Hello everyone!
I'm a new member today, actually made an account specifically to use the search functions because I have some questions, and it seems people here have answers.
Before I get started, I need to warn this will be a LONG post. There's a lot to talk about so those who make it to the end, I thank you in advance. As I said, I did search the forums but after a few hours some questions still remain.
I'm a student intern at an architecture firm, but have a passion for graphic design. Last year when I was first brought on, I flexed a little graphic muscle with some design documents. Most of the people in this firm have never even opened Illustrator, so they were pretty impressed and assigned me the development of environmental graphics and wayfinding (go ahead and google, I'll wait) for an enormous high school project. After a summer of development, the graphics were presented to the school board (who responded with universal acclaim) and the project went to bid. The PM specified use of digitally printed high pressure laminate panels mounted on 1" furred MDF for almost everything. I guess price was not a concern to the board which is nice considering durability of HPL is not a concern to me.
Fast forward to this year and I'm developing graphics for another huge project, this time a middle school. This time around the budget is very much a concern and I'm trying to strike a good balance of costs, durability/ease of maintenance, and graphic quality. There are huge portions of graphics that really bring the spaces to life, and as you can imagine, graphics at that scale aren't cheap. As it currently sits, there's going to be three main feature walls. Each wall is 30' tall and have some sort of wall graphic applied in the form of vertical stripes that run up the whole wall height. There are 5 stripes per wall, and each stripe is 48" wide. There are other graphics all throughout the building but these are the most problematic...
The graphics are well within reach of the children, and we're talking middle schoolers, so durability is definitely an issue. If I had my way, I'd just fur out MDF with printed HPL panels like last year, but that is exponentially more costly than what the district is willing to spend, and trying to pitch that idea would likely result in the graphics getting thrown out of the project all together. My next thought was to use some sort of vinyl, but the walls will be made of CMU (cinderblock), limiting my product selection to textured wall wraps. Which is fine! What's more, those sizes would make perfect use of a 48"x150' roll of vinyl, reducing waste. I could totally work with that, but... But do please think of the children! These images need to withstand an army of pubescent boys and girls, a veritable hurricane of fingernails, backpacks, pencils, hormones and angst. I don't doubt an anti-graffiti overlaminate would suffice but I'm concerned with edge conditions. So my first question then is:
Can vinyl edges be made teen proof? Is there some product, installation method, or pagan ritual that will protect these vinyl edges from prying fingernails? Even mechanical protection in the form of PVC trim caps are an option.
The images I have developed are fairly simple. Lots of basic geometric forms, halftone screens, solid colors, simple fonts, and seeing as I'm working in Illustrator, everything is vector. Considering the fairly simple geometry and limited color range (there's also no gradients), I don't think photographic digital printing to be the most cost effective printing option. I'd like to get these files contour cut, which leads to my next question:
Can contour cut and laminated vinyls be mounted directly to textured surfaces like a painted CMU wall? Does anyone make such a product? Keep in mind this building has not even gone to bid, so at the time of installation everything will be brand spanking new, plumb, flat(ish), entirely off-gassed, and clean.
Also, seeing as I'm making these vector files, I have complete control over their composition and colors. Since we will be bidding this project to a general contractor, who will then bid the graphics to a sub-contractor, I have close to no idea which producer will end up making my graphics. But I can still try and optimize to keep costs down regardless, que my next question:
What is more expensive to produce, complicated geometry or additional colors? What are some other ways to optimize my files for reduced productions costs? For instance, if I'm looking for a secondary color between two other primary colors, is it cheaper to "dither" the secondary color out of the two primary colors using a halftone screen (lots of little dots of both primary colors) or would the added cutting costs for all those little dots far outweigh the price of the additional vinyl color? I realize this may be a hard question to answer without seeing the artwork, if requested I can get a sample up eventually.
Last but not least:
Do you professionals have any other suggestions for systems that might work in this application? Something cheap but durable? Are there rigid board options I'm missing that are economical?
Alright, that's all I got. Go ahead and crack a brew, you earned it after reading all that. If any of you took the time to actually think about this, know I am extremely grateful. I look forward to hearing from you folks and seeing this school made a better place for these kids. Cheers!
I'm a new member today, actually made an account specifically to use the search functions because I have some questions, and it seems people here have answers.
Before I get started, I need to warn this will be a LONG post. There's a lot to talk about so those who make it to the end, I thank you in advance. As I said, I did search the forums but after a few hours some questions still remain.
I'm a student intern at an architecture firm, but have a passion for graphic design. Last year when I was first brought on, I flexed a little graphic muscle with some design documents. Most of the people in this firm have never even opened Illustrator, so they were pretty impressed and assigned me the development of environmental graphics and wayfinding (go ahead and google, I'll wait) for an enormous high school project. After a summer of development, the graphics were presented to the school board (who responded with universal acclaim) and the project went to bid. The PM specified use of digitally printed high pressure laminate panels mounted on 1" furred MDF for almost everything. I guess price was not a concern to the board which is nice considering durability of HPL is not a concern to me.
Fast forward to this year and I'm developing graphics for another huge project, this time a middle school. This time around the budget is very much a concern and I'm trying to strike a good balance of costs, durability/ease of maintenance, and graphic quality. There are huge portions of graphics that really bring the spaces to life, and as you can imagine, graphics at that scale aren't cheap. As it currently sits, there's going to be three main feature walls. Each wall is 30' tall and have some sort of wall graphic applied in the form of vertical stripes that run up the whole wall height. There are 5 stripes per wall, and each stripe is 48" wide. There are other graphics all throughout the building but these are the most problematic...
The graphics are well within reach of the children, and we're talking middle schoolers, so durability is definitely an issue. If I had my way, I'd just fur out MDF with printed HPL panels like last year, but that is exponentially more costly than what the district is willing to spend, and trying to pitch that idea would likely result in the graphics getting thrown out of the project all together. My next thought was to use some sort of vinyl, but the walls will be made of CMU (cinderblock), limiting my product selection to textured wall wraps. Which is fine! What's more, those sizes would make perfect use of a 48"x150' roll of vinyl, reducing waste. I could totally work with that, but... But do please think of the children! These images need to withstand an army of pubescent boys and girls, a veritable hurricane of fingernails, backpacks, pencils, hormones and angst. I don't doubt an anti-graffiti overlaminate would suffice but I'm concerned with edge conditions. So my first question then is:
Can vinyl edges be made teen proof? Is there some product, installation method, or pagan ritual that will protect these vinyl edges from prying fingernails? Even mechanical protection in the form of PVC trim caps are an option.
The images I have developed are fairly simple. Lots of basic geometric forms, halftone screens, solid colors, simple fonts, and seeing as I'm working in Illustrator, everything is vector. Considering the fairly simple geometry and limited color range (there's also no gradients), I don't think photographic digital printing to be the most cost effective printing option. I'd like to get these files contour cut, which leads to my next question:
Can contour cut and laminated vinyls be mounted directly to textured surfaces like a painted CMU wall? Does anyone make such a product? Keep in mind this building has not even gone to bid, so at the time of installation everything will be brand spanking new, plumb, flat(ish), entirely off-gassed, and clean.
Also, seeing as I'm making these vector files, I have complete control over their composition and colors. Since we will be bidding this project to a general contractor, who will then bid the graphics to a sub-contractor, I have close to no idea which producer will end up making my graphics. But I can still try and optimize to keep costs down regardless, que my next question:
What is more expensive to produce, complicated geometry or additional colors? What are some other ways to optimize my files for reduced productions costs? For instance, if I'm looking for a secondary color between two other primary colors, is it cheaper to "dither" the secondary color out of the two primary colors using a halftone screen (lots of little dots of both primary colors) or would the added cutting costs for all those little dots far outweigh the price of the additional vinyl color? I realize this may be a hard question to answer without seeing the artwork, if requested I can get a sample up eventually.
Last but not least:
Do you professionals have any other suggestions for systems that might work in this application? Something cheap but durable? Are there rigid board options I'm missing that are economical?
Alright, that's all I got. Go ahead and crack a brew, you earned it after reading all that. If any of you took the time to actually think about this, know I am extremely grateful. I look forward to hearing from you folks and seeing this school made a better place for these kids. Cheers!
