Towson University, located in Baltimore, Maryland, is the second-largest public university in the state (with close to 23,000 students) and is home to its Tigers athletics teams. Officials with the university’s Parking and Transportation Services recently embarked on a rebranding project that would not only spruce up the campus environment but also interject a little more school spirit into their modes of public transportation.
The university wanted to wrap fifteen of its transit buses with partial wraps that would feature full-color vinyl graphics of the school’s logo. To accomplish this, they turned to an experienced sign company also located near their Baltimore County campus.
Shannon-Baum Signs & Graphics is a full-service sign shop in Eldersburg, Maryland that has some history on its side, as the company is currently celebrating its sixty-fifth anniversary (“Quoth the Ravens Job,” February 2015). When the RFP for this project went out, their skills and know-how helped them competitively win the bid.
The buses included: (3) Twenty-six-foot-long Chevys; (5) thirty-three-foot-long Freightliners; (3) forty-foot-long Bluebirds; (2) thirty-eight-foot-long Freightliners; (1) sixteen-foot-long Ford; and (1) twelve-foot-long Ford.
One of the designs prominently features the Tigers logo accompanied by gold and grey strips along the sides and back of the buses, the Towson University name along its sides, and grey and black tiger stripes along the bottom of the sides and rear. The second design has a gold and white “swoosh” accompanied by the “Towson University” name.
University officials supplied the designs to Shannon-Baum designers as PDFs for output on the company’s Roland SOLJET wide format eco-solvent printer.
“The university sent the images to us as Illustrator® files, and then we used an image of the bus with measurements to create a template at half-size to work from,” says Denise Baum, third-generation vice president of family-owned Shannon-Baum. “Then we exported this to our VersaWorks® program and enlarged it to full size before proceeding with RIPing and printing.”
The shop printed the graphics onto 3M™ IJ180CV3™ vinyl with 3M™ 8519™ overlaminate along with ClassicVue® automotive window perf film and Lamex® window perf laminate.
Shannon-Baum’s team of talented installers used a felt squeegee to apply the wraps to the surfaces via the dry method of installation, and they trimmed any excess material with X-ACTO® blades.
The black buses were brought in to Shannon-Baum’s 36,000-square foot facility throughout the year. “Each bus took anywhere from two to three days to complete,” says Denise.
These transit buses had never been wrapped before, so there was no challenging need to remove any sticky, leftover adhesive residue.
However this isn’t to say that there weren’t other challenges.
One involved applying the wrap design over certain areas of the buses. “The ‘swoosh’ design on the sides was a bit harder to install,” says Denise, “since this required us to have to incorporate the need for window perf graphics in the design.”
Another challenge revolved around scheduling. “We work on lots of wraps, so finding the time to work the buses into our installation schedule throughout the year required some finessing,” says Denise. “The overall size of a bus can be a challenge, but we have several bays large enough to handle vehicles of their size.”
When it comes to comparing the differences between wrapping buses as opposed to cars and trucks, Denise says, “Buses are easier since they’re a flat surface,” she says, “but they’re also harder, as there’s more trimming around the windows.”
Although the designs for these bus graphics were supplied by the university, when it comes to vehicle wraps in general, Shannon-Baum designers also enjoy sitting down and working with its customers to find a great layout. “Someone may have just a logo that they want to use and have no idea how to use it,” says Denise, “and we can help them grow with it from there.”
Meanwhile the success of this Tigers project isn’t giving Shannon-Baum any “paws” about doing further bus wraps. In fact, this job led to a bus graphics project for another client. “They’d noticed our wraps around campus and asked the university how to get in touch with us,” says Denise.
By Jeff Wooten
All photos: Shannon-Baum Signs & Graphics.
