provided by: 
Floor graphics, sometimes called floor wraps, are moving outside. These colorful displays are now common not only in the grocery store or retail establishments, but also on the sidewalks and asphalt at special events.
The floor graphic is still only a small part of the wide-format printing industry. Shops that have done these time-consuming graphics in the past said local retailers didn't "get on board" for this type of promotion.
For those successfully marketing the graphics, customers often come to them.
"This time 10 years ago, it was a newer way to market. Now, it's pretty much mainstream," said Michael Elrod, principal for the Graphics Gallery, Glen Allen, VA. "We're getting involved now in concrete and asphalt graphics, as well as carpet, instead of just the regular floor graphics—different, more aggressive adhesives and laminants."
Elrod said retail, such as grocers, are most common, then banking, trade shows and sometimes directional floor graphics for a special event."
"It could be an event at a civic center or something like that and we're trying to direct people a certain way and toward a certain area of the building," Elrod said. "We have also done them for short-term promotional on sidewalks or parking lots for games that were to be played on the asphalt and for a weekend event."
There's a diverse array of customers, reported Mike Tardy, president of Dimensional Screen & Digital, San Diego, CA.
"One is the existing customer that might have a marketing plan," Tardy said, "and they're looking for an existing way to implement the plan and we would suggest, 'Hey, you can do a floor graphic or you can do a hanging display or you can do a wall graphic or wallpaper.' Someone else might be a new customer and if they're doing something for a retail application, I will suggest floor graphics. They might want to do floor graphics, counter graphics or 'gas pump graphics' where we try to pump everything into one."
A Reputation to Floor You
Sometimes customers seek floor graphics because of the company's high visibility in other graphics. Peter Salaverry, chairman and CEO of Skinzwraps, Dallas, TX, said their floor wraps have to be explicitly marketed, including never assuming the customer knows all the details of the floor wrap. And striving for high-end, high-definition design makes the floor wrap differ from being a sticker on the floor," he added.
"People come to us because we have brand recognition," Salaverry said. "We are pioneers of vehicle wraps and the elements of high-end design, high-end printing, expertise and end results. Those things kind of allow us to have brand recognition. But because we're also early pioneers of vehicle wraps, we're also known for pushing the envelope, so we readily have clients that are on our list."
No Slip-Ups
Vendors such as MACtac, Avery, and 3M have complete kits for floor graphics, including no-slip vendor guarantees inherent to most packages. The vinyl type varies with application. Usually a UV-resistant ink images the vinyl with a non-skid laminate over it.
"Especially in larger chains," Tardy pointed out, "you have to guarantee that the water-based adhesive is going to leave zero residue, hold the thing in place over the floor buffers. [You also need] liability insurance carried by the vendors who manufactured the non-slip overlay."
There are variances in adhesives, varying with permanence on the surface and how cleanly it will remove.
"It's kind of an old technique," Elrod commented. "It's been around for awhile and there's no real improvement. The only thing I've actually seen is occasionally someone will come up with a different adhesive for a special application."
Tardy's firm does more direct printing and little laminating and mounting, but would advise in-house lamination to lower outsourced labor and increase margins.
"In my experience, you need to have some production facility to imprint—whether it's screen print or digital print—onto the base material," Tardy said, "then have a way to mount the overlaminante to the base material once it's been printed."
Foot-widened Cracks
There are some other considerations. Elrod said Graphics Gallery has found overlapping panels avoids vinyl migrating butted seams, which make a crack that foot traffic will quickly turn into a dark line.
Because of the high volume of vinyl on the floor, Salaverry said they suggest a particular vendor's product designed for floors.
Choice of perspective is important. With vehicles, he said, you see it from about 10 feet away, but with floors, you can see the graphic from upstairs, standing on it, and multiple angles. "Multiple points of perspective are important when you do a floor," he added.
Graphics Gallery did a job with a rough floor with a skin of concrete, in a high-traffic restaurant where mopping was frequent. A vendor provided a particular type of vinyl for this surface. "It has a much thicker adhesive and a much more aggressive adhesive," Elrod said. "You've got this irregular surface—a porous surface, as concrete is porous."
The work included scanning the tiles that had been hand-painted by the artist on a small sheet and enlarging them. "Then we had to orient them all in a sort of a winding pathway and to make it a little more visually interesting," Elrod said. "Since they were tiles and grout, we actually trimmed along the edge and followed the grout line so it looked more like it was real."
The results were realistic. Elrod reported a number people told the people in the restaurant they thought it was real. Salaverry said you may not get repeat business from such a floor-graphic customer, but "you definitely get a lot of exposure from doing those kinds of pieces, which in turn, brings in business."
Neal McChristy is a freelance writer who has written about the office-equipment and reprographic industry for more than 11 years. He welcomes feedback and would like readers to write about future topics. Contact him at nmcchristy@cox.net and www.ezsnailmail.com
author: BY NEAL MCCHRISTY