Top Tips to Get You Started In Vehicle Wraps

Vehicle wraps are considered to be a recognized design product, especially for small companies. In this case, the vehicles’ sides are mainly used as an outstanding advertising space that will be seen by a large number of people. It can be called a mobile billboard which contains space for advertisement. And the best part is that a small business owner only has to once pay for it. A vast majority of the vehicle wraps are constituted of printed as well as large vinyl stickers applied to the vehicle's surface. However, it can be an extremely challenging task to design these very effective advertisements. Any of the designers who decide to work on an automotive vinyl wrap job should have an intermediate level of skills with basic graphic design programs. Also, they should always focus on doing effective research before getting started.

Thoroughly planned as well as well-executed custom car wraps can provide a solid foundation for consistent branding along with ongoing promotions. So, the businesses can make good use of vehicle graphics to get their brand noticed across to a large number of audiences on busy streets, highways, and sometimes even in the neighboring areas. Custom vehicle wraps are often regarded as one of the most result-oriented as well as convenient forms of marketing. This particular approach tends to deliver an outstanding performance specifically by playing a rolling billboard. 

How to Start Vehicle Wraps Business?

So, here, we will go through the basic process by following which, you would be able to effectively design print-ready vehicle wrap files. Not only that, but we will also give you a brief overview of the best ways in which you can deliver these files to the client.

Let’s begin our discussion to understand this well. 

1. Collect As Much Of The Information As You Can 

You must first get a precise template before you begin designing anything. To be able to create a scalable and print-ready design as possible, you should focus on creating the designs on an accurate template file. Otherwise, you would fail to achieve the best-in-class results. So, you must start with an exact template file of the vehicle of your client to get the outstanding outcomes. Vehicle wrap files can be substantial as well as complicated, and a few of the vehicle vinyl wrap printers are involved in charging your client about $75/hr or $250 in total for any of the fixes. Your client will again ideally present you with the template files of the blueprint of the car upfront. If they don't have one, they can buy one for you from websites that are involved in selling car blueprint templates, or they can request one from their vehicle wrap printer. But one of the most important things to keep in mind is that the templates files bought online will not at all times be 100 percent precise, as every vehicle may have minor surface abnormalities.

The subsequent step is to focus on finding out which particular car printing firm the client is utilizing as well as what are their specializations. As each of the car wrap printing companies may possess distinct printing processes or file requirements, it is critical to collect a lot of information before beginning the design process. Finally, request your client to send you high-resolution photos of their car as well as specify which car model it is. Inquire if the car's surface has any irregularities that may differ from the current templates.

2. Bring Together Inspiration 

After possessing all of the technical details in hand, it is time to begin planning about how you'll make your client's car wrap vision a reality! Suppose they already possess a logo as well as an advertising copy ready to go. The next thing that you need to do is to inquire about the specific types of vehicles wrap designs that they prefer.

In this regard, a lot of the clients give preference to photos specifically in the vehicle wrap design, even though it is not recommended. If that's what they want, you'll need to get as well as buy very high-resolution images. It is always a great idea to maintain a plain and simple design of the car wrap, particularly if it is an advertisement for the company of your client. One of the integral things to keep in mind is that the vehicle of your client may be going 65mph on the freeway and this is the main reason, why you should ensure that the message of the brand can be read in a matter of seconds.

3. Create The Design

You can make use of the photos of your client's vehicle to quickly sketch out your design after getting them from your client. In this regard, you can consider creating the design, particularly in the template files. But a lot of the designers prefer to Photoshop the overall design onto an image of the vehicle, to begin with.

It would not match with the actual car, but it will help you imagine how graphics will appear whenever they come together at the rounded sides as well as corners of the car.

Before showing it to your client, always ensure that any of the mockups you made can be effortlessly remade or put onto the template files. Mockups are considered to be excellent for demonstrating how the design will appear in real life. It will also help you to get the client’s consent for the ultimate design. It is crucial, however, to achieve their expectations correctly by displaying them those designs which can be executed in real life rather than simply looking decent in Photoshop.

4. Focus On Applying The Particular Design To The Template

Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator can be utilized for creating vehicle wrap print files. In most web to print companies, the designers are involved in delivering Adobe Illustrator files in the vehicle wrap handovers. It is particularly because some of the car wrap printers just give acceptance to vector files for printing. However, a vast majority of the vehicle printers focus on accepting both AI as well as PSD files. Consider the following things to get the best outcomes:

• Focus on setting the color mode of your document to CMYK.

• One of the best ways to create the design for scaling is to make use of the 1:10 ratio.

• Consider setting the document's resolution to 720 pixels per inch (PPI).

• If high-resolution raster images or photos are part of the design, consider using those. 

• All fonts should be converted to outlines.

• Consider labeling as well as organizing every part into distinct layers. Also, ensure that every graphic possesses its sublayer. 

• Every piece of the template should have 5-10 in bleeds. The design will have to specifically wrap across objects such as door edges. Again, adding more bleed will aid in gripping the design to the car. 

5. Deliver The Files

Consider providing either .psd or .ai files along with an uncompressed.tiff file of the car wrap to your client. In this regard, you should make sure that they are familiar with the names or own a license to all of the fonts that are utilized in your design. Another thing that you can do is to include the raw photo file, in case any pictures or other raster images were utilized in the design. This will allow the people to use the vehicle wrap and if needed, they can also do any adjustment in your files. Car wrap projects can be challenging, but they can also be one of the most satisfying ways to see your designs transform to reality on a moving as well as a big object.

Additional Tips To Keep In Mind

• Type Of Vehicle

An important thing to think about is the type of vehicle you want to wrap. Depending on the size as well as the shape of your vehicle, as well as its function, the wrapping process can vary. In this aspect, you should always ensure that your wrap design compliments well with your vehicle. For instance, in case, you're designing a large van, you'll need to make your design fill the space. And similarly, if you're designing a smaller car, you won't want the same design because it might overwhelm it. If you have a vehicle that serves a specific purpose, such as a food truck, you'll want to make sure your logo, as well as message, are visible whenever you open the door during business hours.

• Showcase Your Business

The purpose of car wraps is to advertise your company above everything else. Always consider whether certain design choices will attract customers or confuse them at the time of thinking about design. If you already have the right logo, don't make too many changes to it whenever you include it in your car wrap design. You can also make use of specific elements of your company’s mission statement or your captivating slogan and put those in the center and front. 

• Avoid Including A Lot Of Text

People are going to see your vehicle wrap whenever they drive by your truck or car. Even, if they are considering walking along a sidewalk and they come across your vehicle, then they will still be in motion and will fail to have much interaction with your design. Due to this particular reason, it is recommended to keep your messaging sweet as well as short. You should again avoid the usage of too much text. In this regard, you need to limit your text to the most significant details like: 

• Call to action

• Phone number

• Location served

• Website and email address

• A bulleted list of the services

• Slogan or tagline

• Brand name

• Do Not Make The Text Too Small

Whenever you are designing a vehicle wrap, you should focus on skipping the “fine print”. Nobody will come closer to the truck or car to read anything that is printed on the wrap in very small print. The only rule that applies to this case is the bigger the size of the text, the better it would be for you. In this regard, you should make sure that everything fits on the vehicle as well as is visible to others on the road. As, people would be most likely to look at your vehicle for a short time space and that too in the moving stage and so, you need a simple and large message which people can absorb quickly with only a glance. 

• Avoid Making Use Of Low Contrast Colors

Some of the designers give preference to low contrast design as they desire to present a minimalist aesthetic with the help of it. Although, low contrast designs like making use of light grey text on a white background or a light blue text on a medium blue background might look beautiful. But these can be extremely difficult to decipher. The same rule applies to a vehicle wrap when a particular person will only get a few seconds to see and engage with the text. 

• Consult The Professionals

Finally, keep in mind that professionals are always there to assist you in ensuring that your company gets the effective advertising it is looking for through your vehicle vinyl wrap design. Professionals, in this industry, are dedicated to creating one-of-a-kind promotional signs as well as a custom vinyl wrap for your company that specifically highlight its most distinguishing qualities. Ideally, you should have some basic design ideas in mind before enlisting the help of an expert professional. 

Conclusion

So, the above-discussed ones are some of the most important tips that you should keep in mind while getting started with designing vehicle wraps. We have also discussed some of the additional tips that will help to achieve the best results. Are you focusing to see your custom vehicle wrap design on a large and moving billboard? Consider opting for the assistance of a web to print service provider today to get the eye-catching vehicle wraps that you can use for promotion as well as advertising purposes. They make use of the custom vinyl lettering design online tool for effectively accomplishing the work. I hope, you have found this comprehensive guide to be very informative and useful.