How are Wall Letters Made?

How are Wall Letters Made?

by Jerry Pappalardo on October 8, 2013

Ever wondered how wall letters and graphics are made for businesses and retail locations? You may have seen them on occasion — anything from store front windows to an office reception area with their company name and logo or wall mural to a retail location with pictures of products scattered around the store to giant wall letters used at a university gymnasium.

Wall letters are basically decals that we print, laminate, and cut in the store, and then applied at the customer’s location. Here’s how they’re made.

First, we print the wall graphics and letters on our wide format printer and let them dry. Next, we laminate the entire printout, this ensures that the materials are protected from normal wear and tear, or ultraviolet rays if installed outside. Finally, we’ll precisely cut out any individual letters or elements with a cutter.

In our own Signarama Murietta store, we have a combination printer-cutter, the Roland XC 540 54″ printer. We load the laminated print back into the printer to cut out the wall letters and graphic elements. Every print job has registration marks so the cutter knows where to cut, making it extremely accurate. It’s also possible to print and cut at the same time, but for most wall letters and graphics, in order to protect them from handling and UV rays, we avoid removing the lamination step from out process.

A wall graphic can also be a solid print, like the wall mural we (and many other Signarama stores) have in our lobby. We print the graphic images out in long strips, and place it on the wall by piecing it together, strip by strip, matching the images next to it, much like wall paper.

One of our recent projects was for a local university, California Baptist University. We created four foot wall letters with our regular print/laminate/cut method. Each of the wall letters was four feet high and four feet wide, and the overall size of the sign was 85 linear feet long. Then, we were able to peel off the backing and apply it to the wall of their gymnasium.

Ultimately, installation just depends on the project. We can peel and stick graphics directly onto the surface, or we can transfer the graphics by back-masking them first. This lets us lay out the wall graphics and letters, and the masking holds everything in place until we apply it. Once we press everything in place and the masking material is pulled off, leaving the letters behind. This is because the adhesive on the vinyl is more aggressive than the adhesive that holds the graphics to the masking material.

Wall letters are a useful piece of signage, because they let you use your wall colors as a background material, rather than creating a complete background and covering up your beautiful wall colors. For more information on wall letters from Signarama, please visit our website. You can also use our online store locator to find your local Signarama franchise.

Jerry Pappalardo has owned the Signarama Murrieta franchise in California since 2008. Jerry came to Signarama with a previous background in the sign making industry, having spent several years as a product manager for Hewlett-Packard, specializing in large format printers and their products. Signarama Murrieta handles typical sign projects, and has done some excellent work with wall graphics and wall letters.