Featured Project: Vehicle Wrap Serves as a Mobile Urban Mural

This featured project is from Hanover Park, Illinois-based ER2 Image Group, a full-service grand-format printing and vehicle wraps company. ER2 recently created a wrap for the Chicago-based Green Star Movement, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring students and community members through the creation of public art.

Green Star was born out of an idea in 2005 from arts instructor Kamelia Hristeva. She recognized that students in underserved areas were eager for meaningful opportunities to be creative, but the school buildings themselves and the neighborhoods they were in were often uninspiring, unattractive and neglected. The purpose of the Green Star Movement was to transform these students and their committees, serving the dual purpose of inspiring the kids while beautifying neighborhoods.

Since its founding, some 10,000 students have been involved in creating public art in nearly 150 public locations. Hristeva decided that having some of the organization’s work on the nonprofit’s vehicle-a non-descript white van-would be a great way to showcase their work.

She and her staff poked around online but didn’t find any work that really connected with them, until they saw a van while driving around that they discovered was wrapped by ER2 Image Group.

“One look at ER2’s portfolio on their website convinced us we could work with them,” Hristeva says.

Since the nonprofit wanted to use actual artwork from murals in various parts of the city, ER2 designer Dan Gray collaborated with the original artists to pull the artwork into a layout that would work best as a vinyl wrap.

“This was a fun project to work on,” says Gray. “I looked at Green Star’s murals and was immediately impressed with the quality and scope of artwork-but what really stood out was the level of detail that went into each piece. When I spoke to Kamelia about the design, I suggested showing portions of several images up close and large on the sides of the van rather than showcase one complete image.

After approval, the graphics were printed on an HP Scitex LX850 on 3M Control Pak high performance 180-10 gloss laminate film to protect and extend the life of the graphics.

“While we do a lot of vehicle wraps, it was very gratifying to work with a non-profit company who uses art to beautify, communicate and inspire, which is a lot like what we do,” says Laura Petersen, ER2 account executive.