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54 Blue Communications
Jamie Calon | Calgary, Canada
Easy-Install, Eye-Catching Retail Window Graphics
To set his new company apart, design specialist Jamie Calon decided to develop a proprietary Pantone color, and 54 Blue Communications was born. Founded in Calgary, Canada in 2002 by Calon, the company has now grown to seven employees and offers graphic design and print services along with website and database solutions.
“To be able to offer both metallic and white ink in a very large format is very rare,” said Calon. “We can now design for these features and the looks we are able to create put our company at a different level.”
54 Blue started out as a film and design company that worked its way into the print world. While producing films for the power sport industry, their clients would approach them with requests for ad resizes and other printing needs. “We were brokering all the print jobs out to our vendors and struggling with quality, color shifting, and different vendors giving us different results,” said Calon. “We needed consistent quality and control of our timeline.”
After researching the market extensively, 54 Blue chose Roland digital printing equipment, and recently augmented its production platform by investing in Roland’s VersaCAMM VS-640 64” digital printer/cutter. “We wanted the ability to design in white ink - it almost provides a 3D effect. Also, we wanted to execute translucent graphics,” said Calon. “We have been producing white ink every single day since we got the machine.”
54 Blue Communications has developed a niche in windowfront graphics and POP solutions, creating custom interior window displays for branded products. In Canada, extreme weather conditions limit retailers’ ability to execute exterior window decorations, and while larger retail chains often have departments devoted to visual marketing, individual brands that sell to a variety of outlets are always looking for visual marketing tools. “This is a market we never expected to be in,” said Calon. “The VS can run white and metallic ink on static cling materials, which provide a great visual marketing solution for our clients.”
One of their most innovative efforts to date is a POP system they created for Oakley’s O stores and Oakley’s independent retailers in Canada that is designed to be installed by retail employees in a matter of minutes. The designs are printed on static cling material and other printed and cut substrates. “Cling film is so easy to install with application fluid and a squeegee,” said Calon. “The retailers can put it up and take it down until it’s perfect.” 54Blue also custom designed a software package for Oakley that allows them to view, order and log the graphic orders and generate ROI reports based impressions and sales.
54 Blue can turn around a custom windowfront display in one to two days. “The advantages for the brands and the store are huge,” said Calon. “They save money and time on installation, and the graphics are up in time for their promotion.”
To create a custom window graphic display, 54 Blue generates designs for the current marketing or advertising campaign, sized to fit the window measurements provided by the retailer. They use Roland’s VersaWorks software to RIP the designs and output them to the VersaCAMM VS for automated printing and cutting. The graphics are then sent to the retailer via overnight shipping to guarantee on-time delivery. 54 Blue now executes more than 200 of these windowfront displays each year.
54 Blue’s work appears in many internationally-known retailers such as Lenscrafters and Canadian sporting goods retailer SportChek. They also provide print solutions for a variety of action sports brands including Redbull, The North Face, and Billabong. Along with these major brands, 54 Blue also does work for local “mom & pop” stores and is beginning to extend its reach into the US market.
Calon values the color output produced by Roland’s ECO-SOL MAX inks. “The fact is that we have been approached about 1,000 times to use third party inks, but we always get premium output with Roland inks,” said Calon. “Our clients are fanatical about color profiling, and colors always come off the Rolands perfectly and properly.”
Since the VS arrived in their shop, Calon’s design team has been experimenting with adding metallic silver ink to existing client art as well as developing new designs. “The looks you can create are fancy and original,” said Calon. In addition to adding metallic touches to logos, banners, decals and other print graphics, they have created eye-catching graphics by applying CMYK over metallic flake, which Calon says lends the color a “richer, more advanced look.”
“To be able to offer both metallic and white ink in a very large format is very rare,” said Calon. “We can now design for these features and the looks we are able to create put our company at a different level.”
Learn More about the VersaCAMM VS-420, VS-540, and VS-640.
Learn More about the Metallic Silver ECO-SOL MAX Ink.
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