Chance to Take Part in a Sign/Graphics Shop

[A Psycho Martyr]

So, as the title says, I have a chance to take part in running a graphics sign shop.The shop is completely functional (all the tools in the trade) but not being used. If I can get this guy some business, and hopefully a few return customers, I can make some money myself and be able to use his facilities for my own projects.I'm basically asking if anyone has some suggestions as to what I could offer to people that would involve vinyl overlays, decals, things of that nature.My ideas so far are basically decals or stickers that involve:video gaming humor, images, slogans, etcparents who want their kids' names or sport numbers on their carlocal bands who may want stickers to sell to promote their bandwrapping dash trim pieceswrapping chevy bowties in any color you wantAnything to decorate items you handle every day (guitar, laptop, car, phone case...anything!)Any other suggestions? I know using logos is illegeal unless I have permission to use the copyrights, so I won't talk about that here, but I plan on being as legitimate as possible.

[Wolfman213]

Something that I've seen on ebay but have been reluctant to try is decals for the fretboard on guitars. Apparently it's an overlay or something that goes on the individual frets, however still holds up to regular play. Being able to request something custom like that would be interesting.Also, what about how trucks have their back glass covered in a graphical tint almost? Is that something you will be able to do? Theirs isn't solid though so not sure if that's what you are talking about. They don't have anything out there sized for the Vibe so that could be something of interest as well.

[midnighthunder89]

be very general at first try not to design for just people with vibes or whatever try to make things that you could sell to a wide variety of people.

[A Psycho Martyr]

i'd be glad to size stuff up for Vibes (1st gen) and see what i could come up with. And the trucks that have the back window covered use a different material. We won't be able to do that. I could test the guitar decal idea quickly as my brother plays guitar for hours every day. Another thing I thought of is to make sayings or small decals of sayings or one liners from star wars, star trek, stuff that the "nerd " crowd will just eat up. My partner in crime thinks that's a good idea. And also the "redneck" crowd that's so densely populated my area would be glad to buy anything with a "Browning" deer head on it.lol So there's an easy crowd to appeal to.

[ou.grizzly]

CH@Dbee would not approve of vinyl (removed)

[A Psycho Martyr]

huh? what did i miss?

[KITT222]

Oh just a generic forum disagreement thread, not too much.Another idea would be zombie themed decals, and retro styled decals, like an NES controller. An idea to attract a crowd would be to maybe set up a shop on ebay, and put one of the first batches up, and see the interest generated. Sell them locally too, or try things like Star Wars forums for Star Wars decals.

[tpollauf]

Quote, originally posted by A Psycho Martyr »huh? what did i miss? You missed a WHOLE lot of entertainment (member bashing, lots of negative connotation ). I was actually looking forward to 50 more posts & then some on the stupidity of that "former" member Anyways Brandon, I'd say YOU could be the chosen one to print stuff for the upcoming "killer summer 2011" Vibe meet (wherever it ends up being). T-shirts, towels, banners, flags, etc. Those of us attending could chip in for the cause so you wouldn't be out any $$$. Count me in whenever that day rolls around

[06pvibe]

Pontiac and Vibe decals in hi-temp vinyl for calipers.

[808 Vibes]

Can you do VINYL CLING? I have an idea or two for an item for my business and wanted to (eventually...no money to do it now) look for a wholesaler to do them.

[A Psycho Martyr]

Well as much as I'd LOVE to do GenVube shirts...the guy sold his T-Shirt press a while back. That was my FIRST thought! But I'd be glad to do anything VinylAnd HPL... what do you mean vinyl cling? Thankd for the ideas guys

[Blanco_Diablo]

It would be smart to offer a palette of fairly generic, mass appealing graphics. Especially generic sports icons (helmets, bats, basketballs, etc./generic school mascots). Parents will buy that up like crazy, maybe even hook in with the local H.S. athletic boosters for a steady stream of business. You must have the ability to at least partially customize them though.It would be nice to have full custom as an option as well. Especially when it comes to automobile graphics, windshield banners, etc. Personally, I would only want custom graphics cut from specific colored vinyl... if I could ever finalize a design I would want on the ride What programs do the vinyl machines run? Are you talking stock vinyl colors cut into graphics (typically vector based-like your konig hood emblem) or the ability to print full color on vinyl? Car wraps, billboards, etc? Too bad you don't live in Oregon, would love to be a part of something like that. Almost bought a vinyl cutter just to have Good luck man!

[SlammedNiss]

Quote, originally posted by Blanco_Diablo »It would be smart to offer a palette of fairly generic, mass appealing graphics. Especially generic sports icons (helmets, bats, basketballs, etc./generic school mascots). Parents will buy that up like crazy, maybe even hook in with the local H.S. athletic boosters for a steady stream of business. You must have the ability to at least partially customize them though.This. Hook up with the Boosters to give them a percentage of your profits. Customize the logos with the players name and uniform number. We do hundreds of these @ $5 each come football season.BTW, there are several sign cutting programs, the most widely used is Flexi, which is what I use at my shop. You can use Adobe Illustrator though to edit the vector then import it back into Flexi.