How to Design Your Custom Wall Mural

JULY 1, 2020| SpeedPro East Bay

WHY A CUSTOM WALL MURAL FOR MY BUSINESS?

A wall mural is more than just a graphic on a wall. When you work with SpeedPro East Bay your print will be high-resolution and help to create the environment and feel of a space. Here’s what a wall mural can do for your commercial or residential space:

Be Eye-catching: Wall murals are their own unique advertising method as they create bright, bold, and attention-grabbing graphics that can stop a person in their tracks to take a look. This is a specific type of marketing that doesn’t come off too aggressive and potential customers will feel as if they are part of an experience rather than see an ad.
Display Professionalism: Dressing up your walls is similar to the way you get dressed up in the morning. You want to make a good impression and if you exude professionalism, so should your space. Going the extra mile and giving the little extra touch will show that you truly care about your space.
Protect Your Wall: The life span on our custom wall graphic materials can last anywhere from 7 to 10 years when maintained properly and it could even last longer. In comparison, a painted wall can only last 2 to 3 years before any chipping or light damage.
Stand Out: One of the main reasons that people add a wall mural to their interior is to bring life to a space. You can do this in your home, office, retail space, or restaurant and help to customize it and make it your own. Wall murals give you the freedom to show off your branding with colors, logos, taglines, and other images to really transform it.
Story Telling: Your wall mural can not only show what your brand is about but it can also tell a story. You have the option to tell a story across panels creating a larger picture. Or, you can highlight the progress of your company with a dedication timeline.

Wall murals can be used across all industries and here is how:

Corporate Office: Having white walls in an office can be hindering to the productivity of your employees. Spice things up a bit and create an environment that is pleasurable to work in.
Hospitals & Healthcare Facilities: Help to make patients feel more comfortable with a warmer environment that includes calming wall murals in lobbies and exam rooms.
Restaurants: Create an ambiance that makes people want to visit you time and time again by incorporating wall murals into the dining experience.
Retail: Standing out from the competition is going to be where wall murals are the differentiators. When you utilize high-impact branding on your walls and windows, this sets you apart and above.
Schools & Educational Institutions: Energize the school environment with displays of mascots, logos, and images of sports teams and academics to really create an upbeat feel.
Sports & Entertainment: Show pride of your local sports team with high-resolution images of teams, players, championship history, and more.

CREATIVE TIPS FOR DESIGNING A COMMERCIAL WALL MURAL

We’ve mentioned how important it is to impress customers with your environment but how can you ensure that you’re creating the right concept? Here are 6 tips to check if you’re headed in the right direction:

1. AIM FOR A REACTION

Wall murals are a way to capture the attention of passerby in hopes of a positive reaction. You can do this through either subtle and inconspicuous graphics or loud and bold ones with colors that astonish. Whichever direction you choose to go with, the point is to “wow” people and create a connection. By using a custom-designed image, you’re giving people something that they’ve never seen before and that’s the perfect start.

2. BRAND IDENTITY

Wall murals can be thought of as a blank branding canvas where it can include anything you could imagine. By using indoor and outdoor wall murals, you’re creating another touchpoint with your potential customers and sharing your story of who you are.

You can include anything that complements your brand including your logo, colors, taglines, images, and colors that you want to associate with you and your company. When consumers make the connection between your appearance and your company, that’s when your brand identity is developed.

3. INTERACTIVE WALL MURALS

Interactive murals are exactly as they sound. They’re a way to engage and interact with the mural, but how can you do this? There are a couple of ways to approach this. The first concept is by creating a “coloring book” wall mural where the design is printed and people are able to color it in to create one larger collaborative work of art.

Another way to tackle this would be by using our InfoLnkX technology which incorporates a digital chip and a cell phone. By turning on the NFC setting from your phone, you can hover over the graphic and it will prompt your phone to display the message.

4. UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE

Marketing cannot be directed to one single person but rather a general yet segmented population. Wall murals use that same concept of a target audience. You can directly connect with your target audience by considering specific language, attractive colors, relatable imagery, and placement in a visible area.

Connecting with everyone isn’t possible and if you try to connect with everyone, you may just end up connecting to no one. So first, determine your target audience and set up a strategy that works for you.

6. USE COLOR PSYCHOLOGY

Designers have done much research on colors and how they affect consumer behavior. This enables us to have control over what colors we use to create positive reactions and avoid negative ones. The three main categories to think about are:

Cool Colors: These can sway feelings like confidence and sophistication.
Contrasting Colors: Visual stimuli can be influenced and affect consumer decision-making.
Warm Colors: Feelings of intensity, energy, and power can be triggered by these.

5. UTILIZE LIGHTING

Understanding lighting is very important when it comes to using it. Things you’ll want to consider are the light source, the angle of the light, the distance, and even the time of day that it peaks. Here are a few things to think about when it comes to lighting:

Artificial Light: This can wash out a wall mural if the light is too bright giving it a yellow or white hue.
Natural Light: Wall murals can be visually enhanced by using natural sunlight because it carries a full spectrum of light rays.
Negative Space: This increases the intensity of natural light and artificial light so be cautious with this.
Furniture & Office Placement: Depending on desks, light sources, and other obstacles, this could cause shadows to appear on your wall mural.

There are many things to think about when designing your office wall mural.

HOME WALL MURAL DESIGN TIPS

When designing a wall mural for your home, you’ll utilize many of the same tips and tricks as the office. This includes understanding your audience, using room lighting, and considering color psychology.

Here are 6 home design tips when considering installing a wall mural in your living room, bathroom, or bedroom.

1. CONSIDER YOUR STYLE

Your house is where you can unleash your creative side and let your personality and style really shine. Here are a couple of different examples and styles that you may find yourself interested in:

Big and Bold: Photography in bright colors or classic black and white that can be blown up to life-size can be a statement image.
Contemporary: Chic, geometric patterns with clean lines and light to dark color schemes promote a contemporary style.
Minimalist: To avoid oversaturating your walls or space, muted colors and shapes with no repeated patterns help to simplify this.
Serene: Promote a calming and nurturing space with images of landscapes, greenery, or other nature scenes like beaches. Watercolor patterns as well as images with softened features will help to create a serene environment.

2. DIY INSTALLATION OR PROFESSIONAL?

Although you’ll need the help of a large-format printer to print the graphics, you can consider whether you want to install it yourself or hire a professional. When making this decision, here are a few things you’ll want to think about:

How Big Will It Be: The larger the graphic, the more difficult that it will be to install. If you’re planning to cover a full wall that is more than 5 feet wide, you’ll definitely want to consider hiring a professional to take on this large of a job.
How Much Time Do I Have? Crafting your own files can be tricky as you’ll have to ensure that it’s the proper resolution, size, and scale. Then if you choose to install it yourself, that will take even more time.
Do I Have What I Need? Make sure that you have all the tools you’ll need to properly install the wall mural (i.e. squeegee, blade, etc.) as well as design it using the proper computer programs.
Do I Need To Be Reassured? Unless you’re a professional installer, you know that it won’t come out perfectly when you do it yourself. Think about if you’re willing to sacrifice being reassured that it’ll get done right the first time by using a full-service printing pro.

3. DESIGN FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT

Look at your room and decide how many walls you’ll be covering. Are the rooms small, large, do they have proportional walls? Are you adding a complementing wall or are you re-doing the entire space? By answering these questions, you’ll be able to understand where to take the design. Here is a more in-depth look of this:

Dimensions of Wall: Before starting, you’ll need to determine the dimensions of the wall that you want it to be installed on. This will determine whether you should be looking for a landscape or portrait style image and help you decide on a graphic.
Image Quality: If you have the option, use a professional camera or photographer rather than stock photos. However, if stock photos are your only resource, then you’ll want to make sure to choose a high-resolution image that can be enlarged without any pixelation and maintain clarity.
Size of Room: If you add an image to your wall, it could actually make the room appear to be larger. If you’re looking to add a statement wall mural, reserve these for your bathroom or small office space.
Wall Colors: You’ll need to take a look at your current wall colors and decide on something that complements what you have already.

4. FINISH IT RIGHT

Professional printers like SpeedPro East Bay will have different laminates that give you the option to finish it with your desired look. These include, gloss, matte, satin, dry erase, and anti-graffiti.

If you choose a gloss laminate, be cautious of the placement of the wall mural which could catch unnecessary glare.

5. PERSONALIZE IT

We’ve mentioned that you want your personality to shine but here is where you can add on the extras. This can include using a textured material that really captures your style. Our material options include canvas, stucco finishes, suede materials, and more. You can adhere these to any surface and they help to give a little dimension to your wall and show your personal style.

WORKING WITH SPEEDPRO EAST BAY

Office and home wall murals will make a statement every time. Although designing your wall mural is completely in your hands and you can customize it any way you want, if you hit a road bump and need a little extra assistance, SpeedPro East bay is ready to help.

We can help from design to installation throughout the entire process and ensure that you’re creating the right design for your space. Give us a call at 510.974.7369 or contact us here.

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