Featured Project: Central Graphics’ Custom Office Installation

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio-based Central Graphics, a full-service sign and graphics shop founded in 1995, that specializes in large-format digital graphics, was hired recently by National Interstate Insurance in Richfield, Ohio, to help it redecorate its new offices.

When the insurance company decided it was time to renovate, it decided to have its new space have a welcoming, open design, according to Stow, Ohio-based Mactac, whose films were used for the project by Central Graphics.

National Interstate decided that one of the ways to bring this open-office concept to life would be to have offices that featured a combination of interior glass walls and windows. Still, it wanted its employees to have a sense of privacy, so it brought in Central Graphics to help with the design.

Central Graphics’ interior designer came up with a plan to create custom, color-specific wall and window graphics to apply to the glass walls. That would create a balance between and open feel and not having the walls to an office be 100 percent transparent. The designer came up with having four different gradients of color-one for each of the building’s floors. Because the glass walls were double-paned glass, the designer suggested applying the graphics only to the exterior glass pane, leaving the inside, office-facing pane to be used as a dry-erase board.

Central Graphics chose Mactac’s IMAGin B-free Frosted Window Film for the application. According to Mactac, the film is known for its ability to apply quickly and easily while eliminating any graphic wrinkling or bubbling. Central Graphics created the finished graphics using an HP Latex printer, followed by a plotter cutter. They applied a premask to mask the graphics for 24 hours, then installed them to the glass surfaces using a wet application technique.

“We always have better luck with graphic application when using Mactac’s B-free products,” says Dave Soulsby, president and CEO of Central Graphics. “With B-free Frosted, installation is extremely easy-whether installing via wet or dry application methods.”