Our job obviously was to come up with a layout that made sense for the vehicle. Now, one of the biggest things we noticed with this van, a Dodge ProMaster, are the body lines. A lot of companies use body lines for their parallel line or what we call an establishment line. This is the line we use to set the graphics on the vehicle. The problem with the Dodge ProMaster is, if you can see, that the inset where the door kind of slides back, the bottom of the inset, just above the bottom line, just behind the passenger door to the back of the van, drops almost four inches. We could have used this line, according to the body lines, and we would have had a drop in the graphics of 4 and 1/2 inches. That would not only look stupid it would look very very unprofessional. When we pulled the graphics apart, we decided to use a laser level to establish our parallel. We actually ended up using parallel to the ground, which is what should be done unless there’s any way to use one of the lines on the van and obviously every single line on this van drops going from front to back. We printed the graphics and then we ran the print through a laser cutter that actually removes all of the additional vinyl so we are left with only the vinyl that actually goes on the vehicle. As you can see here, on the back of the vehicle, we had to do some modifications because of the door handle, the license plate holder and with this vehicle we’ve got an extended rooftop. We had to take that into consideration for the alignment of the graphics after we didn’t want to look stupid. The driver side is very similar to the passenger side. All the same and again parallel to the ground.
When we use cut graphics, we use wrap grade vinyl. Some shops will use either an industrial-grade or a non-wrap material. Optimum Signs does not use industrial grade material for wraps of any vehicle. We use vehicle wrap vinyl which is the material that is supposed to go on vehicles. This one we used premium grade wrap material so that when this company comes back in three years and they decided that they’re turning the vehicle over, we can get these graphics off the van without a problem.
If you have a fleet, or if you have a single-vehicle and you’ve been disappointed in the past with the company you had wrap your vehicles, give Optimum Signs to call. I guarantee you we will make you happy and we’ll take the time to work with your design the way it’s supposed to be. We can be reached at 262.289.9481 or info@optimumsignswi.com.
