Summit County Ambulance Service in Frisco, CO recently adopted a graphic design for their ambulances involving ultra-reflective materials.

“Because of our elevation, the county can be snow-covered for up to 6 months a year or more. Our previous design, which featured a light-colored logo and striping on a white ambulance body did not offer the visibility we need,” says Sean Caffrey, service director.

After researching highly conspicuous design strategies used in the UK, Europe and Australia, Summit County retained Grafix Shoppe, a Minnesota-based EMS graphics company, to make their idea a reality.

“For Summit County’s truck we used 3M’s DiamondGrade, which is technically not a vehicle-marking film but is obviously highly reflective,” said Dan Steger,
Grafix Shoppe sales manager. “Only part of the design can be made from DiamondGrade because it won’t conform to curves or corners, and is quite expensive relative to conventional reflective films. So we combined it with 3M ScotchLite and digital printing to produce a design that gives the County the reflectivity they want while retaining their logo and colors.”

“We couldn’t be happier with the result,” said Mr. Caffrey. “It’s given us the reflectivity we want and a very distinctive appearance. It’s getting a lot of attention!”

Grafix Shoppe produces contemporary vehicle graphics for law enforcement, EMS and fire. They can be reached at 888.683.9665 or www.grafixshoppe.com