Over Halloween weekend, I attended a storytelling program at Crown Hill Cemetery. There were several storytellers attempting to “spook” us, but the scariest thing for me was the vehicle graphics on a food truck brought in for the event. Because, it was tragic.

Here’s what made this Vehicle Wrap Frightening

  1. The design. The images, fonts, and colors didn’t work together.  Because the font was hard to read, there was little whitespace, and the images overlapped in confusion.
  2. The print. The low resolution images were pixelated, it was like looking at a pointillist painting except ugly and distracting.
  3. The installation. So, how much time do you have? Because, sadly, this wrap was the poster child for graphics application mistakes.
  • There was damage behind the adhesive vinyl. A vehicle wrap will not hide large scratches and dents, and this wrap didn’t.
  • It looked as if the surface hadn’t been properly prepped. A vehicles substrate must be completely clean and dry prior to installation. The surface showed signs of grit bumping up under the wrap.
  • The edges were uneven and pulling back. Edges must be cut precisely, completely squeegeed, and post heated. I doubt if any of these protocols was followed.
  • There were bubbles under the vinyl. Which could be due to using the wrong material for the application, lack of proper surface prep, over-stretching the material or lack of consistent post heating.
  • The vinyl was cut and patched around equipment. Most equipment, such as door handles should be removed during installation and reattached after.

Don’t be Terrified by Car Wraps

The best way to stay away from a spine-chilling vehicle graphic experience is to seek out a qualified, established, and reputable graphics provider. Vehicle graphics aren’t as easy as they look to design, fabricate, or install. For example, there are hundreds of variations of adhesive vinyl material—using the wrong material for an install can be hair-raising. Vehicle graphics design is an art. It’s more complicated than a two-dimensional design. Vehicles have curves, and corners, and surfaces that are spilt by windows, doors, and equipment. When it comes time to print the graphic, using the wrong ink for the material or not matching the laminate to the ink will cause problems. Hire a graphics team that knows what it’s doing or you could end up with something ghostly. If you’d like more information about graphics for your fleet Contact Us, we won’t horrify you.