It is a simple fact — signage attracts attention. For any successful event, communication is always a key essential. Visual graphics are one of the most impactful aspects to enhance that communication. From directional signage to large event backdrops and stage sets, Source One Digital (S1D), a signage application innovator, has been helping its clients do exactly that since the early 1990’s.
Origins
The company began as a small printing shop. In 1996, RC (Randy Crow) Production acquired Signs by Jim (Jim Freed) and Source One Digital came to life. RC Productions started as an advertising agency in 1981. As the agency grew, they had more and more demand for quality signage (especially large format) from their clients and had a hard time finding a resource that could produce the print quality they and their clients were looking for. Together Jim and Randy began building the capabilities that would allow them to produce state-of-the-art high quality graphics. Source One Digital is now under the umbrella of RC Productions.
Randy Crow and Jim Freed are now CEO and vice president of digital sales, respectively. The company has tripled production facility space in size over the last 20 years and is now in their latest 25,000 square-foot facility. An additional 10,000 square foot warehouse, production, and fulfillment facility are nearby.
Source One Digital is one the largest grand format printing companies in the U.S., serving customers not just in the Nashville area but throughout North America. Wide-Format Imaging, a well-read publication within the digital printing industry named Source One Digital one of the Top Digital Printing Shops for nine consecutive years.
Grand format printing produces sharp, high-resolution images and text clearly view-able at any distance. This is ideal for stage backdrops, PA wing scaffold towers, and stage headers. Source One Digital uses vinyl mesh material for the outdoor tower application. The lightweight, porous material allows up to 70 percent airflow, and is easy to install.
“Our most popular backdrop material is direct-to-fabric dye-sub custom printed fabric, which is versatile enough for both indoor and outdoor usage,” says Katie Konicek, vice president of national sales. Konicek has more than 12 years of sales and customer service experience in the advertising and digital printing industry. Her duties as lead contact for new projects include discussions regarding capabilities, materials, solutions, projects estimates, and timelines.
Konicek spearheaded Source One’s event and stage signage marketing efforts for indoor and outdoor major event sponsorship signage. She has extensive relationships with a network of artist and their music management companies. Her roster of clients includes artists Kid Rock, Eli Young Band, Switchfoot, Kip Moore and Third Day, a Christian rock band that has won a slew of Grammy and Gospel Music Awards.
From Music…
“Our working relationship over many tours has been wonderful,” says Third Day bass player and stage designer Tai Anderson. “During the last two years, we’ve changed up the look of our show completely at a very affordable cost. Our stage package now includes three custom round rugs with album artwork, B3 Hammond, and drum decals, a bass cabinet cover, and blow through riser skirting.”
For the band’s current tour, Anderson notes that “Source One Digital created a 50-by-25-foot drop of our album artwork. The drop takes color beautifully, and we are able to get a lot of great looks from it. They also made six custom 25-by-four-foot banners that fly in to form one large stained glass image.” The drops all use the popular Bannerluxe material, available at Source One Digital.
Source One Digital is able to offer the largest range of event graphics solutions available for experiential events, event branding and brand recognition. These include fence banners for barriers, which provide better visual traffic flow. Source One Digital can provide signage simply for directional purposes, too. Source One Digital Event Rep Ron Newton handles Live Nation’s Faster Horses Festival in Michigan, Watershed Festival in Washington State, Delaware Junction Festival in Delaware and the Route 91 Country Music Fest in Las Vegas.
“We really geared up for them this past year,” says Newton, “as they expanded rapidly the number of shows they did. We printed over 2.5 miles of fence mesh for them in one day, for one particular event.”
…to Sporting Events
Source One Digital has extensive experience as a top-quality graphics partner for NASCAR track events, retailers and sports teams including the Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills, New York Islanders and Washington Capitals. Major sporting events include the Women’s Final Four Basketball Tournament in Nashville and Super Bowl XL 2006 in Detroit, MI.
“We can provide a full packaged kit for any event,” says Konicek. “Every job we do is custom-made to order, so no job is too large or small.”
What sets Source One Digital apart is the ability to take a project from concept to completion. The company employs a full staff of agency level graphic design artists and prepress operators to help create artwork from scratch. Due to their experience, they are able to spot and correct problems with client-supplied graphics so files output at the best possible resolution. Source One Digital adheres to strict detail protocols. Every file is reviewed and checked for accuracy and quality.
“Our experienced creative design team is second to none,” says Crow. “They specialize in designing projects with a creative flair and work together to provide the highest quality images possible.” The production teams reproduce vivid color images through the capabilities of a broad array of digital printing presses.
“The Source One Digital staff and longstanding client relationships are the face of our company,” adds Crow. “We have a highly educated, tenured and seasoned staff. Many people who have joined us over the years stay here. We have many people with over 10 and 20 years with the company”
Considering Source One Digital is only 20 years old this year, that is quite an accomplishment. The company is family-owned. Crow’s wife, Abby, is the company president and lead executive account manager.
Says son Steve Crow, production manager for Source One Digital, “ We thrive on the fast paced, demanding world of deadlines in the print industry. No job is too big or too small. We follow through and produce all sorts of jobs, from short-order hot potatoes to volume production runs, on a daily basis.”
Offering on-line project management and proofing tools allows event managers to review and approve graphics out in the field, as well as catalog for future reference.
Jim Freed, vice president of digital sales, notes that, “We are one of the first digital print company’s in the country to become G7 certified.”
Much as DMX became the control standard for signal protocol, the G7 Proof-to-Print Process is a calibration method that allows printers to achieve a visual simulation across multiple print platforms. It is the standard used to solve the problem of computer to plate printing systems. G7 itself is a definition of grayscale appearance. Don Hutcheson, chairperson of the International Digital Enterprise Alliance (IDEAlliance), created the method in 2006.
Ready-Set-Go
The Source One Digital Installation division provides the aptly named “Ready-Set-Go” service. Backed by an in-house design and engineering team, Source One Digital provides pre-event surveys, project management for event signage installation, and removal. Stadiums, arenas, building wraps, wall murals, fleet graphics and vehicle wraps are all in the scope of Source One Digital’s expertise. This provides the capacity to do large jobs quickly and meet tight deadlines.
Speaking of large scope projects, “With our 16-foot-wide format digital printer, we did a 165-foot-wide by 50-foot-high bleacher graphic for Live Nation’s Faster Horses event. They wanted a focal point for the event. In the matter of a little over a week, it was designed, engineered to fit the existing bleachers, printed, finished and installed,” says Freed.
Along with big graphics, Source One Digital puts a big emphasis on being as environmentally friendly as possible. The company utilizes UV-cure digital print technology that generates zero harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that contribute to air pollution. UV-curable inks also require a smaller volume of ink for a similar amount of coverage as traditional inks and provide little, if any, wasted ink compared to solvent systems.
Direct printing eliminates mounting adhesive-backed vinyl to other substrates and the additional waste of the release liner. Recycled, renewable and/or biodegradable rigid media are available, including GreenCore, the first nearly biodegradable rigid particleboard that is made in the USA.
For more details please visit www.sourceonedigital.com
