By signcraft
Posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2021
Not another white pickup! The traditional work truck or van is almost inevitably white. Coming up with ways to avoid a generic look can tax any sign maker’s creativity. Brian Schofield and Karin Levin see their share of them at Lines & Letters Designs, Bridgewater, New Jersey.
“If you letter trucks for a living,” says Brian, “you know that the majority of vehicles that show up are white. But there’s a lot you can do to keep them from becoming just another boring white truck on the road.
“The BresCore van is a good example. Karin and I came up with a whole vehicle graphic that would add more drama to an otherwise bland canvas. Adding in a stripe or graphic breaks up the large mass of white, and enables you to add ‘punch’ to important messages, like the services, phone and website. It will also help break up the ‘paragraph look’—line after line of copy.
“Treat the vehicle as a whole, spread out information tastefully and with structure across your canvas. Don’t just throw things on the truck without any rhyme or reason. It all needs to work together, look good, read well and grab your attention.”
A look at how Brian and Karin handle the white trucks that arrive at their shop provides plenty of ideas on how to get the most out of a white vehicle. Here are a few of the ways they maximize that big white canvas to deliver strong graphics:
Push the white to the background. Brian often uses a little more material or paint to create panels and graphics that move the lettering out front. Using a partial wrap or stripes of color as panels helps with this.
Be bold. Unless the graphics are meant to have a classy, low-key look, Brian makes the main message very bold. He keeps the copy in message blocks so that the reader’s eye can move easily between them—rather than having to look at all the graphics and decide what to read first, then next.
Encapsulate the logo. Use a panel or give it some background instead of just having the letters on the white door. A simple shape like an oval can hold the logo and keep it out front.
Don’t let secondary copy interfere with the main message. Brian makes sure the main message gets top billing. To keep the secondary copy from taking away from the main message, he sometimes lays a long wide stripe down the side of the vehicle to carry the secondary copy. “On a pickup,” he says, I generally try to keep the company name large on the doors then get the secondary copy back on the bed or extended cab. I want the logo to get the attention it deserves.”
Try a pale gray shade. One way Brian takes advantage of a white truck is to use a natural shade on the letters. It adds dimension and is something you can’t really do on a black or very dark truck.
As for colors, anything goes on white. On white, you also aren’t limited in your colors. Brian often uses powerful colors on white vehicles, like bright orange, brilliant blue, high-energy green.
