Keeping Your Eyes on the Prize with One-Stop Digital Graphics

After more than 20 years in the graphics industry, Lauri and Ed Mackey faced their biggest challenge: developing an image for their own store. They focused on the visual nature of their work with a giant eyeball design, and Eyedentity Graphics was born.

Eyedentity Graphics opened four years ago in Camarillo, California, with Ed designing and a plotter to help them get the work done. “We could run all the cut vinyl you want, but for anything else, we had to outsource,” Lauri said. “It became an issue because our clients are savvy: they are looking for design, production and installation capabilities in one shop.”

To solve their need for in-house production capabilities, two years ago the Mackeys invested in a Roland SOLJET 54” inkjet printer/cutter. According to Ed, “We chose Roland because of its reputation, reliability, print and cut feature, and the company’s eco-solvent inks. Roland inks produce great color and are durable outdoors for over three years. They’re perfect for our business.”

Since acquiring a SOLJET, wholesale customers have become a larger part of Eyedentity’s clientele. While most of the company’s clients are located in Southern California, several larger accounts are on the east coast and in Canada. “Our clients really appreciate our ‘start to finish’ approach. We give them the attention they need to design concepts for their businesses that work.”

“We chose Roland because of its reputation, reliability, print and cut feature, and the company’s eco-solvent inks. Roland inks produce great color and are durable outdoors for over three years. They’re perfect for our business.”

Their own store exemplifies their work. The exterior windows are covered in a four-foot vinyl image of an eyeball, and the theme is continued on the shop’s interior wall murals and on store vehicles as well. Ed Mackey used Adobe Illustrator and PhotoShop to create the designs, and printed them on the SOLJET. After many hours of designing and applying the images, their office vehicles, storefront and wall murals all co-exist in perfect marketing harmony.

Eyedentity specializes in vehicle wraps, including cars, box trucks, commercial vans and boats. They also create banners and wall murals. “Eighty-five percent of our business is done on the Roland,” Lauri said. “We use VersaWorks as our RIP software. It’s easy to use and helps us gets the work out quickly.”

One of the company’s largest ongoing clients is the local mall. “The mall work has been a constant change of wall barricade graphics, storefronts and banners,” Ed said. “The most impressive are the wall murals which run anywhere from 12’-15’ high and vary in width. We’ve run murals for GAP, Forever 21, Nordstrom’s and the Food Court.”

“The possibilities in this market change all the time!” Lauri said. “As more and more businesses discover the cost effectiveness of vinyl on their vehicles, windows, walls, floors, even their tables in restaurants, we will see a rise in competition. Roland helps us keep an edge over our competitors because of the quality of work we can offer.”