Replacing LeBron

The Client Sherwin-Williams

The Player Fusion Imaging, Inc. (fusionimaging.com)

Tools & Supplies Durst Rho 500R, Durst UV Inks, Seattle Textiles woven mesh.

The Job The people of Cleveland take great pride in their community and were less than thrilled when basketball star LeBron James departed their beloved NBA Cavaliers for warmer climes in Miami. All reminders of “King” James had to go – perhaps the most notable of which was the 10-story Nike banner featuring LeBron that hung from the iconic Sherwin-Williams building downtown. Jumping at the chance to show their commitment to the city, the folks at the renowned manufacturer of paint and coatings worked quickly to replace the Nike ad with one of their own. The result: an oversized tribute to Cleveland featuring a black-and-white image of the city’s skyline, which reads, “Our Home Since 1866. Our Pride Forever.” It was only natural for Sherwin-Williams to contract with Fusion Imaging of Kaysville, Utah, which had also produced the former LeBron Nike graphics, to execute the job.

Production The creative team at Sherwin-Williams used InDesign to render the wrap graphics and uploaded the files, along with a high-resolution PDF, to Fusion’s FTP site. Fusion artists then manipulated the artwork to comply with their specific finishing requirements and to ensure the exact size and dimensions were correct for final output. An electronic proof to the client was sent for content approval using its proprietary “Inside Track” proofing and tracking system; a small production proof  on the same media on which the final banner would eventually be created also was executed.

Once the client was satisfied with the image, Fusion output the files onto 14 panels of five-meter Seattle Textiles woven mesh using its Durst Rho 500R with mesh kit and Durst UV Inks. With an average print time of 750 square-feet-per-hour, printing was completed in roughly 33 hours. Finishing was done with the shop’s Fiab RF Welder on an 85-foot table. It took Fusion’s sewing crew more than 100 hours to transform the panels into a single banner.

Measuring 10 stories tall x 210-feet wide, the finished billboard graphics tipped the scales at 2600 pounds and, according to Fusion, ranks among the top-five largest vinyl-mesh wall banners in America. A 10-person Fusion team spent almost 12 hours installing the graphics.

“It takes a lot of planning for the logistics – from printing, material handling, trimming, sewing, and then laying it out and folding it – so it’s not upside down when we install it,” says Wayne Boydstun, COO at Fusion. “The hardware and attachment method had to be engineered to handle such wind loads and the Cleveland winter conditions that can be very hard on a banner of this size.”