by Mallory Lynn
11.2.22
A great vehicle wrap starts with a great brand. If your branding isn’t consistent, bold, and stands out from your competitors, your vehicle graphics are going to reflect this. You need to have a solid logo nailed down that is unique to your business and integrate the colors, fonts, and logos consistently across all sources of branding (ie: website, business cards, social media, etc.). The goal of a vehicle wrap is to get attention and hopefully drive traffic to a website or landing page. You want your potential customer to know they’ve gotten to the correct destination because the branding they saw on your vehicle matches the branding on the website., Facebook, Instagram and other platforms.
Before spending thousands of dollars on your vehicle wrap, now is the time to assess how your brand looks and is performing across all your platforms. Does it need a refresh or upgrade? Do your colors match all of your competitors? Is it time to do something that is bold, different and that stands-out? Is my branding consistent? These are all important questions you need to evaluate before designing a vehicle wrap.
Once you have a solid brand implemented, it is time to look at your vehicle wrap. Here are some guidelines we recommend to help you get the most bang for your buck on your wrap.
Avoid Photographs
Unfortunately, photos quickly get dated and don’t usually scale well to big layouts. A photograph is not a representation of your brand and won’t be as rememberable as your logo and colors. Photographs when used as backgrounds present many challenges with text and wording, making the important information hard to read, if not illegible.
Keep Text Concise
This is when it is time to deploy the K.I.S.S. method (Keep. It. Simple. Stupid.). Your vehicle is a billboard, not a brochure. Limit text to web, phone, logo, and tagline. NO MORE. Avoid bulleted lists, avoid Social Media Handles, and avoid QR codes! Unless you’re a food truck and have a QR code for your menu you really don’t need one on your wrap. Don’t use parenthesis on your phone numbers. This reduces the size and impact of the number and ONLY USE ONE PHONE NUMBER. Any more than one phone number will cause confusion.
Also, even though you legally need “LLC” or “INC” added to your business name for account purposes, it doesn’t legally need to be on your branding. Drop it and utilize the space it will provide to make more important elements larger. You don’t see companies like Apple or Home Depot using their “Apple, Inc.” DBA that you will see on their billing in their branding.
Eagles Don’t Flock with Pigeons
The design of your wrap should stand out from your competitors, not fit in with them. Research your competitors, see what colors and elements they are using and do the opposite. Reduce your design to its most simplistic form. This allows you to create supergraphics that highlight an element of your brand that will catch the attention of your customers, not your competitors.
Stay Obvious
In case I haven’t made it clear yet, keep it simple and obvious. Your moving billboard will be seen in mere seconds. Try to get across one concise simple message. Don’t let imagery (like photographs) take away from the message. Avoid glows, shadows, and outlines as these just muddy the waters.
Considering a Fleet?
If you are considering growing your business to fleet status or are already designing for a fleet, make sure the design will work across multiple types of vehicles. Have a list of types of vehicles that will be in the fleet for optimum design impact.
The most successful vehicle wraps are simple, bold, and can be recognized from a distance. Don’t spend thousands of dollars on your vehicles without evaluating your brand first and work with our team of wrap experts to get the most bang for your buck. Keep track of your incoming phone calls, website, and sales, after you get your vehicle, wraps to see the ROI a great branded wrap will do for your business.