In on the Ground Floor

In developing a creative advertising campaign to bolster the enrollment for Forsyth Technical Community College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, The Bloom Agency made sure that a series of engaging floor graphics at nearby Hanes Mall would be part of the mix.

At the request of mall owner CBL & Associates Properties, InView Graphics (www.inviewgraphics.com) of Chattanooga produced the graphics, working in partnership with the college and The Bloom Agency (www.thebloomagency.com), which developed the designs as well as the overall campaign. Bloom has worked with Forsyth for several years, producing an array of recruitment campaigns for the college and helping drive a 30-percent increase in enrollment since 2006. Much of its work with Forsyth blends humor and creativity to connect with a broad audience about the school’s programs, and the floor graphics would take the same tact.

Since the artwork was to be printed on an optically clear substrate, several steps were taken to achieve the best outcome. After receiving files from Bloom, InView made modifications to the files using Adobe Illustrator CS6. The job would be printed on the company's Fujifilm Acuity Advance UV printer, which prints 4 colors plus white ink.

“We went into the majority of the files and created a white-ink layer, in Illustrator, to allow the printing to go as needed,” says InView’s Gabe Whitfield. “With one graphic in particular, we rebuilt the files from the ground up to ensure that the look the client wanted to achieve would be realized. The desired look was to be a 3D lettering effect that would appear to protrude from the hardwood floor beneath it.”

InView initially provided digital soft proofs to the client, until it began the process of creating the white layers. At that point, the company opted for a half-sized hard-copy proof that was applied to a hardwood floor at its facility. InView then photographed the graphic on the floor and e-mailed photos to the client for approval.

The final graphics were output with the Fujifilm Acuity Advance with Fujifilm inks, onto General Formulations Concept 206 optically clear adhesive material. A total of 10 floor graphics, each measuring 16 square feet, were produced. Including setup time, the output took approximately two hours.

Lamination was performed using the company's Neschen Seal 62 ProS laminator, with a 3M Floor graphic laminate to prevent any slipping when wet and walked on. In all, finishing took only 10 to 15 minutes. Installation was contracted out through the shopping-mall management.