This job can still surprise us every now and then even after all these years, especially when we are tasked with creating an inflatable spider tent!
A client we’ve worked with quite a few times over the years, the University of New England in New South Wales, was after the tent to use at university open days and other events meant to inform students of the resources available to them on campus and in the area. Not only is the institution persistent about finding new ways to positively engage with the student body, but their student services department had also recently gone through a rebrand and anxiously anticipated establishing the new association.
Each time we work with this client, it brings us back to our own university days when we were just starting out on our own, that was both the best and most terrifying time of our young adult lives. We could not wait to get started on this challenging inflatable spider tent!
Planning Out the Future
This unit was meant to be like an informational booth. Obviously, it’s an inflatable spider tent, but by ‘spidered,’ they implied an inflatable that could be thought of as 2 separate pieces on top of each other. The first piece would act as a four-footed frame that stretched out like a spider. The second, a tarp-like outer layer displaying the department’s new branding efforts, with detachable walls. The somewhat novel detail of this inflatable spider tent was the awning lip the client requested be on the front entrance, giving the structure the same look of an igloo or snow hut.
Here at Inflatable Anything, we quite enjoy taking on brand new ideas and unfamiliar tasks for our inflatable units. We couldn’t wait to create the structure, add in the lip, and recreate the support service’s logo and colours to the best of our ability, all in support of a fantastic cause!
A New Home Base
When creating this inflatable spider tent, we had to decide with the client which material would best serve their purposes out of our 2, top quality choices. Both polyester and polyvinyl chloride have quite similar qualities, but depending on what the bespoke and custom inflatable is to be used for, 1 polymer can rise to the top.
For this specific inflatable spider tent, the most important quality was PVC’s durability, needed in different ways for both the outer layer and the spidered frame. The first outer layer piece needed to be durable enough to block out sound, sun, and other outside congestion. The frame piece, on the other hand, required this material because it needed to be good, solid, and sturdy. The last thing the university needs is for the inflatable spider tent to entice students in with the promise of help adjusting to student life, just for the structure to collapse in on them.
A Whole New Design
Since this inflatable spider tent called for the use of such a hard material, there was only 1 way to transfer the new branding onto the structure. While the older method of screen printing does a great job quality-wise, especially when it comes to colour matching, only a digital printer can replicate an image on the polyvinyl chloride panels.
Digital printers use CMYK (or cyan, magenta, yellow, and key/black) ink to achieve different shades of colour, all laid down at the same time-also known as full colour. Though the colour matching system can come up with a lot of great hues, it actually doesn’t have the ability to get them quite as specific as the standardized Pantone matching system. Luckily, the branding colours were perfectly attainable using CMYK four-colour process anyway.
The Big Reveal
Approving the artwork took no time at all since the University of New England already had the more professional looking, brand new logo already drawn out and planned. The production, quality control protocols, and preparation for shipment from Melbourne to New South Wales went along smoothly, and before we knew it, the client was already getting back to us about the event turnout. The unveiling of the rebrand went over very well, and the university was very pleased with the solutions we came up with for the inflatable spider tent.
Helping fellow businesses and institutions provide services to the communities they serve is near and dear to our hearts; it’s what ultimately propels us to continue after nearly 2 decades of business. With all that experience under our belt, we’d love to see you try to throw us off of our game with your bespoke project. Call us today!
