Challenge
A Cincinnati-area high school with a strong academic reputation and a special connection to DeanHouston+ co-founder Greg Houston was looking for a turnkey solution to brand its new athletic lobby. The athletic director at Turpin High School, where Houston had been a fastpitch softball coach, made an overture to DeanHouston+ to see if the agency had the resources to design and install eye-catching graphics.
Solution
Trust was the first reason Turpin had for selecting DeanHouston+, but what took the project the distance was having all the necessary services under one roof to give the client a single point of contact, create operational efficiencies and streamline costs. DeanHouston+ designers and virtual reality animators, in collaboration with its trade show division, Exhibit Logistics, went to work and presented design concepts a month later.
Revisions and client sign-off followed shortly thereafter, and though the annual summer school recess put the project on hold for a couple of months, things started rolling again by late summer. After seven months, the project had culminated with the installation of graphics on a combination of substrates, including acrylic, sintra board and pressure-sensitive foil. All finished materials were UV printed to achieve the following benefits:
- Because UV lights immediately cure the printed inks, the “dots” that comprise the wet ink do not have time to “spread out” once printed. The result: much finer detail in the finished material.
- UV-cured inks are weather-resistant and thus offer increased resistance to fading.
- UV curing is also environmentally friendly as it produces low levels of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), odor and heat.
Despite coinciding with a major installation project at Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals, Exhibit Logistics was able to surpass expectations in transforming the Turpin Athletic Lobby.
Results
Above is a look at the finished project, which was ready just in time for the start of the new school year.
Tony Hemmelgarn is Turpin High School’s Athletic Director: “When we were looking to dress up our gym lobby, we specifically wanted simple and sharp. DeanHouston delivered in the best way possible! Their attention to detail and commitment to excellence comes through in every way. We continue to get compliments about the look of our lobby every single day.”
Many DeanHouston+ staff members are also quite proud of this project because they, themselves, either are graduates of Turpin or have children who graduated from the school.