Advice aligning Vehicle Graphics please?

[Stephen Ingham]

Hi Rich, I am not sure there is a right way or wrong way….I would say do what looks right…usually by eye with minor adjustments if necessary.

[Robert Lambie]

I always go with the sill of the vehicle.
You need to choose a line and run "everything from there" don’t deviate or it will look all over the place once complete.

[Martin Oxenham]

I believe you should always line everything with the sill of the van. That way its straight to the world. All the new models coming out are going for angles of all sorts trying to look sporty. Its a pain. Vans used to be square boxes like the Transit etc. If you look from a distance all you see is the shape of the van and the signs, so all the angled body lines can’t really be seen. So the signs need to look straight to the base of the van.

[Ian Jenkin]

1) Have a look at the Cill.

2) if the Cill line doesnt really work with anything or for smaller/more discreet graphics i look at the slider/runner of the side doors.

[Rich Cooper]

ok thats greAt, thanks for all the replies, ill give that a go.

[Denise Goodfellow]

Park on level ground then use a laser level on a tripod

[Simon Worrall]

quote Denise Goodfellow:

Park on level ground then use a laser level on a tripod

AFTER making sure all the tyres are the same pressure! 😀
Simon.

[David Rogers]

Put it on with magnets and stand back. Nothing beats what LOOKS right as quite often you’ll tweak a graphic about on tapered side panels to get it balanced and flow with other areas you’re using.
Easy to paint yourself into a corner using the sills or a swage line to step back and KNOW it’s level but looks crap!

Dave

[David Hammond]

Only recently I started weeding the graphics and leaving the excess vinyl outside the weed box on, applying application tape, and then trimming it out the weed box edge.

It gives a nice square edge, and you know the graphics are square to the edge, handy for script fonts etc.

You can stand back and see if the backing looks straight rather than the text/logo.

Before we just used to cut everything to get the most out of the vinyl, and end up cutting the graphics into strips with wonky lines that made it even harder to eyeball.

[Nicholas Atkinson]

If you can line it up while the customer is there
As I have had it where I went off the sill which is level..
& the customer wanted to go off the body lines

[Robert Lambie]

Giving the customer options can be a bad thing.

Running of body lines can lead to a disaster…
if you run large text of body lines then running things that are on the doors or side panels using same angle looks ridiculous.
if you then run each line of graphics off the straight on its panel, the whole thing looks up and down.
If the customer has multiple types of vehicle they again can look all over the place.

It is best to have a game plan before even starting and that should really be consistent no matter the vehicle. i.e. the sill of the vehicle.

[Nicholas Atkinson]

Not if they come and don’t want it that way
It was a logo on the doors on a Ford ranger
Had to RE print them for nothing just to keep the customer happy..

[Nicholas Atkinson]

Never use to be a problem until new Ford transits etc..

[Robert Lambie]

quote Nicholas Atkinson:

Never use to be a problem until new Ford transits etc..

This has always been a problem as long as i can remember. One time i was stung with this was about 18 years ago arguing with a customer i had his graphics running correct on an Astra van. they had just come out or a new model had just come out and i ran the graphics "with the main body line. from a distance it was miles out, up close it was great. looking back, "i was wrong and the customer was right".
you will never satisfy every customer, you will always have the one to have a different opinion to yours. but you must have good reason for your choice or you will never be able to justify your decision let alone convince them you are right.
aligning something by eye is one thing, aligning by body lines is just wrong. we dont look at the body lines on "the whole" when we look at the graphics. we see the graphics and nothing else unless close up.

EG: When we design the vehicle on screen, do we rotate all the graphics to run with the body lines and then offer the visual to the customer?

just my opinion of course.

[David Rogers]

quote David Hammond:

Only recently I started weeding the graphics and leaving the excess vinyl outside the weed box on, applying application tape, and then trimming it out the weed box edge.

It gives a nice square edge, and you know the graphics are square to the edge, handy for script fonts etc.

You can stand back and see if the backing looks straight rather than the text/logo.

Before we just used to cut everything to get the most out of the vinyl, and end up cutting the graphics into strips with wonky lines that made it even harder to eyeball.

Been doing that since I started – wound up LOADS of ‘bosses’ who just saw it as waste until they see an entire van / panel / window fitted without the need to pull out a tape measure every few seconds or jiggle randomly cut hunks of text to fit in 1/2 the time. "Would you rather spend £5 extra on vinyl and get spot-on results or pay me for the wasted time that I could be doing something else and also live with a ‘close enough’." Just a 5mm weed border works great, or to the nearest edge that you’re running to.

[David Hammond]

I’ve been doing signs for 5 years, and only recently did it pop into my head how much easier it would be. So simple too, I thought everyone would have been doing it like that, except me :lol1:

Takes little longer and more effort to cut it down, but that’s much easier & quicker than messing about with a tape measure on the van.

[David Rogers]

Once you get the hang of freehand knifing down the edges of the weed box (scalpel will sit against the thickness of the vinyl and quite happily run along it)…just as quick as rough hacking it out.

[Phil Halling]

Just a thought for you, if your doing fleet work ie a repetative number of vehicles all the same, it’s actually worth making 2 sides of your weed border to extend as far as the body panel lines / door handles , whatever as a reference point making the use use of a tape measure ALMOST unnecessary.

[David Hammond]

We just make a note of the measurements from the first van, and crack on with the rest.