JLS Design

Hey Primal, do you have any Dually Pick Up Trucks? I have a few buddies with dually trucks, and I have a decal idea I think would sell. They're Fords, but any will work. I need the rear/back of the truck silhouette. Let me know bud.

What Wildgoose said is dead on. You have to ask the client the correct questions regarding their vision. I try to get my clients/customers to give me information on what they're about. What sets them aside from others in the same industry/market. Once I get some idea with what they're looking for, I ask about color scheme. I think the right color scheme pulls the logo together at the end. For example, I designed a logo for a customer, and he liked simple, black and grey. Now this is awesome for cutting decals, or even screen printing. However, it's hard to make a black and grey logo stand out in advertisements. Kept the black as a main color, and added a texture to the grey, giving it a brushed aluminum look. The final touch was a little glow behind the logo to pop it out a bit. Customer LOVED it.

Depending on what cutting program you're using, you can go in the settings and advance the vinyl however far you need. Currently on mine it advances 3" forward, and it sets me up perfectly to cut the vinyl. There is a small gap on the cutter that I use to make a straight cut. I'll be cutting some vinyl tonight, so if you don't see what I mean on your cutter, I'll take a few photos to share and show you. Hope this helps out bud...

@Go-C Graphics is right on. Check out my thread here: I've been researching myself on pricing and rates. The responses in my thread are pretty good pointers, and well worth jotting down. I've learned not selling yourself short for your services that either a.) no one wants to do, or b.) no one can do. I have a rate already set, for now, for my graphic work. I'm self taught, so I only charge $50 for the first 3 hours, and $25 each additional. Most of my customers are OK with that rate, and I've had several repeat customers. Now, I'm working on rates for decals, cutting & prepping, and installation.

Love the feed back! Thanks for sharing this is exactly what I was looking for. @Go-C Graphics it's funny when you said "You see a $.75 decal on the table you just made. I see $20 that someone is willing to pay for something they can't make.", that hit me like a ton of bricks this past weekend when I tracked how much time I was investing in the decals for my buddies dyno shop. In the 4 hours I finished weeding the vinyl, then layering them, I looked at my job board, and seen 2 business card jobs I could have banged out, and made $150. LOL that's when I started reading the forum here a bit more, searching for rates, and price structures. I knew then it was time to re-establish my pricing, and sticking to it. And you're absolutely right, I would rather charge full price, and "discount" at the end, than start off too low.

Thank you for your input. I'm already looking at upgrading my budget cutter. I'll still keep the one I have, as it works just fine, but I know it's limited. I do my graphic stuff on the side, along with the decals, and what not, but I am working towards being able to not have to work for someone else. If you catch what I'm saying.

It is a serious post. I have looked around my area for some "seminars" on start up business. I will however look again, as I'm sure there may be something now. There are only a few sign shops around in this area, and I'm not even on that playing field yet. I consider myself the "JV" squad right now. LOL The only other few places I know (in my area) that do the same kind of decal work, will not offer their rates. You ask for a decal, they ask qty, and if it's not x amount, they'll basically move on from you. No worries, I didn't take your post as mean. I value others feedback who are in this industry. It's my goal to be able to support myself doing the graphic art work I do, along with decals, and vehicle wraps.

I'd suggest getting some color swatches to show them. I know I purchased the ones Oracle has, both the book, and the actual swatch fan. I'm going to get a few more manufacturers swatches too, as I want to show all the options I can for my customers. What I really need is a pricing break down for the common colors. I pull up the website 99% of the time, but it's not very mobile friendly.

Thanks man. I'll keep you posted.

So I had an odd request. Customer wanted to know if I could cut a pinstripe design. Now, I'm sure it could be done if you can either draw, or find the right vector to buy. Has anyone ever done it? Not that I don't want the job, to me pinstriping should be something custom. I'm still looking at ideas to test out, but not sure how well it will work, let alone look. Thanks for the info folks.

There is no design as of yet. I've looked through some vector sites I'm subscribed to to see what all are available. The guy is very... specific ... He doesn't want it to resemble a "bull" or anything like that. This is going on a Kenworth W900 so the canvas area is pretty big. I"m waiting for my buddy who owns a body shop to get back with me regarding his pinstripe guy. Kinda want to utilize all my resources on this one. Once I find an image I think he might like, I'll shoot it over to ya to look at.

This is interesting, and goes along with the copyright debate. https://www.drumbeatmarketing.net/marketing-blog/4-easiest-ways-tell-image-copyrighted It's worth the read for sure...

I'll have to give that a shot, if it happens again. Once I updated the drivers, it seems to have fixed the issue. I was able to finish cutting the job with no problems. Yes I was.

So I've had this issue now for some time, and cannot seem to find a way to make it go away. I have a Laserpoint2 cutter, and running (now) SCALP4. As you can see from the video what I have going on. Either the shadow is walking or the top layer is walking. I cannot figure this out. On screen they're all lined up as needed, but when I cut, this is what I get. The spacing is incorrect, and i have to make several cuts to line it up properly. This particular one I did not use registration marks, but on jobs in the past where I have, I encountered the same issue! I'm not sure if it's a cutter issue, or software issue, but it's driving me to drink... LOL Any help would be great. 20170327_100158.mp4

I'll have to keep this in mind. I've watched tons of tutorials, and it seemed tedious, but manageable. I know more customers will want at least dual layers, so I need to get this figured out quick. It could be the cutter, it's considered a "budget" cutter. Maybe I can get enough decal jobs throughout the upcoming year to pay for a better one.

So here is something odd. I reinstalled the drivers, and it appears (maybe) to have fixed itself. Now I'm not 100% sure that is the fixall, but I cut another set of green vinyl, and it appears to have lined up ok. Very strange. Thankfully the green vinyl was free, so I'm not worried about that color, it's the chrome that has me concerned. Take a look, and let me know your thoughts. 20170327_132600.mp4

Yes. I had similar issues with SCALP3, and now again with SCALP4

I'll have to do more investigating. I remember looking it up before, and not having much luck. I'll try again though. Any suggested workarounds maybe?

Here is another video of it. I have to use the paper transfer, as this will be a wet application when the customer installs on their truck. 20170327_100445.mp4

I'm going to be downloading the update myself sometime this weekend, and getting both my PC and Lap Top up to date. M1Racer in the mean time you may want to check out InkScape. It's a free software you can download, and I'm 99% sure you can skew the text there if you wanted.

You would send them the design, and they print on the material there. I have yet to do anything promotional from them, but I'm 99% sure that's how they work.

No problem. Like I said, if I can't find what I want locally, I deal with these guys next. They do good work, and have a decent customer service department.

When I have to print stuff, I use Zoo Printing, if I cannot find someone local to me, to help. Zoo Printing has a section of bags like you described: http://www.zooprinting.com/promo/nylon-drawstring-backpack Check them out, they do pretty good work, and they print a lot of my business card jobs.

Oracal is what I currently use. I have yet to try any of the other ones mentioned above. I did have some greenstar stuff I got with my cutter, and was not a fan of it at all.

That's the cutting program that came with my cutter. It's ok, but I would worry about it if you have SignCut though.