VEHICLE LETTERING - YOUR ADVERTISING DOLLARS ON THE MOVE
CAR LETTERING
Vehicle lettering is not just for trucks and vans. If you don't have a truck or van but still want to get your message on the road, then why not letter your car.
You have many options when it comes to lettering any vehicle. And it is understandable that some people do not want to permanently add graphics of any type to their personal vehicle. If that is how you feel, then consider one option, magnets. They are not for long term but the versatility they add by being removeable, plus their low cost might be something you may want to consider.
But if you want to take the plunge and permanently make you vehicle an advertising work horse, you have several additional options. You can add your logo or text in high performance cut vinyl and digital graphics, like Dan's Deli did (above), or you can go all out and have your vehicle wrapped in a full color digital graphic that can be an eye catcher.
However, if adding your company or organization info isn't what you want to do but you want to dress up your vehicle, you can go for handpainted pin stripes or vinyl striping. Plus additionally, you have the option of just doing a complete color change with a full vehicle wrap. The advantage of wrapping compared to painting is that it can be removed and changed without damaging the paint underneath!
To view some of the cars we have lettered, please visit our Vehicle Gallery.
PICKUP TRUCKS
Another popular vehicle type that we letter is pickup trucks. Pickup trucks offer a lot of versatility in lettering. Their short coming is the lack of surface area to be considered when determining your vehicle advertising. However, there are still plenty of options when it comes to lettering pickup trucks as you will be able to see in our gallery.
The single most popular method of lettering pickup trucks is to apply high performance cut or digital printed vinyl to both doors and the tailgate. This is the least expensive option for lettering but it can be quite effective with the right logo and design. In addition you can take advantge of a portion of the bed of the pickup to a include more information for only a little more money.
In the example above we show how a pickup truck with a partial wrap applied can take advantage of all the space on the bed to increase the advertsing area. Partial wraps like this are becoming more and more popular as a method of advertising. By our defintion, a partial wrap consists of completely covering a portion of the vehicle with a full color digital graphic and then adding cut vinyl on the doors. And an additional option is the full wrap which is actually an option for all vehicle types. A full wrap can include the entire vehicle including the roof and hood.
Examples of the pickups we have lettered are on full display in our Vehicle Gallery.
VAN LETTERING
By far the most popular type of vehicle that we letter is the van. Vans come in all shapes and sizes, and with the exception of a box truck, they offer the most square footage on which to diplay a message.
As with all types of vehicles, there is always the two doors and back option available as a possible design. However, if you want to fully maximize your advertising dollar, taking advantage of the amount of space on the sides and back is highly recommended.
At Graber Letterin' we offer full vehicle wraps. However, even in the full wraps that we do on vans we continue to suggest not making the design too busy and hard to read. Many vehicles with full wraps look very good sitting in a parking lot but are difficult to read when moving. We keep legibility in mind with all of our designs
The example above is considered a full vehicle wrap. By utilizing the full side for the logo we were able to maximize the logo for easy recognition plus be able to get enough information on the vehicle. While a full wrap typically is the most expensive form of vehicle lettering, we recommend utilizing as much space when having your vehicle lettered. Please keep in mind when planning on spending your advertising dollars that vehicle lettering is still the most effective form of advertising for small and large companies.
Check out examples of vans we have lettered in our Vehicle Gallery.
UTILITIES
Another vehicle type that offers a good deal of space for lettering is the utility. There are different types of utilities with each offering opportunity for lettering. There is the pickup style with a utility and the van style with a utility. While not having quite as much advertising space as a box truck it does offer a bit more space than a regular van in some configurations.
The vehicle shown above demonstrates how you can get the most out of your money when lettering a pickup style utility. This vehicle maximizes as much space as you can without doing a full wrap. It combines a full color wrap on the utility part and then high performance vinyl on the cab doors and rear.
Some people consider the bin doors on utilities an obstacle. We don't. We use them in the design making the doors a separation point in the design. This really is the only vehicle style that allows that.
While we recognize that many times there is a budget that has to be kept to, we do encourage that anyone looking to get a utility lettered or any vehicle for that matter, that you take advantage of the space you have to advertise. If you don't, it is like paying to advertise on a billboard but only using one third of the billboard and letting the rest of it blank.
Check out some of the samples of utilities we lettered in our Vehicle Gallery.
BOX TRUCKS
For those of you that believe that bigger is better than lettering a box truck is your cup of tea. Providing the most available area for advertising than any other vehicle except tractor trailers and enclosed trailers, if you own a box truck you seriously should consider taking advantage of all the space you have and maximize your dollars spent. We have lettered hundreds of box trucks for many companies over the years and we have always encouraged maximizing space. The picture above is just one example of that.
Box trucks like every other type ofvehicle comes in different styles. Some have smooth sides. Some have rivets. Some are a combination of both. But what they all have is a lot of space to put your message! Sides, back, bulkhead, doors and hood are great places to put your information.
And recently we have started to do more and more wraps to the boxes. With all that space they really do make an awesome appearance without looking cluttered. And if you want to change the design, rewrap it right over top of what's already there. They are that easy to change!
To see more of the box trucks we have lettered check out the Vehicle Gallery and take special note of the ones that have partial to fully wrapped boxes.
DUMP TRUCKS, TRI-AXLES, FLAT BEDS & MORE
Of all the trucks out there, the dump truck, the tri-axle, the flat bed, and the trash truck are probably the hardest working vehicles on the road. Their bodies take a great deal of abuse just doing what they were intended to do. Dirt, weather and environmental abuse usually limits the amount of lettering that customers want to apply to them. Therefore when it comes to lettering one of the beasts it typically comes down to just the doors although creativity can expand the imagination at times as evidenced by some of the examples in our gallery.
Short and sweet and to the point. Give me your name and number and let me keep on working. However, even though they do take a lot of abuse, it doesn't mean that they can't be made to look good. As the example above demonstrates, with a lot of love and tender care these giants can be made to look down right awesome.
We have lettered many of these trucks over the years with all types of lettering from hand painted logos and air brushing to full color digital graphics. Because of the abuse we have mentioned, they are probably not a good candidate for a wrap, but who knows, someone may try it some day.
To view some of the vehicles we have lettered visit the gallery page and select "Dumps and Tri-axles".
TANKERS
A form of vehicle that poses a different set of challenges to good and effective lettering is the tanker. With their round body design and very few if any body lines to work with, creating a design for these vehicles can be challenging.
Along with their unique shape comes a variety of materials that these vehicles come in. A typical tanker has a stainless steel body and a great deal of "chromelike" shine to them. While this looks great it does require an adjustment in thinking when lettering in order to make sure that what is put on the truck can be read.
We have embraced those challenges and over the years have lettered many different types of tankers with just as many different materials. While the tanker seems to have a lot of available space on first look, with some of them the curvature of the body is so great that the actual usable space is limited.
To view more of the tankers we have lettered please visit the vehicle gallery.
POLICE, FIRE & RESCUE
We truly appreciate the amount of trust that many of the surrounding emergency agencies have placed in us to provide their lettering for their vehicles. From boats and trailers to full size ambulances and large fire trucks, we have been providing service to police, fire and rescue organizations for many years.
An important part of lettering any emergency is the high visibility that is typically required. There are exceptions but for the most part, law enforcement and rescue vehicles need to be seen and seen well.
Most of the designs we have done include a combination of digital graphics, high visibitly reflective and high performance cut vinyl. It all depends on the specific service the vehicle is intended for. For example most ambulances require a great deal of reflectivity including high visibilty reflective chevrons on the year.
To view more examples of the emergency vehicles we have lettered please visit our vehicle gallery page.
SPECIALTY VEHICLES & TRAILERS
What's a specialty vehicle you might ask? Well for us it involves things like enclosed trailers, railroad cars, boats, tractors, buses, and construction equipment. There are probably more things that fit into this category but those are the ones we do the most.
We have striped and lettered full size railroad cars, locomotives and buses. The Colebrookdale Railroad in Boyertown has entrusted us to provided lettering to their restored parlor cars and motive power and Rhodes Transportation utilizes our services to letter and stripe their buses.
Enclosed trailers provide a great deal of space for lettering. If you own an business, transport a race car or horses, or just like to carry your things around in a big trailer, then you should use that trailer to promote whatever it is that you do. Don't waste that space. Whether you just add some graphics or go all out and wrap the trailer, either way you will gain recognition and use the resource wisely.
As evidenced by the picture above, we also wrap constrution equipment. The camo wrap pictured here is a high performance camo wrap vinyl transforming a rather bland orange piece of equipment into a nearly invisible front loader. Well maybe not really invisible, but definitely harder to see in the woods. Plus it just looks good! We have also applied digital graphics and cut vinyl to a wide range of construction equipment carrying a company's identity even further into the work environment.
There are more examples in our vehicle gallery of how we transform equiment.
MOTORSPORTS
From the beginning of time, well actually just from the beginning of our time, we have been lettering race cars and motorsports of all types. It is how we got our start and we are still doing several cars each year in our shop.
For over 24 years we have been lettering race cars for many of the top name drivers in the area. Sprint cars, micros, late models, midgets, modifieds and classic race cars have all passed through our shop. We specialize in and present race car graphics that are highly visible and easy to read from the grandstands of race tracks. This is what race car sponsors want for their sponsorship money. Many of the comments we receive on the cars we letter include how "clean" they look on the track. "Clean" meaning easy to read!
Because race cars are so important to our history they have their own motorsports gallery. The gallery contains some of the more recent cars we have done and also includes an archive gallery displaying many of the cars we have done in the past.
Please be sure to check out the motorsports gallery and let us know what you think of the cars we have lettered.
