We have added a new printer to our arsenal, one that is a bit of fun and a serious machine, the DTG Digital Viper – Direct to Garment Printer.
This machine is one of the best in the industry that can print on 100% cotton, cotton polyester and 100% polyester materials, including black garments with its built in White Ink Management System.
the print quality is unreal on this awesome machine and we can’t wait to see what our clients want us to print for them!
A popular colour matching system used by the printing industry to print spot colours. Most applications that support colour printing allow you to specify colours by indicating the Pantone name or number. This assures that you get the right colour when the file is printed, even though the colour may not look right when displayed on your monitor.
PMS works well for spot colours but not for process colours, which are generally specified using the CMYK colour model.
Vital Signs can colour match PMS colours to ensure your colours are spot on during our print process.
Vital Signs QLD are a successful signage manufacturer and installation company based in Brisbane did you know we can also install your signage for your company ?
We collaborate with sign companies all across Australia to help with Queensland installations for national branding, fleet management, vehicle wraps banners, fence mesh and just general signage.
Our installers will represent your company in a professional manner, your clients are treated as if they were own and we do not poach or steal clients.
You can find more information on our website www.brisbanesigninstallers.com.au .
Another part of Vital Groups mission to bring all aspects of the digital print and signage world into one.
Not all Car Wraps are equal!
Vehicle wraps are becoming increasingly popular, and therefore more and more companies that have no previous vehicle wrap experience are jumping on the bandwagon. You probably notice vehicle advertising wraps almost everyday now, and they always look good from a distance (as long as it’s a nice design) but the truth is vehicle wraps are suppose to last to the manufactures specifications if installed correctly, which is usually 5 years.
Some wraps fail after a few weeks. Do you really want to invest so much money into advertising that is going to look cheap in the long run ?
Vital Signs QLD are experienced with vinyl wraps and have been installing for the last 7 years for many happy customers around Brisbane and Queensland.
The most overlooked parts from inexperienced installers of a vehicle wrap are the preparation and post wrap steps. We always say preparation is key; if the vehicle is not cleaned from all dust and debris before the wrap process, this can have devastating effects on the vinyl product against your vehicle.
Secondly if the installer is not careful during the install process your vehicle can be left with cuts and scratches under your paintwork that you will not notice until it’s time for the wrap to come off.
And lastly, post wrap! There are steps when the wrap is finished to ensure that it will stay down! A lot, though not all of installers across Brisbane don’t bother with this step, even though many professional installers believe that it is the most important step!
1) Peeling Edges:
Most installers will use a product known as an edge sealer to ensure that the edges of the wrap won’t lift off. The problem here is that the primer could damage the clear coat when the wrap is removed and the residue from the primer is extremely difficult to remove.
The correct process would be to make the edges are clean and post heat every inch of the edge to the manufacturer’s recommended temperature. As a last resort Vital Signs QLD use an optically clear edge sealer tape which will not damage your vehicle at all.
2) Bubbling:
This is one of the most common issues with car wraps. The vinyl bubbles up in recessed areas. This problem doesn’t appear during installation but rather surfaces in few days or weeks after.
There are several factors that can lead to vinyl bubbling and lifting:
1) Wrong Choice of Material: All vinyl manufacturers offer several quality levels of their products (including 3M, Avery, Arlon). If a wrong combination of vinyl and laminate is used to print the wrap on then adhesion to curved or recessed areas will be impossible.
2) Wrong Installation Techniques: Using the proper installation technique even with the right combination of vinyl and laminate is crucial in avoiding bubbles.
3) Over Stretching of the vinyl: Even the best cast vinyl can only be stretched to a certain point before loosing their posture. Over heating and over stretching in vinyl will result in bubbling.
4) Skipping the Post Heating process: Every inch of
the vinyl that is placed in the recessed or excessive curved areas needs to be heated to manufacturers specifications in order the kill the memory of the vinyl. If this process is skipped there is a good chance that they vinyl will go back to its original shape and bubble up.
3) Bad Trimming:
Once the vinyl is installed, it is the Final Trimming of the vinyl that will determine if a wrap looks like a paint job or just a bad sticker. A steady hand, lots of experience and proper techniques are required to achieve a perfectly trimmed edge.
4) Un-Tucked Edges:
Using the weather stripping of the vehicle to tuck the wrap is an easy way to ensure the there will be no lifting of the edges. However, the installer needs to make sure not to cut the actual weather stripping when trimming the wrap short enough so it would fit under the strips.
5) Excessive use of Patches:
Getting around curves and recessed areas is not easy. The shortcut is chop up the wrap into multiple pieces in order to cover the area.
This might be necessary on certain vehicle bumper installation where it’s almost impossible toreach a quality and durable wrap without having multiple layers. Again, it’s a an art when it comes to overlapping the vinyl without creating large visible seems.
6) Door Handle Wraps:
Some vehicles door handles are very difficult to remove without having to remove the entire door panel. However, there are several techniques that ensure the vinyl is not over stretched and installed properly for long-term durability and good looks.
7) Creased Edges:
To make a car wrap look good the installer needs to make sure that the edges are squeegeed flat and there are no wrinkles.
What does all mean to you as a customer? At the end of the day you will get what you pay for.
A rushed wrap installation is almost guaranteed to fail in the future Bubbling and lifting will result in the vinyl to dry and crack which will further result in moisture to get under the wrap and cause failure in major sections.
Vital Signs QLD take all precautions and ensure that we install our wraps correctly, even if they take longer we would prefer to have the wrap leave us with no issues and customer satisfaction, then hope our customers don’t complain about a poor quality wrap!
Ways we avoid failure with our vehicle wraps!
1. Preperation
Preparation is key! we always ensure we are working with a clean surface, your vehicle is cleaned from top to bottom so it is not dirty when we install your squeaky clean new wrap.
2. Tools
We only use the proper tools so that we can avoid scratches on your wrap and cutting into your vehicle.
3. Material
There are many inferior cheap products on the market today coming in from all over the world. Vital Signs QLD only use proven vinyls manufactured to use within QLD conditions. We use these products so we know it works.
4. Knowledge
The first 3 steps are only the beginning, you also have to know how to install the graphics for different types of vehicles, taking into account different situations every vehicle can pose.
5.Post Heat
Probably the most important step, Post Heating! After the wrap has been installed every section of the vehicle that has the wrap applied must be heated with a heat gun to reset the vinyl films memory so it stays where it is suppose to.
If these steps are taken, (which we always do!) then you should be sure to have a vehicle wrap that will be vibrant and durable for many years to come.
You can look at some wraps we have completed over on our Wraps page if you are interested in contact Vital Signs QLD for your next project.
A while ago Vital Signs QLD were contacted by a potential customer about a food trailer wrap. We were excited because we love food and we love wraps!
Our customers were named Karealott Woodfired Pizza and you guessed it, they had a wood fired pizza trailer that they wanted to brand and create a unique identity with vinyl wrapping and other signage.
Our crew at Vital Signs QLD were delighted that our quote had been accepted as we love creating unique out of the box branding wraps for our customers; So the design process began.
We had submitted two different design choices to begin with, one was a timber look with a love heart pizza shaped logo, and one was more simplified to look like a blackboard, to symbolise the hand made love that goes into the pizza our customers are creating.
We printed the graphics onto Arlon 6000XRP vinyl with gloss laminate, a vinyl used for complex car wraps. Printed on our Roland XC540 Eco Solvent printer for awesome colour!
The wrap was installed over two days at our site and our customers loved it!
See for yourself!
One Way Vision is an amazing product we use here all the time at Vital Signs QLD.
These revolutionary product is digital film that we can print any image onto and install it onto glass, or any clear surface for that matter. And it allows the person on the inside of the glass to be able to see out clear as day as if there was nothing on the glass, but from the outside you can clearly see the digital image.
There are different grades of One Way Vision – promotional grade, flat glass used in store fronts, and vehicle grade which has a slightly larger hole that is covered under your vehicle insurance if you ever have an accident. Also all these films can be laminated with an optically clear laminate to give it further outdoor life for a maximum of 3 years.
Contact us today to see how we can help you today with any One Way Vision products, or any signage at all.
To help move this product into the market, Vital Signs QLD have created a sub division named OneWays.
We plan on selling this product printed with images for the every day consumer rather than directed only at business people.
You can view our range at www.oneways.com
For the past 12 months we have been working with a local Brisbane company called Custom Az Chilli Binz,
These guys make chilli bins, or eskys from hand using quality fibreglass materials, and then ship them off to us to print and install vinyl graphics to their customers requirements.
It has been alot of fun doing these eskys for this hardworking young company!
These guys have landed promotional eskys for Triple M, B105, The Block, Soulfest, Bank of Queensland, BMW which we have supplied and installed graphics for, and many more recognisable brands so far, and they have just landed a contract to supply Tackle World with their patented fishing esky design with a cutting board moulded into the lid.
Make sure you go over the their page at www.customazchillibinz.com and see what they can offer you
WANT TO WIN A SIGNAGE MAKEOVER!? HERE’S HOW!
Vital Signs QLD love to help our fellow small business owners out!
To be in the running for our “Signage Makeover Competition” simply nominate yourself, a hard working family member or friend and tell us about the business and why you’re in desperate need of a signage makeover, and we will select one lucky winner!
Example of signage prize can include:
Shop Signage
Vehicle Graphics/Wraps
Promotional Printing
Reception Signage
Display Systems
Banners
and more!
Prize is valued at $1000.00 inc GST and limited to Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast areas.
Get sharing, get tagging and we hope to reveal the lucky winner soon!
Share on your favourite social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn or whatever you use!
Thanks
Chris
Vital Signs QLD
Vital Signs QLD had the pleasure to work with the international company ICON World, who are responsible for projects such as the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, many Olympics stadiums and many more large scale projects around the world.
We had been responsible for the de-branding of all signage at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane and re-branding with all AFC Asian Cup signage. This was a massive effort by the team members who we worked with to have such a large scale project completed in just over a week.
Vital Signs QLD have spent this week wrapping not one but two vans for the nationwide company Jetpets!
This was a fun job as we had digitally printed onto Avery vinyl wrap media with a dark blue to light blue blend.. fading into white to blend back into the existing colour of the vehicle, by finishing the vinyl on the contour of the vehicle we can create a seamless look!
We had used the product knifeless tape to create a dead straight cut line. (the product is amazing!)
The vehicles were completed with vinyl cut graphics layered over the top of the digitally printed vinyl and one way vision on the rear window.
Jetpets were more than happy with the finished product and we had a good timing getting it done!