How To Design Vehicle Graphics For Impact

“How to Design For Results with Vehicle Graphics Marketing”
by Derek Creavalle.

Its fairly easy to be successful with Vehicle Graphics… once you understand Marketing.

The biggest problem is effectively communicating with your ideal target customer… The one that’s the best fit for your business and you for theirs.

It all boils down to the design and unfortunately much of it is not obvious.. even for an experienced designer…

Because you are dealing with a 3 dimensional object that is unique to most designers… most are used to working on a flat two dimensional pallet.

Here are some of the basic guidelines for YOU the Business Owner to help you achieve success with Vehicle Graphics Marketing

Here are some of the basic “MUST’S OF VEHICLE GRAPHIC DESIGN”

Focus on ONE Person. Your ideal customer. If you try to appeal to everyone you will appeal to NO one. Your ideal customer must feel like you are communicating directly to them.

Use powerful graphics to create EMOTIONAL attachment. Different Graphics create different emotion in different individuals. The graphic of a mother cuddling a baby, will have the most impact to a new mother. Not only will you get their attention but you will establish credibility with them. This is extremely powerful since statistics show that most people buy on emotion and justify with logic.

Use a powerful slogan to position yourself in the mind of the customer. If your objective is to create mind share, you need to occupy a position in their minds so they immediately associate you with the desired product, service of need.

For example… You must be the computer specialists that caters to the elderly, or the dry cleaner that offers free delivery, or the restaurant that kids eat for free, or the financial planner that specializes in services for young couples.

Being first is powerful, but being perceived as first is even more powerful. Being the only one, or specializing is good. It creates positioning in the customer’s mind.

You are an expert or a consultant. Think of how you can accomplish this with your vehicle graphics message. If should be short and designed to be effective, for repetitive viewing.

The design of your graphics should be consistent with the style and type of vehicle for maximum impact. Remember that there are millions of dollars invested in designing vehicles by companies like Toyota, Honda, BMW, Nissan, Ford GM, and others create designs that appeal to the masses.

Why not take advantage of their expertise, by enhancing the look rather than contradicting it. It will confuse your target customer and result little if any emotional impact. I have seen many vehicles with elaborate graphics that simply do not work with the vehicle. I must confess that some of them have also been produced by us, but only because the customer insisted that this is what they wanted despite our recommendations.

I have also seen vehicles with very simple designs or very little graphic treatment that look very powerful and produce outstanding results. They also cost very little for the customer and were easy to create and install. Usually they were customers who had little if any preconceived ideal and simply said, “Here is what I want to accomplish, surprise me”.

LESS is MORE, design for a glance, but create lasting impression. Remember that your target customer is trying to drive their vehicle, sometimes at high speeds and only two to three seconds to glance at your vehicle. If they are interested, based on the first glance, you may get a second glance and they might even slow down to memorize your website.

You need to decide what information you would like them to remember most. The graphic, your caption or, your URL. Unfortunately, all of the above is not usually a reality, so at best two out of three is excellent.

Focus on the areas of most impact on the vehicle. The rear window and the sides over the rear wheel are the most powerful viewing areas while driving. Even though graphics look much nicer, and flows better on the sides of the vehicle. It is not very effective design strategy if you are focused on areas that are not visible while driving.

It’s very difficult to look at a vehicle that is driving beside you.. for more that a second, without feeling like you are going to slam into it. Try it for yourself. It’s almost impossible to read anything on the sides… unless it is over the rear wheels and you are behind the vehicle.

How about parked vehicles you ask? The sides are definitely a great resource as it allows for more and larger information, but graphics placed on the back and rear still work well if parked strategically. We do emphasize the sides more when designing for contractors, as they spend a significant amount of time parked in neighborhood driveways, targeting cars and nosy neighbors driving by.

Control the flow of the information. The driver has less than three seconds to read the information. The glance should first create interest or emotional attachment and make them feel like they want to know more. It should result in a second glance and leave them with your URL or Phone number in memory.

The eyes will tend to go to a graphic first and then flow from left to right, so don’t put the graphic at the end of the caption otherwise they will not read it. This will only confuse them and they tune out.

Effective Targeted communication is the key to getting results. Remember that you want them to call you or visit your URL so make it easy for them to find and remember it. The phone number or URL should flow naturally.

Remember that you are marketing to your target customer. What’s most important to them, your phone number or URL? If your current URL is long… get a second one that’s shorter and linked it to your current site.

We are not always able to follow all of the guidelines above because of circumstances beyond our control, but we always use the guidelines above to check the final design. So if you are designing for results the above should be an key part of your design process.

I wish you success with your vehicle graphics… now you are ready to work with and choose a designer to make money with Vhicle Graphics and Wraps

Click here the link -> To find out how we can help you with your Vehicle Graphic Design