Van graphics/Signage

Son

Looking for companies around Dublin southside to design and put some graphics on my van,can anyone recommend somebody that they have actually used themselves? Id be quite picky about how its done as i want it to look smart.Also does anyone know a rough cost for a swb van?

R.O.R

Son wrote: »

Looking for companies around Dublin southside to design and put some graphics on my van,can anyone recommend somebody that they have actually used themselves? Id be quite picky about how its done as i want it to look smart.Also does anyone know a rough cost for a swb van?

I use Autoflair in Tallaght - http://www.autoflair.ie/.

Not the cheapest but the quality is fantastic. They have an in house desinger as well who could do up previews for you.

As for price - depends what you want done. From about €350 for simple logo's - but you could probably easily go over €3,000 for a full colour wrap.

Son

Thanks i will give them a shout.Just trying to get a list of a few so i can get some quotes.Id be spending less than a 1K,so i guess whatever that can buy me.

Preset No.3

you could also try adventure signs. Ive used them on more that 1 occasion and for them to be very reasonable.

cormie

The following cost me about 1K altogether from Sign Right in Tallaght:

Their initial quote was FAR more than 1K but I got it for 1K after telling them what price I got from another crowd. The photos are actually the van before getting the signs on, and I just photoshopped the logos and text on, took a good few hours before I was happy with it and then I just sent in the photoshop images and they vectorised the graphics. I asked for the vector graphics incase I needed them in the future but never got them

It came out pretty much identical to the photoshop files which was great, the only bit that didn't is the logo on the back where the window outline is, the bottom of the logo actually goes along the raised up edge which is a bit annoying but not the end of the world.

Boards user Culchie has a printing business and he could probably sort you out.

Son

That seems very expensive Cormie.... I would have thought you could get that for less?

cabrwab

That aint a bad price for what cormie got done actually. Van graphics is savagely expensive. To do with the overheads! (equipment / graphic designers!)

E1000 will get you something done alright! Probably just the back and front of the van.

@cormie are you the only one driving that van was following you on dawson st during the week!

Sully

Design is expensive and then add the amount of print on top of that. I can see why it works out so expensive myself.

Son

cabrwab wrote: »

That aint a bad price for what cormie got done actually. Van graphics is savagely expensive. To do with the overheads! (equipment / graphic designers!)

E1000 will get you something done alright! Probably just the back and front of the van.

@cormie are you the only one driving that van was following you on dawson st during the week!

Sure he designed it himself.
Every business has overheads,i don't see where the 'savage' expensive is in what he got done.If a thousand euro only gets the back and front done i won't be going ahead with it.

Sully

Son wrote: »

Sure he designed it himself.
Every business has overheads,i don't see where the 'savage' expensive is in what he got done.If a thousand euro only gets the back and front done i won't be going ahead with it.

Thats why you shop around I could probably get it cheaper down here for both design and print but things are generally more expensive up the country anyway.

R.O.R

Sully wrote: »

Thats why you shop around I could probably get it cheaper down here for both design and print but things are generally more expensive up the country anyway.

From my experience it's not so much the design and print which are expensive, it's the application. On Cornie's van (nice by the way :cool:) a lot of the graphics overlap the contours of the van. The vinyl used doesn't lend itself to being squeezed in to the corners so needs cutting to make it fit without puckering.

What van are you looking at getting done Son?

giddybootz

Hi Son,

another place to add to your list is Vision Sign - they specialise in van wraps and van signs. i sent you a pm with the contact details.

prices on these things vary greatly....from some basic lettering (few hundred) to getting a design made up, printed and applied (up to €2500). it does cut the cost if you supply your own graphics.

from my experience €1000 was expensive for that job above, which is mostly just lettering. ( sorry cormie )

cormie

Son wrote: »

That seems very expensive Cormie.... I would have thought you could get that for less?

Well I had a budget of about 1K for it and didn't think it was excessive at the time. I did try a few places and ended up going with them guys.

cabrwab wrote: »

That aint a bad price for what cormie got done actually. Van graphics is savagely expensive. To do with the overheads! (equipment / graphic designers!)

E1000 will get you something done alright! Probably just the back and front of the van.

@cormie are you the only one driving that van was following you on dawson st during the week!

Well 1K got me the whole lot done, but bear in mind I did all design myself so all they had to do really was redraw it to vector and paste it on their van templates to get the sizing right. That would have been me on Dawson St alright, how was my driving? :pac:

Son wrote: »

Sure he designed it himself.
Every business has overheads,i don't see where the 'savage' expensive is in what he got done.If a thousand euro only gets the back and front done i won't be going ahead with it.

I did indeed design it myself, the layout and the photoshop stuff was all ready for them. But do note that the lettering is not just simple lettering, so maybe you could get it a lot cheaper if your font isn't "fancy" like mine with the outline of the grey and the white in between and all that stuff.

R.O.R wrote: »

From my experience it's not so much the design and print which are expensive, it's the application. On Cornie's van (nice by the way :cool:) a lot of the graphics overlap the contours of the van. The vinyl used doesn't lend itself to being squeezed in to the corners so needs cutting to make it fit without puckering.

What van are you looking at getting done Son?

The application of mine did take quite a while, I think they even had to delay me coming to collect it because it took longer than expected, Each bit of outline etc is on a separately cut piece of vinyl. Apparently the material used on mine is of really high quality aswell, that's what I was told when I was comparing their price to another business anyway. I think the whole process took 3 days from the time I sent the graphics to the time I collected the van.



You could probably get it a lot cheaper if you went with generic text prints and just had basic font and no graphics as that's where the price takes a hike. I'll PM culchie and point him to this thread as he should be able to provide some valuable input

Culchie

cormie wrote: »

Well I had a budget of about 1K for it and didn't think it was excessive at the time. I did try a few places and ended up going with them guys.



Well 1K got me the whole lot done, but bear in mind I did all design myself so all they had to do really was redraw it to vector and paste it on their van templates to get the sizing right. That would have been me on Dawson St alright, how was my driving? :pac:



I did indeed design it myself, the layout and the photoshop stuff was all ready for them. But do note that the lettering is not just simple lettering, so maybe you could get it a lot cheaper if your font isn't "fancy" like mine with the outline of the grey and the white in between and all that stuff.



The application of mine did take quite a while, I think they even had to delay me coming to collect it because it took longer than expected, Each bit of outline etc is on a separately cut piece of vinyl. Apparently the material used on mine is of really high quality aswell, that's what I was told when I was comparing their price to another business anyway. I think the whole process took 3 days from the time I sent the graphics to the time I collected the van.



You could probably get it a lot cheaper if you went with generic text prints and just had basic font and no graphics as that's where the price takes a hike. I'll PM culchie and point him to this thread as he should be able to provide some valuable input

Thanks Cormie for the PM.

First input I'll say is that €1k was pretty expensive for your van .... I reckon we'd charge €600-€700 for everything including design....as there is no need for conformable vinyl on your van. I'd also be kicking ass with the lads if your van wasn't done in 4 hours maximum. (By the way, I like the design of your van, you can always make a few bob if you can design vehicle graphics like that.)

Deep corrugations need conformable vinyl and conformable laminate if digital print is involved. This conformable print and laminate material is approx 2.5 times (each) the price of standard 7 year vinyl. This also has to be applied in a certain way as well, heated to correct temperatures to ensure correct application.

As someone said earlier...if your van was a full digital print wrap, you're in the €2500-€3000 bracket. It would take approx 1 day to print/gas out and laminate .... and 1.5 -2 days for 2 trained guys to apply

You'll get shysters that will quote you €1k for a wrap and have it done in a day, but not use the correct materials, or not gas out the print .....the van will look perfect when you pick it up, you'll hand over €1k and 2 weeks later the vinyl will be popping out the corrugations. Next time you see a full wrap around town, take a good luck at the corrugations ... 50% of the time the vinyl has popped out, due to incorrect material being used and/or untrained staff applying it.

If in Dublin, Adventure Signs are the main guys for the full wraps, I know nothing about their pricing. There is a Signs Express in Kilbarrack and Bray, I know the guys there, but not their pricing.

To be honest if your vehicle is in reasonable nick, then a good designer will use the vehicle to enhance the graphics and vice versa. I'm not a mad fan of the full wraps and sometimes consider them 'clutter'.

If you're in Sligo/North West... give us a shout:) We like to think we do good stuff. http://www.signsexpress.ie/branchDetails.cfm?branchID=95


Before
After

Son

Thanks for the info.€6-700 sounds about right for just lettering,your a bit far away for me but i will check out all the others.

When i decide to have this done what should i be looking out for and what kind of questions should i be asking?

giddybootz

Hi Son,

You should ask to see some photos of work they have done and ask if you can drop in for a chat. This is the best way to see what you will be getting for your money. It is also a good idea to get an idea of the time-frame for the job.

Culchie

Ask to see the vinyl they are going to use.

Flip over the back and make sure it is a 5/7 year vinyl. We only use Avery or 3M products, but there are cheap and nasty alternatives that won't stand the test of time.(post here the reference if you want confirmation).

Also make sure design is included in your quoted price.

Finally you should confident in your choice ... if the place is a tip, and not presented well ... then they are probably cutting every corner they can including quality and workmanship.

In our game, we're proud of our work and our premises.

Son

Thanks for the info.

draycottgirlz

can you get magnetic signs to go on to the side of a car?

cormie

draycottgirlz wrote: »

can you get magnetic signs to go on to the side of a car?

Yep, they were using garda signs on a film I was helping at with the van, pretty nifty, transformed a white mondeo into a replica garda car in minutes. Can you do these Culchie?

Son

I was thinking of putting on a magnetic sign just to fill in the mean time,not sure if they would look to good though!?

Culchie

cormie wrote: »

Yep, they were using garda signs on a film I was helping at with the van, pretty nifty, transformed a white mondeo into a replica garda car in minutes. Can you do these Culchie?

We do everything:p