Another year f race car design for a friend. Thanks to their inspiration and ideas, the printer, I think the 4 quarter midgets can out great!
2024 Race Car Design
Category: Stickers
Race Car Sticker Project
Had a fun time designing race car wraps for a friend of mine and their kids who race Quarter Midgets. Bringing something from a the digital space to physical is really enjoyable and rewarding.
Awesomeness Race Team Wraps
Some graphics, wraps and stickers for the Carter family and their Awesomeness Racing Team
Inspiration
Design
Cars
Printing Stickers
I recently purchased an Epson ET-8550 and a Cameo 4 for printing some fun stickers for myself, kids and friends. Here are a couple of things I have learned and some process related information I have been using.
General Process Flow:
Design in Illustrator, add inner and outer cut lines (on separate layers), ensure the border color has a bleed (if needed) -> export as SVG.
In Silhouette Connect, import SVG, Add registration marks, print out on sticker paper (Hide the cut lines layers). Apply any over laminate to the sticker sheet and load it into the Silhouette. Unhide the cut layers. And run the cutting using the Send function.
Cutting depth and force are very specific to the sticker paper and over laminate, so it’s a lot of trial and error.
Helpful Links:
Sticker Project: Wescor Sweat Analyzer
This used sweat analyzer I picked up off eBay was looking a little weathered …
Sticker Project – Water Bottle
This was a fun design and printing project for a friend. They needed water bottles which could be used while wearing a helmet and strapped into their race car. The graphics add a unique and personalized design.
Signage Project – Rocky Branch Park
There is something quite refreshing about volunteer work. Generally it’s a position or job which you have picked because you have expertise, passion or interest in learning more about. It is unpaid, and the external pressure and expectations you get from a paid position are generally non-existent.
While I have had, and do, multiple volunteer jobs for one of the parks in the Tarheel Trailblazers organization, taking on new responsibilities is rewarding from a knowledge building perspective. This role was centered around designing, installing and maintaining a mountain bike/hiking parks signage. The project included the main entrance information boards, way finding, and safety signs.
T-Shirt & Sticker Project – Rocky Branch Park
This was a fun project volunteering for a local Non-profit organization called the Tarheel Trailblazers and some MTB/hiking trails in Belmont, NC called Rocky Branch Park.
Design Inspiration
Final Design
Out in the Wild
Rocky Branch Park – Kiosk Maps
Design: Adobe Illustrator, GIS for Maps
Printing: Gaston Printing and Signs
Mockups and Design
Craig Brickser from CTD Trail Design provided the base GIS layer gave the map some depth. I then used reference points, old GPS data from previous rides and exploratory rides to overlay this onto the maps, to create the trail lines. There is a fine line with regards to how much, or how little detail to show on public facing maps, so there was some trial and error. Included are some early versions, and mockups of the existing trails.
This main map was (and is still) used to create the individual loop maps at the hub of each trail.
Final Version
Lesson: Maps are not static … shortcuts, additions, changes, removals and closures make them a on-going maintenance component 🙂
List: Print Projects
While I am not a designer, I have always loved the concept, process and experimentation aspects of print projects. I grew up with Dot Matrix printers and the allure of bringing digital to reality grasped my attention early in life. These are some of the projects I have created digitally and subsequently printed for personal, marketing or informational needs.