It’s a Kid’s World

For most church-goers, Sunday service is fairly routine – adults take their seats in the pews and children are ushered off to a classroom for Sunday school. But, for the children of the 7000 members of Casas Church in Tucson, Arizona, Sundays are a tad more “amusing.” While the parents relax during the sermon, children enter a world of their own – Kid City.

Designed by “themed-environment” specialists Bruce Barry’s Wacky World of Oldsmar, Florida, the amusement-park-like atmosphere features life-sized characters, three-dimensional toy cars, and colorful graphics galore. Wacky World worked with Casas Church over the course of 18 months concepting the kid-friendly environment. To output the graphics for this massive outdoor undertaking, Wacky World went with its go-to print provider, Florida’s Graphix Connection.

During the planning phase of the project, the team had to tackle the most challenging aspect of the entire job: the Arizona heat. “When we were measuring the space, the heat was up to 117 degrees. At that temperature, graphics will warp and fade within a month,” says Matthew Doniger, client print communications advisor. So, the first task was to research possible media solutions and to negotiate a custom warranty that fit the job’s difficult requirements.

With the media dilemma at bay, the team moved forward with design and output. Wacky World illustrated and designed the graphics using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and uploaded the files to Graphix Connection’s FTP site. “We’ve worked with Wacky World for eight years and we’ve taught them how to prepare files themselves. So, we receive everything print- and cut-ready,” explains Doniger. “They know that setting up the files correctly will ensure color fidelity.”

And that is just what Wacky World demands. “I am a stickler for color, so what I see on the monitor is what I expect – I do bite,” jokes Bruce Barry, president of Wacky World.

Graphix Connection took to its Mimaki JV3 printer with SS2 inks to output onto Arlon DPF 6000XRP cast film, and Arlon Series 3200 overlaminate was added using a Falcon 60 hot/cold press laminator. The graphics that were intended for three-dimensional presentation were then mounted to 4 x 8-foot Global Signabond boards (3-mil) and routed with a Multicam 3000 CNC router system. “Making sure the 150 graphics matched up was one of our hardest challenges,” says Doniger. “We received artwork at different times, so maintaining color consistency through the many rounds of production was difficult.” With the graphics mounted, the shop sanded the board edges and packed the graphics for installation. All told, Graphix Connection output nearly 7000 square feet of media to complete the project.

A crew of 12 installers from Wacky World tackled installation. From output to installation, the project took about two weeks. After only six weeks after opening Kid City, Casas Church experienced a 10-percent growth in congregation.

GRAPHIX CONNECTION
www.graphixconnection.com