August 2022 Featured Graphics: SMPS Axe Throwing Tournament Signage

SMPS Austin asked us to print event signage for their Second Annual Axe Throwing Tournament. Some of the signage we did were vinyl banners, retractable banners, a step and repeat photo backdrop, floor graphics, decals, and table tents.

Signage is a great way to brand an event whether it be a corporate event or personal. Through the signage, SMPS was able to display sponsors across the entire venue. They also had us print removeable vinyl decals to go on the fridge, which featured the beer and wine sponsors for the event.

All the signage we printed and installed was temporary, meaning the clean up was easy and there was no damage done to the event space. Floor vinyl and decals are some of our most popular event signage because they pack a punch while still being easy to remove.

Our team of four employees also had a blast participating this year! Thank you SMPS for putting on such a fun networking event!


If you would like more information on event signage or anything else graphics related, please reach out to Sydney, at CSSR@MillerIDS.com

July 2022 Featured Graphics: Algorand Event Branding

Algorand hosted a ping pong tournament at Smash ATX to kick off the Consensus conference. They wanted attendees to have the opportunity to compete for special NFTs that were designed specifically for this event. 

The goal of this project was to integrate Algorand’s brand identity seamlessly into the existing venue, as though the design was naturally part of the venue’s architecture.
 
Trott Studio, who planned the event, reached out to us to help make this goal happen. We printed many different cut vinyl pices to be applied to different surfaces including an oversized die cut graphic to apply to the outside of the venue, branding it with Algorand’s name. We also applied green vinyl strips with their name along the edges of the bar, and a large white vinyl logo to be applied over a tile wall in the venue.

Thank you to Algorand and Trott Studios for coming to us for this project and allowing us to be a small part of it!

Algorand’s Website: www.algorand.com 
Algorand’s Instagram: @algorand
Trott Studio’s (Event Creative Direction) Instagram: @trott.studios

To get started on your own graphics project, contact Sydney at CSSR@MillerIDS.com.

July 2022 Artist of the Month: Shannon Fannin

Born 1969 in California, artist Shannon “Shan” Fannin brings vehicles to life with a combination of photorealism and abstraction. Painting in a unique style using acrylics, hands, and brushes allows her to focus on the vehicle while giving a hint of the abstract surroundings.  Fannin travels within the United States and internationally to photograph vehicles and talk with their owners to enhance her creative process.  

Fannin has had 3 solo exhibitions in Colorado, Florida, and Texas. She has shown in national galleries and museums throughout the United States including exhibitions through the National Oil & Acrylic Painters Society, International Guild of Realism, American Artists Professional League, and American Women Artists. In January 2022 she won First Place in the inaugural Bill Neale Automotive Fine Arts competition. In March 2021 she received Best of Show with the International Guild of Realism, and she became a finalist for the Art Renewal Center exhibition, which included more than 5000 entries from over 80 countries. In 2020 Shan was awarded Best Composition in the National Oil & Acrylic Painters Society Best of America. She has been published in Korean, Greek, British, Italian, Spanish, and American publications/blogs including Motortrend Korea, American Art Collector, and Fine Art Connoisseur Blog, Cars Yeah!, and Where Women Create. Fannin’s artworks are currently available through galleries in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. 

“I have been working with Dana for about 5 years. To me, she is a digital magician with crazy skills. My paintings are usually quite large (up to 6′ long) and I use a lot of colors to make my photorealistic vehicles believable. Dana tirelessly matches the colors I’ve used to reproduce high quality giclee prints. Thanks to Dana’s hard work, I can offer fine art prints that my collectors can appreciate and enjoy. Dana is a gem, and I appreciate her dedication and professionalism. I’m so thankful that I work with her, Luci, and the whole Miller Imaging & Digital Solutions team.”

Contact Shannon: 
Instagram: @shanfannin
Facebook: Art by Shan Fannin
Website: shanfannin.com

See more of Shannon’s art on our website.

Contact our fine art specialist, Dana Burton, for more information on fine art scans and reproduction.

June 2022 Featured Artist: Jamie McCormick

Jamie Billman McCormick, the artist behind JBM Studio, is an avid people watcher and recreationalist based in beautiful Austin, TX. Jamie’s modern landscapes reflect life outside and often feature beloved local watering holes. She is passionate about preserving public lands and aims to make art that brings joy and connection through shared experiences. Jamie works primarily in acrylic, gouache, mixed media, and plant-based dyes.

“I’ve worked with Dana and Miller IDS for a number of years. She is always responsive and patient, no many how many times I have to ask her to adjust colors or send and re-send files. Dana is committed to capturing and reproducing a high quality images and I am grateful for her expertise.”

Contact Jamie: 
Instagram: @jbm.studio
Website: jbm.studio

Contact our fine art specialist, Dana Burton, for more information on fine art scans and reproduction.

September 2021 Featured Graphics: Texas Tiny Pools

Texas Tiny Pools hosted their second annual tiny pool tour last weekend. Texas Tiny Pools was founded by our good friend Amy Hageman and her husband Tyler. They recognized the need for a pool in this crazy hot city we live in, and while not everyone needs or has space for a large pool, Amy and Tyler found a way to build a pool in the smallest of yards, so you can still take a dip to cool down.

Amy and Erin Rapp, Tiny Pools’ Chief of Communications + Research, came to us to help print their collateral for the event, and she came with plenty of ideas! Here’s a run through of what we produced:

We printed multi-page brochures with a staple binding that acted as a guide to the event as well as a tour passport. At each location they stamped the brochure, and at the end of the tour, if you went to every pool, you got a prize! The brochure featured details on the pools including building materials, add-on features, and a rough cost of the pool.

We also printed h-stake yard signs to point visitors in the right direction in the neighborhoods, as well as yard signs that detailed the specificities of each pool on-site.

Amy wanted a large frame for a Tiny Pool photo-op, which we printed on coroplast, and cut on our iEcho router. Lastly, we printed design boards on coroplast so that clients choices could be shown together.

The event was a great success and we were glad to be a part of it! We love Amy and her company and their ability to create dream pools in a size anyone can manage!

Texas Tiny Pools’ Website
Texas Tiny Pools’ Instagram: @texastinypools

For more information on graphics printing, please contact Sydney at CSSR@MillerIDS.com

July 2021 Artist of the Month: Ally Aiken

Ally Aiken is a watercolor artist & graphic designer. She went to the University of Texas and graduated in 2018 – she loved Austin so much that she decided to stay! Ally likes to paint & design all sorts of things but her most recent endeavor has revolved around golf.

 

One of Ally’s favorite paintings is the one that started it all! Her first golf course painting was the Royal Wellington Golf Club in New Zealand, which she painted for her boyfriend, Campbell, making it very special to her. Campbell lived in New Zealand for six months to work as a golf pro at the club. She said he is fond of his time in Wellington and wanted a way to commemorate it. He asked Ally if she could paint something related to the course that he could frame in his room, which started her whole business. Ally said she was overwhelmed with support when she posted a picture of the course she made for her boyfriend, and things really took off from there.

 

Another special course she has painted is of Ojai, California. Ally said she was at the post office during Christmas time, packaging prints to send to people as gifts, when a man saw her work and ordered a custom piece as an anniversary gift for his wife on the spot. There is a small oak tree painting on the course, symbolizing the spot they got married.

“I paint custom course maps of golf courses all over the world and make them into digital art prints, which is where Miller IDS has been a lifesaver! Working with Dana & the rest of the team at Miller has made my life stress free when it comes to getting beautiful prints of my work. I am so thankful for the work they do and am excited to continue to work together.”

Ally’s Etsy Shop: Ally Aiken Design
Ally’s Instagram: @allyaikendesign

 

Contact our fine art specialist, Dana Burton, for more information on fine art scans and reproduction.

April 2021 Featured Graphics

Indoor Decorative Adhesives

Featured Graphics: Plank Seafood Provisions

Plank Seafood Provisions (Flagship Restaurant Group) just came to Austin and is located in The Domain. FRG reached out to us after our first successful restaurant project with them, Anthem. Ryan, our graphics account manager, worked closely with FRG to bring their vision to life with another successful launch of their newest project, Plank.

We created a variety of interior and exterior decals for them including window adhesives, wall wraps, a ceiling mural, and heat-applied vinyl covers for their entryway floor tiles.

For the interior windows, we printed a chicken wire pattern onto a clear vinyl adhesive to give the illusion of chicken wire embedded in the glass, adding visual interest.

Ryan came up with a solution for a graphic detail in the entryway tile that is low commitment but still eye catching. Plank wanted to feature a design in their entryway but didn’t want to commit to a permanent tile design. Ryan printed small vinyl circles the size of the individual penny tiles, outlined the design of an anchor, and attached the vinyl covers over each individual tile, creating the anchor. The vinyl covers were heat-applied to the flooring to create a smooth, strong, and long-lasting bond. 

We also printed and installed a custom fish mural, which Haylie also designed, on their outdoor patio, and large-scale removeable adhesives, one for a wall and one for the ceiling. The constellation ceiling mural was custom designed by Haylie Rousek with FRG and features the typical astrological constellations, accented with personalized designs. Haylie added in the shape of Texas, an anchor, a ship, a fish, and a whale, adding to the nautical theme of the restaurant. Haylie also designed a large ocean mural for one of their walls, that shows crashing white waves.

For more information on decorative adhesives please contact Ryan, at Ryan.Bruce@MillerIDS.com 

To learn more about our different adhesive options and which is best for your project, click here!

March 2021 Newsletter

Custom Promotional Merchandise 

Nutrabolt (C4) Promotional Challenge Coins

We can now print promotional items such as pens, coffee mugs, face masks, and more!

We are always looking for unique jobs we have done to share with our customers, and this is definitely one of those. This really unique opportunity presented itself when sports nutrition company, Nutrabolt (C4), reached out to us to produce challenge coins to grow their military presence. 

Traditionally, a challenge coin is a small coin or specially cut medallion, with an organization’s insignia or emblem pressed or embossed into it. The challenge coin is carried by the organization’s members, or put on display. They can also be collected by service members and law enforcement personnel. Historically, challenge coins were presented by unit commanders in recognition of special achievement by a member of the unit. 

Nutrabolt wanted a way to create brand awareness and brand recognition on military bases, and decided to lean into military traditions in order to do so in a special and memorable way.

Nutrabolt is getting ready to roll out their C4 yellow cans in the military through their beverage distributors. The idea of creating a challenge coin came from one of their distributors who covers several military bases. They plan to present the coins to distributor sales teams covering the bases, as well as store management on-base. The challenge coins will be used for displays, incremental placements, and as a tool for brand recognition that falls in-line with military customs.

We love getting to work on special projects like this one, and really appreciate when customers come to us with creative ideas we get to help bring to reality!

For more information on promotional items please contact Ryan, at Ryan.Bruce@MillerIDS.com 

 

Wheat Paste Photography Printing 

Featured Artist: Sarah Wilson

*photos courtesy of Sarah Wilson*

Sarah Wilson is an Austin-raised photographer and cinematographer. Her passion for photography and storytelling was born here, at Austin High. Sarah pursued a classical photography education at NYU’s Tisch School and remained in New York City throughout her twenties. She started as an intern and assistant for some of her photography heroes, including Mary Ellen Mark, Ken Schles, Robert Clark, and James Evans before creating her own body of work.

Since 2000, Sarah has worked professionally, balancing personal projects, documentary films and editorial assignments. She has worked for The New York Times Magazine, Time, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, Texas Monthly, and others. Her work has been acquired by the Harry Ransom Center and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Sarah is also teaching Expressive Photography at ACC’s Department of Professional Photography, encouraging students to pursue personal projects, alongside their commercial work.

As a documentary filmmaker Sarah has served as Director of Photography and Producer, working alongside her husband, Director Keith Maitland, on the films, TOWER, an animated retelling of the 1966 UT Tower shooting, and A SONG FOR YOU: The Austin City Limits Story. Both films premiered at SXSW in 2016. TOWER received three SXSW awards, a Critics Choice Award, and the Emmy for Best Historical Documentary. Their newest documentary, DEAR MR. BRODY, was set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival—but both were cancelled due to COVID-19. Sarah said, “We are excited that the film was featured at the SXSW virtual film festival last week.”

“I like to photograph people- I love telling stories…but I also like to be in the lonely West Texas desert, photographing in the stark landscape.”

Essentials Q&A

What pulled you to honor and highlight these women essential workers?

As the pandemic set in and our community was asked to shelter in place, I quarantined with my immediate family. As a photographer, my work was not deemed essential, but something about the word ‘essential’ really spoke to me. I became especially grateful for the workers that were keeping our community safe and moving forward. I started to think about the women workers, many of whom were juggling responsibilities at home, while facing this public health crisis due to their ‘essential’ work.  Inspired by these women, I felt an overwhelming need to recognize their courage, so I started taking portraits of essential women workers in Austin, on location, outside, at their workplaceAs the body of work started to expand, I decided to submit the work to the City of Austin Museums and Cultural Programs grant, called ArtsResponders: Social Practice Responds to COVID-19. I was excited that the project was selected, but that was just the beginning.

How did you find these specific women to photograph?

In partnership with the Dougherty Arts Center and ArtsResponders, we put out a call for entries for people in the Austin area to nominate the essential women workers in their lives.  We chose 15 honorees to photograph out of over 100 nominations, and instead of having an indoor gallery show, we decided to present the work as large-scale wheat-pasted portraits on the sides of participating buildings throughout Austin.

Any plans to do another project in this same style?

I think I caught the wheat paste bug! Now I feel like everything has to be big and public!

How did you decide on wheat paste?

With the ArtsResponders grant, I needed to keep my budget low, while at the same time creating a public art exhibition. Weatherproof photographic materials can be very expensive to print, and just as expensive to install. While brainstorming presentation solutions with Annie, my rep at the Dougherty Arts Center, we came up with the idea of wheat-pasted portraits. I was definitely inspired by the artist JR, and his large-scale wheat paste installations. I decided we needed some large-scale portraits of women workers here in Austin!

What has the feedback been like on the photographs?

We’ve had a very positive response to the work, through the local news media, on Instagram, and word of mouth. Yesterday on Instagram, I saw that a nurse had taken a photo of herself next to the large-scale portrait of an ICU nurse. In the comments, she said that seeing these 19ft tall portraits made her feel that her hard work on the frontline was also being recognized. This is what I intended- that each of these portraits would come to represent the thousands of women in our community who have worked so hard to keep our community safe and moving forward. This project is a big thank you!

How did you choose Miller to print the photos?

I chose Miller because I’ve been a customer on and off over the years, and the location was very convenient for me. I did some research and found out that Miller could print 36” x 48” on a lighter weight paper, which works well for wheat paste. After the first round of test prints, I learned that Miller has very quick turnaround times, and has a super-friendly staff. It’s a treat when Larry brings my order out to the parking lot…what a nice guy! 

Anything else you want to add?

Another exciting aspect of the project is the Instagram site, @essentialsatx. We not only feature photos of the large-scale portrait installations, but we also post the images and stories of all the nominees even those that weren’t selected. It’s starting to become a great online community and a way to honor these awesome women.

Essentials Instagram: @essentialsatx
Sarah’s Instagram: @swilsonfoto
Sarah’s Website: Sarah Wilson Photography
Sarah and Keith’s Film Production Company: Go-Valley

January 2021 Newsletter

Custom Adhesive Outdoor Mural 

Featured Graphics: Metric Mural Final Reveal

Like many other businesses, we are conducting business through curbside service and delivery. We wanted to bring advertising outside where our customers are — plus show off our graphics printing and installation capabilities.

We decided to update the exterior of our Metric store location with a custom mural printed in-house on our HP 1500 latex printer. We used Drytac anti-graffiti lamination to make our mural durable and easy to clean. To prep the wall and give our mural the best chance at adhering long-term, we first had to power wash it. We opted for a fresh coat of paint so that the colors would pop. The final prep was to let the paint “gas out” for 2 weeks. 

We wanted to thank the sponsors of our mural for their support in our Metric makeover. Thank you to Alonzo Suarez of ASM Painting for power washing our wall to get it prepped for the entire process, Clements Paint for supplying our new coat of paint, Tom Page for installation services, and our very own Vittoria Mottler for the incredible design!

The majority of the mural was all hand cut by our graphics production team, and the music note details and logo were cut by our iEcho router. Considering the face of our building endures some pretty heavy sun exposure, we don’t anticipate seeing any quality changes for the first 6 months. After 6 months, we may start to see some minor fading, but the mural itself, under normal weathering circumstances, will remain intact. The adhesive on the vinyl melts into the textured surface of the concrete, so there shouldn’t be any lifting happening (under normal weathering circumstances) for at least a couple years.

As far as the design goes, we wanted to include the ever-growing Austin skyline with the silhouettes of recognizable buildings across the entire background of the mural. We featured a lot of iconic Austin imagery, because Miller is an iconic staple in the Austin print community. The graphic elements are all representative of Austin and Texas as a whole, which we think all Austinites and Texans can appreciate. The blue color scheme comes from our logo, and a pop of new color represents another aspect of Miller growing and expanding, especially in the Graphics Department.

We featured 6th Street, not only because it is famous in Austin, but also as a nod to our long-standing time on 6th Street before relocating to East 7th. We included the quintessential phrase, “Keep Austin Weird” accompanied by a dancing taco, because us Austinites love our tacos. We paid tribute to our home of 100 years with “512 Home” written down the door, and “We Love Austin” further down the wall paired with a horseshoe — because all Texans ride horses. Being in the Live Music Capital of the World, we had to include some music notes dancing across the skyline. We hope that those who drive by our building find some joy from our mural and may be inspired to change up their space with our help.

We had so much fun coming up with all the design aspects, prepping the space as a team, and sharing it with our community! If you want to add a fun graphic element to your building, space, office, even home, reach out to our graphics team; they would love to help!

To change up your space for the new year, contact Vittoria at Vittoria.Mottler@MillerIDS.com  

Fine Art Scans & Printing

Featured Artist: Anna Lisa Leal

Anna Lisa was born in Laredo on the border of Texas and Mexico. There, her father planted many fruit trees including tangerine, orange, lime, peach and fig. She spent many days playing under and in the tangerine trees in her backyard. She spent hours drawing in the shade of the trees where her mother set her up with a large pad on a bench and Anna Lisa on a small chair. Anna Lisa says she’s been a creative as long as she can remember — whether it was drawing, dancing or creating in other ways. She continued to draw through her high school and college years, recreating images from magazines and doing portraits on request. Anna Lisa left Laredo at the age of 16 and moved to central Texas where she attended college at Texas State University in San Marcos.

Over time, her love of visual art was set aside for more “practical” studies and ultimately a corporate career. In 2008, as part of her personal renewal, she returned to the garden to draw. Anna Lisa said, “Although I lost my sense of time while I drew, I found myself and inner harmony through art. I felt like a child again. I was experiencing the world with new eyes”, and she hasn’t stopped creating since.

She loves to work with pastels because “the colors are unparalleled – pigments at their purest!” She also calls pastels her adult crayons and has explored the medium voraciously from the moment she picked them up. Upon moving to her current property, she spent the first few years creating art through landscaping. When there was no more room for real gardens, her gardens and its inhabitants began to extend into her artwork. 

Anna Lisa’s artwork embodies the patterns of nature, particularly botanicals. She is driven to create paintings which reflect nature’s captivating beauty, and it is her artistic mission to transport nature’s beautiful design to indoor living spaces. As a lifetime Texan, the various floral and animal inhabitants of the Southwest, specifically Big Bend, New Mexico and Arizona are frequent subjects of her work, as well as the Sonoran and Chihuahua deserts. 

“My heart is with the agave. I am moved by the stateliness of the agave and the seemingly endless variations in size, colors and shapes. I enjoy the colorful and dangerous beauty of cactus, the undulation of the agave leaf imprinted by the now unfurled leaf, and the poignant swan song beauty of the agave flower. But, I am also enamored with tropical flowers particularly those in Hawaii and Costa Rica.”

See more of Anna Lisa’s art on her website.

 

 

Featured Graphics: Bright Spot in the Pandemic! “Heroes’ Exit” Mural at Dell Children’s Hospital

Dell Children’s Medical Center has a new addition – a Heroes’ Exit! Ready for a great story? You may have heard of Owen Coulter, a 5 year old boy who went to Dell Children’s Medical in December of 2019 and had a miraculous journey that included a life-saving experience by staff upon his arrival. Owen’s father is a firefighter in Austin. As Owen left the hospital after a 56 day stay, there was a “superhero” departure celebration with dozens of firefighters, police officers, 18 fire trucks, balloons, t-shirts, and even a few costumed super-heroes. The experience was wonderful for everyone there, but especially the hero being celebrated, Owen.

Days later a Dell Medical Children’s Medical Center Foundation board member dropped by the office of Susan Hewlitt (executive director of the foundation). The board member, Marcella Maxwell (who also works at Dell Children’s) said that she couldn’t stop thinking about the wonderful exit Owen had. “How can we have every child feel like a hero when they leave?” she thought out loud. They quickly began brainstorming and walking the hospital for ideas.

At the entryway of the hospital is the HEB Auditorium, which happens to be a perfect passageway and private exit for the kids. Susan immediately went to this spot and an idea came to her for a “hero’s exit” – what if they had a mural here and kids could take pictures as they were released to go home? The idea was positively received by the foundation board, and Susan could not have been more pleased with their unanimous agreement to support the project. The next question was who the artist would be – Susan knew that Becca Borrelli would be perfect!

Becca had designed a coloring book for the kids at Dell Children’s. Becca is an illustrator and has a background in teaching. For Becca this was the perfect project- it combined her love of children with her passion for design. Becca began to weave a compilation of happy imagery from areas in the hospital, making the final memories in the hospital a way to remember Dell Children’s in a positive way.

The final product is a brightly colored mural printed on DreamScape wallpaper. Images include a StarFlight helicopter, the stone water wall from the courtyard, a replication of the donor butterfly wall, and spotlights on art found in the hospital such as the art by Graciela Boulanger gracing the bridge in the lobby as well as the blue dog featured in a George Rodrigue piece found in the hospital.

Becca contacted Miller after having printed with us before. The experience was pleasant for Becca and it was easy to communicate with Destenie (Customer Sales and Service Rep) from the beginning. Becca had been contracted to paint the mural on the wall, but had worked with DreamScape in another hospital setting and knew that it holds up to cleaning and is long-lasting. “DreamScape was the perfect solution we didn’t know we needed, especially with how clean we have to keep it,” said Susan Hewitt.

As the final joyful touch to this fulfilling project, note that it was accomplished during COVID! Installing the piece during this difficult time made it an even happier win!