In what might be our cutest project ever, we had the amazing opportunity to create custom vinyl graphics for a few Cranial Helmets recently.
This was the first time our team had received a request for using vinyl graphics on cranial bands, and we actually got two requests from two different customers on the same day.
What is a Cranial Helmet?
According to Google, babies can sometimes require a helmet or the use of a cranial orthosis therapy as a treatment process for infants that need assistance with forming the skull shape. These hard plastic helmets work by helping to direct growth from the flat spot and must be worn during the early stages after birth when the baby’s skull and brain are actively growing.
Evil Knievel
The first time we were asked about cranial helmets, it was a referral from our customer Mike Weiland with Miner Corporation – we’ve done a few vehicles for them.
Mike is Dale Homer’s boss and shared our contact information to see if we could do a “smaller” vinyl project. Dale’s son Jaxson had a cranial band that he had to wear for 6-9 weeks and he wanted to make sure the band expressed his son’s inner toughness. So he asked if we could create vinyl lettering like Evel Knievels helmet with his son’s name across the back in Chrome letters.
Since this was the first time that we had been asked about this, we used a reference photo of something similar and a photo of Jaxson wearing the helmet for positioning. Dale was really specific about what he had in mind for Jaxson’s band. He wanted a blue and red stripe and his name to be mirror chrome with a black outline.
Flower Power
The second request for a cranial helmet came in via a generic web request from a mom with a little girl that needed a cranial band, and she wanted to make it special. Leighann, the mother, wasn’t as specific about the design she just requested a “girl-themed” design. So our graphic designer Josh provided her with about 8 different versions to choose from. The majority of the options were pink or purple with flowers, butterflies and all things girly.
Creating the Graphics
Since we had never done a project like this before, we went online and pulled a template from Etsy. Josh then did the design for both customers using different design and techniques for both applications because the request for the one for Jaxson was very specific.
He chose to create the graphics using print cut vinyl pieces as opposed to a full wrap. Josh chose this route because it would ensure the correct alignment of the stripes as they carried over the top of the helmet. On the vinyl wrap for Leighann, we did a full wrap as a complete image.
The next challenge was to install or apply the graphics on the bands. The process wasn’t too difficult after we figured out the proper materials.
For these wraps, we had to use a vinyl that was created specifically for plastics (also known as a Low Energy Surface). For this type of vinyl material, we actually found that it required a bit more heat than the traditional vehicle wrap vinyl. So this was a learning process for our team throughout the project.
The Other Lesson
Vinyl graphics really can be used for so many different things. Our team was even a bit surprised by these requests because we hadn’t really seen graphics used on these types of devices before. However, the application of these graphics is the same. We customize the look of the vinyl material to complement the “personality” of the owner. If you can dream it up- we can figure out the best vinyl material and method to complete your vision.
