This fifth edition of the popular sign design series includes the winners of recent Signs of the Times contests: electric and commercial signs for retail shops, restaurants and bars, residential ...
Wrapped tractor-trailer raising awareness for 9/11 memorial.
By J.P. Pieratt
Many feelings are brought to the fore when honoring the fallen. Typically, these might include sadness, devotion, and anger, among others. And when it comes to honoring those who were on board Flight 93 on 9/11, you can another to the mix: service.
Certainly that’s the case with Paul Graefen, vice president of sales for Harbor Graphics. His company jumped at the opportunity to help produce a vehicle wrap for the “93 Cents for Flight 93” campaign this past September.
“Once we heard about the charity, we decided we wanted to be involved,” says Graefen. “Harbor Graphics is very proud and excited to be able to contribute in this way. We’re humbled and honored by what we view as a small contribution to a very worthy and important group.”
The 93 Cents campaign, which aims to raise a minimum of $1 million toward the construction of an official Flight 93 national memorial through donations of 93 cents at a time, officially kicked off this past September 10 at a ceremony by students at Shanksville-Stonycreek School, just miles from Flight 93’s Pennsylvania crash site. At the ceremony, a key component to the campaign would be unveiled: a 53-foot Daimler Freightliner tractor-trailer sporting a vinyl wrap honoring the Flight 93 heroes, complete with all 40 names of those on board.
Eagle’s wings
Before Harbor Graphics could begin its work, however, the graphics for the wrap had to be designed, a task that fell to design firm Deitrick and Associates Interiors, based in Akron, Ohio. Sharon Deitrick, the company’s owner, is founder of the 93 Cents program and a member of the Flight 93 National Campaign. The design required graphics for both the trailer and the tractor.
Originally, the intent for the primary tractor image was to incorporate an eagle head that had been used on the charity’s 2002 medallion coin, Deitrick says. Using Corel Draw, as well as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, art director Ann Akins set out to re-create the eagle head in vector format, but couldn’t get the vector art to flow with the many curves and contours of the tractor, so she turned to an engineering team at Daimler, which helped iron out the issues and allow the vector art to work.
