Category: Blog

Featured Graphics: Encotech Vinyl Wall Mural

Posted on | by Madi

Encotech Engineering Consultants is a central Texas engineering firm with offices in Austin and San Antonio. This mural was created for their new office location in San Antonio. The mural was an in-house job designed and produced in Adobe Illustrator by Juan Arango, Encotech’s Director of Marketing and Business Development. The communication goal is to showcase Encotech’s core values while celebrating the rich and diverse culture of San Antonio through some of its iconic imagery.  

For the Encotech San Antonio office, we were tasked with matching a specific blue hue that the client had requested; Sherwin Williams – Adriatic Sea. The client had already painted a number of the walls in the office this color, and they were hoping for a near exact color match to keep all installed office graphics cohesive and within brand guidelines. They’ve had issues with color matching on previous office graphics installed, so getting it right the first time was key. Color matching was only possible by obtaining a swatch from the client of the paint color used on the wall. We then compared that swatch to our book of Pantone colors and found the closest three visual matches. Our production team then printed samples of the color options with the exact material and laminate specifications that the installed vinyl would have. The final color was selected from the sample, which ensures that the final color selection would still be the best match when viewed with the laminate and vinyl material we specifically chose.

Since the wall we installed the graphics on was already the correct shade of blue, you may be asking, why not just cut the design out of white vinyl and apply that way? We opted for full-coverage vinyl panels to ensure the intricate design the client had proposed looked as sharp as possible, maintaining its crisp angles and sharp lines that the design called for. The client felt more comfortable executing the design in this way as it saved time, money, and eliminated the need for the design to be intricately cut out by our iEcho machine. The client’s design was printed directly to our 3M 40C vinyl and sealed with a 3M matte laminate to protect the finished surface from scratches and damage. The project was installed in under 3 hours and was completed in time to meet a deadline the client had set.

Contact Encotech:
Website: encotechengineering.com
Instagram: @encotech_ec
Facebook: Encotech Engineering Consultants
LinkedIn: Encotech Engineering Consultants, Inc.

If you would like to get started on a project with our graphics team, reach out to Sydney Donelson at CSSR@MillerIDS.com.

Graphics Feature: Westlake High School Baseball

Posted on | by Madi

Westlake High School wanted to pump up their players by refreshing their baseball locker room and dugout (who isn’t inspired by beautiful surroundings!). We teamed up with a graphic designer who could accomplish their motivational and design goals, then handled the printing and installation of the project.

We printed their graphics on large format adhesive vinyl, similar to a peel and stick wallpaper. This allowed our installers to put the graphics up in panels with the fewest number of seams possible. We recommended the proper vinyl that would adhere to the textured walls, in this case cinderblock. This material is able to stretch slightly to be smoothed over any texture.

Vinyl panels work for both indoor and outdoor use and are very easy to maintain. Because the vinyl has a smooth surface and is laminated, it can be wiped down if it starts looking dirty or dull, which is great for outdoor areas or spaces that are exposed to the elements.

Vinyl wall graphics are one of our favorite ways to brand a space because they really pack a punch. The process is fairly simple once the designs are created, making it one of the easiest ways to make a big visual difference pretty quickly.

We would love to help with your next graphics project whether that be with large-scale adhesive vinyl or something else!

Quick personal notes: Ralph Yznaga was the designer for these graphics. Ralph has designed other projects inside the locker rooms of Westlake and has worked with Miller in various capacities for years. He designed our current website! Alongside that, he is the Editor and Co-Owner of Edible Magazine! Our thanks goes out to Coach JT Blair at WHS; we helped him with the initial “rebrand” of the locker room about seven years ago and he called on us again to help this go-around. Thanks Coach!

If you would like to get started on a project with our graphics team, reach out to Sydney Donelson at CSSR@MillerIDS.com.

Graphics Feature: San Antonio Spurs Lamp Post Flags

Posted on | by Madi

The San Antonio Spurs hosted “Spurs Week” in Austin earlier this month, featuring events around Austin to kick off their games played at the Moody Center. The games were coined as the “I-35 Series” and marked the first regular season NBA games ever to be played in Austin. To advertise the exciting events, we printed lamp post signage to be installed around town.

The signs were installed around the South Congress area, including on the South Congress bridge, along both sides of the shopping district on South Congress, and around the Long Center and Auditorium Shores.

Lamp post signage is basically a two sided banner with pole pockets sewn into the top and bottom. We are on the approved vendor list for the City of Austin and can help with your flagpole project, too. This same concept of pole pockets is also used for trade show backdrops – we want to help you on those projects as well!

If you would like to get started on a project with our graphics team, reach out to Sydney Donelson at CSSR@MillerIDS.com.

2023 PIA MidAmerica GraphEx Awards

Posted on | by Madi


Printing & Imaging of America (PIA) hosts the annual Graphic Excellence Awards (GraphEx Awards) which recognize our industry’s outstanding technical achievements in innovation and print production. This month we received advanced notice of 4 Best of Category Awards on entries our talented customers allowed us to enter.
  
The regional (MidAmerica) award event is in Dallas next month and we will learn if any of the entries won a regional Best of Show Award.

-Best of Category: art reproductions – digital for Katie Maratta Houses with Tumbleweeds and Haybales
-Best of Category: art reproductions – digital for Salvador Rodriguez Big Bend South View
-Best of Category: wide or grand format, special installation for Preacher Vinyl “Stained Glass”
-Best of Category: wide or grand format, interior/exterior scapes for Spurs Sports & Entertainment SXSW Event

Thank you to our amazing customers for trusting us with your projects and visions and to those who allowed us to enter their work into the GraphEx contest! We will update if any entries win further regional awards!

Congrats to all who won!

If you would like to get started on a project with our graphics team, reach out to Sydney Donelson at CSSR@MillerIDS.com.

March Artist of the Month: Becca Borrelli

Posted on | by Madi

Becca Borrelli is a nationally recognized illustrator, muralist, educator and speaker, based out of Austin, TX. Her digital drawings, original paintings, and intuitive art making courses are avenues to share a hopeful and playful representation of the world’s magical sides. Both her work and art classes invite viewers to reflect on the invisible and intuitive aspects of their lived spaces and experiences.

Borrelli has a B.A. in Art Education from Kent State University, and an M.A. from the University of Texas Austin. She has created art for clients such as Visa, Boston Beer, Dell Children’s Medical Center, University Hospital Rainbow Babies & Children Cleveland, Dell Medical School and The University of Texas. Her derivative retail/wholesale products are sold across Texas, where she is most known for her line of adult coloring books. She has worked with organizations such as the Austin Downtown Alliance, Dell Children’s Medical Center, and Mindful Classrooms to develop coloring books as education tools.

She teaches corporate art courses for Facebook teams nationally, in-person courses at Austin Contemporary Art School, as well as virtual on-demand art courses for her online artist community: The HeART School. Between 2018 and 2020, Becca co-founded Austin female based maker collective Lemon House: a local venue that hosted maker events, classes, art shows and community groups.

When Becca isn’t making art, she’s exploring Austin with her husband, son, and two super-pups Layla and Rose.

“I learned of Miller IDS a decade ago as the preeminent Austin printer for beautiful reproductions and large-scale scanning. In the early days as an independent artist, they scanned and printed ink doodles I made for fun. I would sell them on a patchworked blog to friends with cut and paste PayPal buttons. I was a scrappy young artist and I loved their gorgeous, reliable work. Even more, I loved chatting with Larry each time I visited. I was a small account, and yet everyone knew me by my first name and treated me like a friend.
 
Fast-forward to today, they are still supporting my work via a burgeoning wholesale business. I love working with Dana Burton in the Fine Art department. She always gives lightning-fast responses, helps work through problems, and each print job is beautiful. In 2020 I partnered with Dell Children’s Medical Center on a digital mural. When my initial production partner fell through, I reached out to Miller. Their graceful assistance mid-project on one of the largest artworks of my career was when I knew I was in love. This business has been around for a long time and it shows. I trust them implicitly and would emphatically urge anyone to work with them on all projects large or small. This is by far my favorite print shop in Austin!”

Contact Becca:
Website: beccajborrelli.com

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

January Artist of the Month: Brad & Mary Barminski Johnson

Posted on | by Madi

Barminski Johnson is a husband & wife collaborative team that has been working together on creative projects for the past 22 years.

Combining husband Brad Johnson’s background in Architecture and Interior Design with wife, Mary Barminski’s background in Fine Art and Graphic Design (with Dwain Kelley/Kelleygraphics since 1983) to find inventive design solutions that speak to the processes of collaboration and integration to elevate the creative results.

 

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

Graphics Feature: Urbanspace Sales Center

Posted on | by Madi

Since 2000, Urbanspace has served as Austin’s first and only full-service urban core living solutions company, providing real estate development, sales, and marketing expertise — amplified by our in-house interior design studio + modern furniture showroom — with an intense passion for living the urban lifestyle. We are an organization committed to Austin’s growth and development, with an emphasis on architectural design, sustainable development, urban communities and modern design products from around the globe.

Urbanspace put their stamp on the Austin skyline with The Modern Austin Residences, a 56 story condo tower entirely developed, marketed, and sold by Urbanspace. To create an immersive sales center experience for their buyers, they worked with us to take advantage of the vertical space on the walls and windows, with displays that included a panoramic aerial view from the tower, a map of the vibrant neighborhood surrounding The Modern, and a timeline of Urbanspace’s major milestones.

“The sales center turned out even better than we hoped, and a lot of the credit goes to the Miller IDS team. We were impressed by their professionalism and the quality of the work. They made the process of moving from conceptual designs to reality a breeze. We had a great experience working with Miller!” – Robbie Polk

For more information on Urbanspace: 
Main website: www.urbanspacelifestyle.com 
The Modern website:  www.modernaustinresidences.com 
Instagram (Real Estate): @urbanspacerealtors
Instagram (Interiors): @urbanspaceinteriors
Instagram (Design Studio): @urbanspacedesignstudio

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

December Artist of the Month: Mary Doerr

Posted on | by Madi

Austin artist Mary Doerr entered the world as Mary Hugh Colley on January 15, 1934, in Memphis, Texas. After her sister, Jane, entered the world, it became apparent to parents Hugh and Eva Colley that their Depression-era school teacher wages could not support the family, so the family moved to Austin in search of opportunity.

Mary’s father got a job with the state. Mary’s mother put her art degree to work as curator of UT’s Rare Book Collection, where she rebound and repaired old books and manuscripts.

The Colleys lived on East Avenue (now I-35), just south of 19th Street (now Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.). It was at John B. Winn Elementary (later the site of UT’s baseball stadium, Disch-Falk Field) that she was introduced to a major influence on her life: Girl Scouts. She loved scouting because it was the one place she could do things considered “too strenuous” for girls at the time.

At University Junior High, she discovered that physical education was her favorite subject. At Stephen F. Austin High School her love of sports led her to join the tennis team, and her love of Girl Scouts took her from camper to counselor at Camp Texlake on Lake Travis.

Throughout those years, her love for creating art grew to wanting to major in art in college. But with practical advice from her mother, Mary entered the University of Texas in 1952, studying to become a physical education teacher. That led to teaching middle school PE in Alvin, Texas, which led to marrying Danny Doerr, which led to the birth of a daughter, Robin, in 1962.

In 1966 Austin called again and the Doerr family answered. Now Mary’s love of Girl Scouts led to a career with the organization, including teaching adult leaders the outdoor skills they needed for teaching the girls.

With similar interests and children of the same age, Mary and Ginny Findeisen became friends and Girl Scout colleagues – a friendship that was to have a profound influence on Mary’s life. Mary credits Ginny with encouraging her to take the first step toward realizing her lifelong dream of becoming a professional artist. By then in her late 40s, Mary took that leap of faith and earned a masters in art at UT.

At her first art show, she received a commission for 10 watercolors. At her second show, at the Old Pecan Street Arts Festival, she realized the success of her Austin scenes meant her dream really could become a reality. Then with proceeds from publishing prints of her paintings, she started her own business – Mary Doerr Studio – in 1985, with Ginny as her business partner. Ten years later she was able to open her own gallery, Images of Austin and the Southwest, on Burnet Road.

Through the following decades, Mary became one of Austin’s most prolific and popular artists, earning her the title of “The Lady Who Paints Austin.”

In 2005, however, failing eyesight meant she could no longer paint. Daughter Robin – who got her own art degree, from UT-El Paso – took over the gallery and frame shop in 2006, letting Mary and Ginny retire to a ranch and enjoy life outdoors in Lampasas County.

Now back in Austin again, publishing “Watercolor Memories of Austin: The Art of Mary Doerr” lets her add “author” to her list of accomplishments – and share her love of her colorful hometown with even more people through her colorful art.

Contact Robin, Mary’s daughter:

Instagram: @Robin.Doerr

Website: marydoerr.com

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

November Artist of the Month: Travis Ballantyne

Posted on | by Madi

“I was sitting in my 5th grade art class. Our teacher challenged us to submit a design for the cover of the school’s yearbook–and I won! That was the moment I knew I was an artist.”

Growing up in a military family, Travis has been able to travel the world and experience the beauty of many different cultures.

He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Art and Design at Texas State University – San Marcos. Upon completing his degree, Travis found his passion for teaching and earned an all-level certification in art education and is currently teaching middle school art in Leander ISD.

“I like to describe my art as abstract with an emphasis on color relationships—balancing cool and warm, light and dark. Most of my work is experimental with no true desired outcome.”

“Miller IDS has been so helpful getting my professional art career off and running. The staff is very informative and knowledgeable in their craft. The quality of their products and services are top notch.” 

Contact Travis:
Website: travisballantyne.com
Instagram: @travisballantyne

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

Graphics Feature: Aquila Commercial Alto Jobsite Signage

Posted on | by Madi

We are getting a new neighbor at our downtown location! Aquila Commercial is building a 110,000-sf office development called Alto at 924 East 7th Street, which will plenty of office space as well as luxurious amenities and scenic views of East Austin, Downtown, and the State Capitol.

Our graphics account manager, Josh Meza, worked with Alta to produce construction banners for their jobsite. Our mesh banners are perfect for construction sites because they are durable and the mesh allows wind to flow through without damaging the banner or jobsite itself, as traditional vinyl banners can act like sails and rip fencing down when caught in strong winds. The mesh banners also reduce the loud flapping noise that the wind can cause in other vinyl banners. We sometimes see signage at jobsites that have slits cut into them to prevent wind damage, but with mesh banners there is no need to do this!

If you would like more information on the Alta office space, visit Aquila Commercial’s website and follow them on Instagram at @aquilaaustin.

If you would like to order any jobsite signage or get started on any other graphics order, contact Sydney at CSSR@MillerIDS.com.