capabilities of materials, and the cost of realizing the impossible becomes impractical.

This truck wrap, designed and installed by Action Signs and Banners, features a patterned background that activates the space, along with clear branding. | Credit: Action Signs and Banners

In vehicle wrap design, project success relies heavily on the knowledge of the designer. And what looks good on the screen (which is a two-dimensional surface) may not effectively convey to a three-dimensional vehicle. Further, inexperience can inhibit success: Not knowing the pitfalls that can become design pratfalls can profoundly harm expected results.

In the practical world, after the design has been approved and the panels for a vehicle wrap have been printed, laminated, and finished, it falls to one person (or a team) to realize the designer’s vision: the installer. As the last person to “touch” the job, it often falls to the installer to compensate for upstream mistakes, to atone for the sins of those before them. Who better, then, to discuss how not just good design, but correct design, can influence project success?

Getting it Right (from the Start)

“The first thing to compare,” says Kenneth Burns, owner of Axis Graphic Installations, a company headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area, with outposts in the north, mid, and south Atlantic states; the southeast; south Florida, and central Texas, “is to compare the live version of the vehicle to the design template, and to understand the 3D view of the vehicle.” Pay attention to obstructions — mirrors, door handles, trim elements, body contours — that can sometime turn a designer’s blank canvas into a minefield. He says designers must also understand where a design will “break” around the corners of the vehicle. One suggestion he has for how designers can improve outcomes is to communicate to the installer which body line to align to — on some vehicles there can be more than one. “A printed schematic doesn’t always covey that,” he says.

Travis Schuett, project designer at Fort Collins, Colorado-based Action Signs and Banners says a first step toward success involves following the process: using a template, allowing for appropriate bleed, working to decrease the amount of elements that need to line up at a seam, not having text or other graphic elements too close to, say, door handles. Bleed, he says can be as little as half-an-inch to as much as four inches, depending on where on the vehicle the panel falls. “That’s something I see coming from third-party designers. If the designs are too problematic, we may send the files back to the client. Another option is to do our best to adjust it. Most people are very understanding of that.”

From an installation perspective, Burns says he likes to see organization when he opens a box of prints that have been sent to his company, including a printed layout and panels properly labeled. “As installers, we don’t need a puzzle to solve,” he says, noting that lack of organization can add labor time and increase the possibility of mistakes. Schuett says that Action Signs and Banners benefits from having its own installers on staff, so communication between the designer and the installation team is often direct and open, helping ensure a favorable result. The installers, he says, “can make changes, call audibles … it makes things a lot easier. They can also be accountable to their own decisions.”

Clean design and clear messaging raise the efficacy of this wrap, which was done by WrapStar Pro. | Credit: WrapStar Pro

Kristen Lanzarone-Scribner, owner-operator of WrapStar Pro, located in Sacramento, California, says effective wrap design should include thoughtful use of paneling, noting that sometimes seams can be avoided by orienting panels horizontally versus vertically (or vice versa), which can make the wrap easier to install. Further, she says alignment of the graphic to the body line of the vehicle is essential, but not always clear. “If you look at a Transit Connect van,” she says, giving an example, “there are no straight lines along the body.” This is an example of when having an effective channel of communication between designer, printer, and installer becomes paramount.

Common Design Errors

Asked about vehicle wrap design errors she’s seen far too often, Lanzarone-Scribner says alignment comes to mind — sometimes a design will be oriented to the ground as a horizontal reference, and it ends up looking incongruous with the horizontal accents of the vehicle. Also, she says successful wraps require room for adjustment and an amount of bleed appropriate for the job. It’s better to be able to adjust, she says, than to have to redesign and reprint a panel.

Schuett says the biggest challenge is trying to have graphics line up where they must also wrap around the corners of the vehicle — side to back, for instance, or quarter-panel to hood. “Designers don’t always take that into consideration,” he says, “particularly with gradients.” He shared that his company recently printed and installed designs, provided by a national brand, that included a halftone pattern that wrapped onto the hood. “We had to be really precise about making it work,” he said, adding, “If it was me designing, I might not have done that.” Experience has value.

Burns echoes Schuett, saying he often sees errors where the side of the vehicle must wrap to the front and the back, putting artwork in places where it doesn’t belong. This can result, for instance, in door handles in the middle of a phone number or distorted faces in an area where the vinyl must be stretched by the installer. Further, designs that allow no adjustment can be problematic. “If you’re using a maximum amount of the space with a graphic, there might be a problem.”

Surely, most people working in the wide-format space have seen examples of vehicle wrap “design fails” on websites or social media. As funny and cringy as the worst of these can be, any designer’s reaction should also include the question, “How can I avoid doing something similar?”

What ‘Cheapens’ a Design?

While many printers and installers may say it is not their job to judge the designs they are paid to work with, and to make successful, seeing a lot of designs helps them form opinions about what works and what doesn’t. Asked if there are any design aspects that serve to cheapen the overall efficacy of a vehicle wrap, Burns says, “I’m not a designer, but when I see vans that have a swoosh of color and some letting, it cheapens it, from a design standpoint.” The goal of the wrap, often, is to represent a business — it is marketing, it is branding — to raise its visibility. To do this effectively must be part of the equation.

Schuett says a good design, for instance, for a plumber’s van, should maintain a “certain balance” between sharing the company’s identity and the services it offers. “We do a lot of contractor work,” he says, “and they really want to include, like, 15 different things they do [in the design]. Sometimes we can talk them down, and sometimes you’re printing a paragraph on the side of a van.”

Lanzarone-Scribner says she also must advise contractors to not create lists of services on their vehicles, and to instead focus on simplicity. The goal of the wrap, she says, is to attract the viewer to the logo — enough to compel them to learn more about the company through websites or social media. Extending this thinking, she says she even sees companies moving away from adding phone numbers into the design. QR codes have become much more common. She also advises against adding photographs of a company owner into the wrap design, noting they, “can end up looking really out of date or old-school, especially for wraps that will be on the road for five to seven years.”

Trends in Design

Design trends in vehicle wraps continue to change and develop, and it is important for designers to produce work that is fresh and timely. Schuett says he has seen customers, “getting more comfortable with using intricate patterns in the background,” and the use of gradients and drop-shadows, which he says, “now don’t look as bitmapped as the used to.” This can result in a look that is more modern and fancier. Also, he said his shop did a recent wrap that “pulled back” from a full wrap to a half-wrap, and then took advantage of the vehicle’s paint color — a metallic silver — which worked with the company’s branding. “That’s a way you can minimize the [wrapped] space on the vehicle and still have it look professional.”

This design, by WrapStar Pro, features bold color that highlights the customer's brand and makes sense with the contours and features of the vehicle. | Credit: WrapStar Pro

Schuett also says he’s getting more questions about metallic finishes, and the company occasionally uses a substrate that mimics the metallic finish of automotive paint. He says that while that material is more expensive than standard pressure-sensitive vinyl, “it blends well with a partial wrap, and looks great with vehicle paint.”

Offering a different view of how a substrate can affect or enhance a design, Burns shared that he’s seen some novel uses of reflective materials, and expects to see more of that type of material integrated into vehicle wraps.

Lanzarone-Scribner says she is encountering more customers interested in partial wraps and speculates this is because marketing budgets may be smaller than they once were. If, for instance, the customer wants a partial wrap and plotter-cut letting on the doors, she will advise wrapping the doors plainly, instead, simulating the look for cut vinyl. This approach, she says, is faster to produce and install, and hence cheaper overall.