Signs of the Times Magazine – 2008 International Sign Contest Winners for Banners/Soft Signs

Bluemedia developed this program for Olsen Events Group, which Hewlett Packard (HP) contracted to develop digital graphics that promote HP’s Scitex brand at a company event. In turn, Olsen hired bluemedia to develop a series of soft-sided signs that demonstrate the diverse markets HP serves. Fittingly, the shop output the program on its HP Scitex XL using the machine’s eight-color setting, and fabricated the 21-ft. 8-in. x 12-ft. banners using 14-oz., matte-finish banner material.

Fabricator
bluemedia
Tempe, AZ
(480) 317-1333
www.bluemedia.com

Designer
Brandon Boetto
bluemedia

Client
Olsen Events Group

See all of the banners here

Securing a sponsorship with the Phoenix Suns for the 2007-2008 made Bluemedia the Preferred Signage Provider of the Phoenix Suns. Adding another monumental achievement to our already banner year in 2007.

In the deal with the Suns we were given a 2 – 50ft. stairwell pillars on the North East side of the Arena. This stair well space proposed a unique challenge to our creative team as well as the installers.

Our directives were to communicate our products and services in a fun and interactive way.

The finished product exceeded all of our expectations!

Thanks to everyone involved!

Pictures Here

Concept, Design Print & Install: Bluemedia
Marketing/Creative Direction: Darren Wilson
Art Direction & Design: Chris Keal, Will Mejia
Photographer: Will Mejia
Finished Photos: Rhonda Lewis
Installation Team: Tovar, Enrique, Abraham, José, Mark, and Adrian

Installation: 3 Days with 4-6 Installers

Production & Finishing:
TurboJet TJ8300
1 hour 15 minutes print time
3M Contoltac
24 – 146″ x 50″ Tiles
Lam 8518 Stain

Over the the past 3-4 months bluemedia has been working with Vestar to design, print and install graphics at Tempe Marketplace. The developer planned the outdoor mall to open in stages. This means many of the tenants had unsightly barriers and construction debris surrounding their areas. We printed mesh banners for the barricades and adhesive vinyl for the window graphics to mask the construction during business hours.

Starwood Hotels takes unusual steps to market the Westin brand.

Most hotel advertising follows a formulaic approach; typically, such promotional graphics feature luxuriant beds or in-room amenities that entice would-be patrons to relax or optimize preparations during business travel.

Starwood Hotels, which owns the Westin Hotels & Resorts brand, bucked the trend when it developed its $30 million, multi-platform campaign that promotes the Westin brand. Eschewing traditional hotel advertising themes, Deutsch Inc. (NYC), Starwood’s agency of record, executed a campaign entitled “This is How It Should Feel,” which features exhilarating or sanguine imagery, such as sky divers or a rock garden, to equate enthusiasm to travel.

Deutsch and Mediavest (also of NYC), the project’s media buyer, hired Atomic Props (Oakdale, MN) to fabricate 3-D billboards that provide a larger-than-life forum to breathe life into these whimsical designs.

Measuring 26 ft. 3 in. x 24 ft., this bloom, by any other size, would not be so sweet. Atomic Props fabricated each petal from Alcan Composites’ Sintra® with heat guns, which formed them into shape, and faux painting before affixing them to the steel frame. The bloom comprises sculpted, hardcoated, expanded-polystyrene (EPS) foam.

Against a digitally printed “wild blue yonder,” Atomic Props captured the freedom and excitement of travel with these coated-EPS-carved skydivers who vary in size from 6 ft. 4 in. to 11 ft. 2 in. They’re embedded into the board with an integral steel armature and painted to match client specs.

Atomic Props created a megasized rock garden, the quintessential Zen symbol of tranquility, to convey an air of relaxation to harried motorists. The 12 ft. 6 in.-wide centerpiece from hardcoated EPS. The moss comprises painted, synthetic fur sealed with flexible glue, and the 14-ft.-long rake comprises sheetmetal and wood rods and dowels.
[LINK] via Sign Web

The projects purpose was to allow drivers to experience the Ford pickup’s attribute of softness on hostile surfaces. In order to achieve this, several floor graphics were imprinted with cracks, snow and/or mud in various city streets. Next to them, a road signal that read “This is how it feels, Ford Ranger” was placed. Drivers drove through a difficult road without feeling it; situation that led them to experience the unique softness of riding in a Ford pickup. The floor graphics were placed in lateral streets and parking areas with speed limits that didn’t exceed 10 kilometers per hour, with the objective of looking out for the driver’s safety.

Advertising Agency: JWT Santiago, Chile
Creative Directors: Matias Lecaros, Sergio Rosati
Art Director: Matias Lecaros, Sergio Rosati
Copywriter: Matias Lecaros
Illustrator: Ricardo Salamanca
Photographer: José Claro / Agencia Cuatro
Additional credits: Andres Mardones
Released: December 2006

Before now, printing and installing graphics on textured surfaces such as brick, stucco, and cinderblock was not popular because of how the vinyl distorted when installed.

Thanks to 3M’s new release of Scotchcal Graphic Film iJ8624 we are now able to turn textured surfaces into prime real estate! The new material uses a special gray colored adhesive that is designed to hide surface color from protruding through the graphics, and to remove easily with a heat gun.

The possibilities for application of this technology are endless!

Above is an example of removable graffiti installed on a stucco wall outside the bluemedia office. A photograph was taken of the wall to capture the color and texture of the surface. That photo was then digitally edited and the graffiti graphics were added.

If your application doesn’t call for a graffiti look, we can also use the material to make signage out of empty wallspace as seen here.

Bluemedia’s graphics will surely make shoppers step cautiously.

When Shasta Pools opened a new store in Surprise, AZ, Phoenix-based bluemedia added floor graphics that went over, well, swimmingly.

Shasta, having purchased the printed tiles from a Canadian company, turned to bluemedia to produce vinyl images of underwater swimmers, stepping stones and even a pool vacuum. The result was some splashy trompe l’oeil.

The company, which first created this look for a Shasta store in Phoenix, uses a Mimaki JV-3 printer. Bluemedia’s Andy Salcido says they will provide pool-motif graphics for any new or remodeled Shasta stores.

Shout out to Mary Kate Moran and Signs of the Times for the write up.

For several years, Columbus, OH-based Nationwide Insurance has executed a humorous TV-, billboard- and print-ad campaign that features the company’s slogan, Life Comes at You Fast, that humorously depicted long-term changes happening instantly to underscore the need to plan and adapt insurance coverage.

Last year, Nationwide enlisted Irving, TX-based t:m, the advertising firm that developed the creative content for the campaign’s other formats, and Orange Barrel Media (Columbus), a billboard-sales company that brought fabrication inhouse, to develop a wallscape for a building that faces High and Spring streets, two primary Columbus thoroughfares.

Their initial wallscape featured a romance-novel theme, but Nationwide wished to push the envelope. Using the photographer’s original image files, t:m used Photoshop® to subtly manipulate the image before sending it to Orange Barrel, which punctuated the design with 100 gallons of paint (PMS-matched to the wallscape’s paint shade) that drenched the wall, parking lot and several prop vehicles below. All told, the spectacular’s area encompassed 15,000 sq. ft. According to Pete Scantland, Orange Barrel’s general manager, eight employees worked on the project for one week. The company output the wrap with 13-oz., mesh material on a VUTEk, a division of efi 5300 solvent-ink printer. He said the project, which will remain in place for approximately six months, would generate approximately 1.5 million impressions monthly. Scantland said, ‘Motorists are getting out of their cars to see if it’s real. The buzz it creates yields a win-win-win situation for the client, t:m and Orange Barrel Media.’

Swiss company prints 1.8-ton banner for P&G.

Proctor & Gamble was looking to promote its overseas brand of Ariel laundry detergent in a big way, so the company decided to break the world record for the largest free-hanging poster.

Christinger Partner AG, based in Zurich, Switzerland, stepped up to the plate to produce the banner, printing a 4069-sq m (43,798-sq ft) graphic onto Verseidag Semee mesh using its two HP Scitex XL1500s with HP Scitex XL100 inks. Printing was completed in 10 x 70-m (32 x 230-ft) sections, taking a total of 120 hours.

When the graphic-tipping the scales at 1.8 tons-was complete, it was attached to a rig on a helicopter by Switzerland-based company Nüssli, which also built the rig. This process took approximately 5 hours. The banner was then air-lifted to the ski slopes at Kleine Scheidegg in the Bernese Alps for the unveiling.

But there was bad news to come: Once the helicopter lifted the banner into the air, a steel rope holding it to the rig broke. The campaign was up for all of 10 seconds.

Vehicle wraps are rising above flat ol’ vinyl.

A custom props creator who typically builds objects for 12 diverse industries, such as moviemaking and sports paraphernalia is bringing a whole new dimension to vehicle graphics. Signs of the Times Magazine Senior Associate Editor, our good friend, Steve Aust, writes about a company that’s adding additional value to vehicle graphics.

Click here to read the full article