Walk through a store, a lobby or an expo hall and count the branded surfaces. Walls, windows, counters, banners overhead. Then look down. The floor is the one surface almost everybody is looking at and almost nobody has used.

That is the whole argument for floor graphics and decals: they put a message where people are already looking, in a place a competitor has not bought. The catch is that a floor is a harder surface to print for than a wall. It gets walked on, mopped, rained on and scuffed, and the thing underneath — sealed concrete, tile, carpet, a downtown sidewalk — changes what can go on top of it.

The four jobs a floor graphic is actually doing

Floor graphics get bought for one of four reasons, and the reason changes the design more than the budget does.

Point of purchase. A graphic on the floor in front of an end cap reaches a shopper in the second before they decide. Floor graphics sit with menu boards, window graphics, banners and posters in the point-of-purchase set for exactly that reason — see retail graphics and store decor.

Direction. A floor decal pointing to the bar, the restrooms, a department or a check-in desk does the work of a sign without hanging anything. In a hospital or a university that is part of the wider wayfinding and directional system, sitting alongside architectural signage and kiosks rather than replacing them. Our guide to wayfinding signage in Tennessee covers how the pieces fit together.

Sponsorship. At an event, floor space is inventory. A sponsor logo underfoot at an entrance, in a concourse or around a stage is a placement you can sell without competing with the view. It belongs in the same set as step and repeats, hanging signs and stadium signage.

Brand environment. In an office or a showroom the floor is part of the room. A logo set into the floor of a reception area, or a graphic that continues a wall graphic down onto the ground, is environmental work rather than advertising.

Indoor floor graphics and sidewalk graphics are two different products

This is the distinction most quote requests miss. A sidewalk graphic is a type of floor decal made specifically for exterior spaces — a different build from the one that goes on a retail floor inside, because it has to live with rain, sun, grit and a surface that was never finished smooth.

Outside, the graphic is doing something an indoor one is not: catching people who are walking past with their eyes down. A sidewalk graphic also helps keep people from slipping on the pavement, which is a useful second argument when someone asks why you would put a print on a sidewalk at all.

Downtown Nashville is where that case makes itself. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum runs sidewalk graphics across the blocks around the building and rotates them as exhibits change — the Alan Jackson, Keith Urban and Eric Church exhibit graphics all ran that way, along with a Hatch Show Print and a Ryman Auditorium graphic. All of those are Big Visual Group work, and all of them are sitting on pavement that gets heavy foot traffic every day of the week. The sidewalk graphics post has the photographs.

The surface decides more than the artwork does

Before anything else, know what the graphic is going onto. Four surfaces cover most Nashville jobs, and each one sets a different expectation.

• Sealed concrete and polished floors. The most forgiving indoor surface. Smooth, continuous, and easy to clean before application.
• Tile. Grout lines are the issue. A graphic bridging a grout line will show the line through it and the edge of the vinyl will sit over a gap, which is where a corner starts to lift. Sizing the graphic to the tile field, rather than dropping it wherever the plan says, solves most of it.
• Carpet. Needs a product made for carpet. Standard floor vinyl does not hold on a looped or textured pile.
• Exterior pavement. Sidewalk and plaza surfaces are rough, porous and often patched. That is the sidewalk graphic build, not the indoor one.

Two more things change the specification: how long it has to stay, and what cleans it. A three-week promotion and a two-year lobby installation are different products on the same floor, and a floor that gets scrubbed nightly is harder on a graphic than one that gets vacuumed.

Shape is a design decision, not a constraint

A floor graphic does not have to be a rectangle, and the good ones usually are not. Big Visual Group cuts shapes and sizes to the job, which is what makes footprints, arrows, circles around a product display and die-cut logos possible.

Two design rules matter more on the floor than anywhere else. First, read it from standing height — a person looking at the floor is six feet away and moving, so the message has to land in about one second. Second, orient it. A graphic has a right way up for the direction people walk, and in a two-way aisle you either pick the dominant direction or design something that reads both ways.

Getting the file right

Floor graphics are printed from the same file standards as everything else the shop produces, and the file submission guidelines are published openly. Printed vinyl takes one inch of bleed on all sides; rigid and small format take a quarter inch. Files are set up at final size at one of four scales — 100, 50, 25 or 10 percent — and if you supply a scaled file, the scale has to be noted on it. PDF saved at Press Quality is the preferred format.

Color is worth one extra sentence. Work in CMYK and Pantone Solid Coated values, leave spot colors unconverted, and skip custom named swatches. Big Visual Group is G7 Master certified for color accuracy, so a brand red on a floor graphic can hold against the same red on a banner and a window graphic — but only if the file is built in the color space the press reads. The same logic applies to vehicle wrap artwork, where the file decides the outcome more than the vinyl does.

Installation is the part people underestimate

A floor graphic fails at the edges, and the edges are decided by the prep. The surface has to be clean and dry before anything is laid down, which on a retail floor usually means doing it after hours, and on a sidewalk means watching the forecast.

Big Visual Group’s install team works on floors, ceilings, buses and buildings, so a floor graphic can go in on the same visit as the wall graphics and dimensional letters — see installation and fulfillment. For a chain or a multi-site rollout, the same team packages and distributes to locations nationally, which is the difference between one install date and twenty of them. Production and fabrication happens at the Antioch facility, and the whole sequence is laid out on our process.

What to send when you ask for a floor graphics quote

Six things move a floor graphic from a conversation to a proof:

• The surface: sealed concrete, tile, carpet, wood or exterior pavement, and a photograph of it.
• Indoor or outdoor, and whether it is under cover.
• Finished size and shape of each graphic, and how many of each.
• How long it needs to stay down — a weekend, a season, or indefinitely.
• How the floor is cleaned, and how often.
• Vector artwork with Pantone Solid Coated values, plus the install date.

If the floor graphic is one piece of a bigger program — wall murals, window graphics, backdrops, event signage — say so at the first conversation. One color conversation across a whole program is easier than five in sequence, and the pieces end up matching.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a floor graphic and a sidewalk graphic?

A sidewalk graphic is a type of floor decal built for exterior spaces. It has to handle weather and a rough, porous surface, where an indoor floor graphic is made for smooth, sealed, climate-controlled floors. Ask for the exterior build if the graphic is going outside, even if it is under an awning.

Can floor graphics go on carpet?

Yes, with a product intended for carpet. Standard floor vinyl is made for hard, smooth surfaces and will not hold on a looped or textured pile, so tell us the floor is carpet when you ask for the quote.

Do floor graphics have to be rectangular?

No. Shapes and sizes are cut to the job, which is how footprints, arrows, circles and die-cut logos are made. A shaped graphic usually reads faster underfoot than a rectangle with the same message inside it.

How much bleed does floor graphic artwork need?

Printed vinyl takes one inch of bleed on all sides. Rigid and small-format pieces take a quarter inch. Bleed must always be included in the file, and files should be supplied at 100, 50, 25 or 10 percent of final size with the scale noted.

Start at the floor plan, not the artwork

The decision that makes a floor graphic work is made before anyone opens a design file: which surface, how long it stays, and which direction people are walking. Get those three right and the print is straightforward. Get them wrong and you have a beautiful graphic lifting at the corner in week two.

Big Visual Group designs, prints and installs from 5764 Crossings Blvd in Antioch, southeast of downtown Nashville. Send a photograph of the floor with your quote request, or call 615-731-3700. The short answers to most production questions are on the FAQ.