True Colors Come Shining Through with Metallics

“Color is everything,” said Tony Fracasso, co-owner of Vinyl Graphics in Cheektowaga, New York, “If you can show a potential client a really great print, they’ll start thinking about what you can do for them.”

Fracasso and his partner Vicki Stapleton founded Vinyl Graphics in 1992 and have always relied on Roland DG printer/cutters. They recently purchased Roland DG’s VersaCAMM VS-640, a 64” digital printer/cutter that prints white and metallic ink. “Literally days before we were handing over the check for a new Roland DG printer/cutter, the VS-640 came out,” said Fracasso. “When I saw how the metallic ink prints, I said, ‘This is the one.’”

“Out here, the festival jobs are very competitive,” said Fracasso. “The VS gives us a pricing advantage because of the wide range of materials it can run, and the metallic effects seal the deal.”

Vinyl Graphics is a full service shop serving the greater Buffalo area. They provide illuminated and engraved signage as well as vehicle wraps, banners, decals, boat lettering, and event signs as well as tradeshow and marketing displays. Stapleton also develops commercial art projects, while Fracasso has a sideline in photography.

Fracasso often uses his photography as a way to show customers the print quality of the Roland DG. “The customers we typically deal with don’t have a need to print fine art photographs, but they associate that quality with whatever they want us to do for them,” said Fracasso. “I show them the image on my camera and the same image off the printer - no retouching. They can see that the colors are dead on.”

Fracasso appreciates VS’s ease of use as well as its size and advanced media handling capabilities. “From the time it was on the floor until we had the RIP software loaded was 30 minutes,” said Fracasso. “Now, we can run a 5-foot-wide banner, which is larger than other shops in our area can produce.”

Vinyl Graphics uses Roland DG’s ECO-SOL MAX inks to guarantee consistently excellent output. “There’s no reason to risk color,” said Fracasso. “We want our projects to look the way we designed them to look, and Roland DG inks deliver.”

Vinyl Graphics uses the VS’s metallic and white ink on a variety of jobs, including boat lettering, signage and poster and banner work. Clients also come to him for a cost effective alternative to running metallic ink prototypes on standard printing equipment. “On the VS, printing metallic ink on cellophane is no different than printing anything else,” said Fracasso.

Vinyl Graphics does a lot of work for city concerts and festivals preparing signage, banners and other advertising and venue signage materials. “Out here, the festival jobs are very competitive,” said Fracasso. “The VS gives us a pricing advantage because of the wide range of materials it can run, and the metallic effects seal the deal. “

“Having the VS with metallic and white ink increases our capabilities and gives us a multitude of ways to show them off,” said Fracasso. “When our customers see what we can print for them, they’re hooked. It’s our best sales tool.”