Vehicle wraps & fleet graphics

Designed flat.
Judged at seventy.

A wrap is the only thing I draw that drives itself to the customer. It gets one pass, at speed, from across a road — and then it sits in a driveway for six years while somebody reads every word on it. Those are two different design problems on the same panel.

Vehicle wraps — Northwind Exteriors — full panel set, all four elevations
Northwind Exteriors — full panel set, all four elevations

The obvious question

Every shop includes design. Why pay for it separately?

They do include it, and their designers are real. That part is not a trick. Two things are different here.

The first is what the design starts from. A shop starts from whatever logo file you email over and fits it to a purchased template. If your brand has never had artwork that survives being blown up to eight feet, nobody finds that out until the proof comes back — and by then the choice is between a delay and “close enough.” I start from the vector, because usually I drew it.

The second is who the answer pays. A wrap shop earns its margin on coverage — more vinyl, bigger invoice. I get paid the same whether you buy a full wrap or a few hundred dollars of door lettering. That makes me the one person in the conversation who can tell you to spend less, and often enough that is the right answer.

Why it isn’t a poster

What the flat file has to survive.

  1. 01

    Seams, handles, mirrors

    Artwork gets drawn on a flat template. The vehicle is not flat. Anything that matters — a logo, a phone number, a face — has to land where there is no door gap, no handle and no fuel door to cut it in half.

  2. 02

    The bottom four inches

    Wheel arches and rocker panels curve away from whoever is looking. Copy placed down there reads at an angle, or from behind a wheel, or not at all. It is the cheapest place to lose a phone number.

  3. 03

    Ribs and rivets

    Box trucks and some cargo vans have corrugated panels. Fine detail and small type break up across the ribs. The design has to be drawn knowing where they fall.

  4. 04

    One second, forty feet

    Most people see the vehicle once, moving, from across a road. That buys you a name, a trade and a way to make contact. Everything past that is for the person standing next to it in a parking lot — and that is a different layout.

  5. 05

    Six years of weather

    Laminate handles the sun. The rest is a design decision: cast film conforms to compound curves where cheaper calendered film lifts and shrinks back, and some saturated colours drift long before the vinyl fails.

The drawings

Artwork, before anyone cuts vinyl.

The first one is my own truck. I drewThe Southern Swing’s identity and then put it on the Durango — same monogram, same navy, drawn from the same file. That is the shortest version of everything above.

Most of the rest were built as drawn. The Blackhawks one was not: it started as a single vehicle wearing both jerseys, and the client liked the idea enough to run it across two instead. That happens more often than not, and it is usually an improvement.

Vehicle wraps — The Southern Swing — Durango, 2024
The Southern Swing — Durango, 2024
Vehicle wraps — Larry Roesch Volkswagen — ID. Buzz
Larry Roesch Volkswagen — ID. Buzz
Vehicle wraps — Northwind Exteriors — ProMaster
Northwind Exteriors — ProMaster
Vehicle wraps — Roesch Ford — Wholesale Parts Express
Roesch Ford — Wholesale Parts Express
Vehicle wraps — Equipment services — Transit, approved mock-up
Equipment services — Transit, approved mock-up
Vehicle wraps — Concept — one vehicle, both jerseys, split on the centreline
Concept — one vehicle, both jerseys, split on the centreline
Vehicle wraps — Concept — driver side, the red jersey
Concept — driver side, the red jersey
Vehicle wraps — Concept — passenger side, the black jersey and sock stripes
Concept — passenger side, the black jersey and sock stripes

Drawing, then truck

The same vehicle, twice.

Anyone can show you a finished truck. The question that actually matters is whether what you approved on a screen is what came back from the installer — the same colours, the same proportions, the logo not stretched to fill a panel.

Larry Roesch Volkswagen

A dealership promo build. Period-correct flower-power on a brand-new electric bus — the joke only works if the execution is straight.

Larry Roesch Volkswagen — The artwork
The artwork
Larry Roesch Volkswagen — The bus
The bus

Chicago Blackhawks

The drawing put both jerseys on one vehicle, split at the centreline. The client took the idea and ran it across two bodies instead — red on the tow vehicle, black on the trailer. Better than what I gave them.

Chicago Blackhawks — The concept — one vehicle, both jerseys
The concept — one vehicle, both jerseys
Chicago Blackhawks — What shipped — two vehicles, one each
What shipped — two vehicles, one each

On the road

Finished work.

Vehicle wraps — Prime — Power Distributing
Prime — Power Distributing
Vehicle wraps — Chicago Blackhawks — Suburban
Chicago Blackhawks — Suburban
Vehicle wraps — Revived Concrete Coatings
Revived Concrete Coatings
Vehicle wraps — F-150 Lightning — camouflage
F-150 Lightning — camouflage
Vehicle wraps — United Door & Dock — every service on one side
United Door & Dock — every service on one side

More than one

A fleet is a system, not a repeat.

Two vans and a box truck are three different shapes. The same artwork scaled to fit each one gives you three vehicles that look related by accident. Drawn as a set, they read as one company from any angle — which is the entire point of putting your name on them.

Fleet graphics — Matched fleet — three E-Transits
Matched fleet — three E-Transits
Fleet graphics — Prime — box truck and van
Prime — box truck and van

How it runs

Four steps, and you own the files.

  1. 01

    Measure

    Exact year, make, model and body style, and photographs of the actual vehicle. Templates are close, not perfect, and the difference shows up on the finished panel.

  2. 02

    Draw

    Two directions, drawn on the real template with the seams and hardware in place, so what you approve is what gets printed.

  3. 03

    Release

    Print-ready panels at scale, with bleed, cut lines and notes for the installer. Files an installer can take straight to the printer.

  4. 04

    Install

    A shop I trust and refer, or your own installer — the files work either way. Nothing about the artwork locks you to one printer, and I take nothing out of that side of the job.

Your move

Tell me the vehicle and what it needs to say. I’ll tell you what it costs.

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