a print job. (Brian McDonald)
Company: Graphic Innovations
Location: 60 Ship St., Providence
Web site: www.graphin.com
Owner: Jim Larkin
Employees: Six
Established: 1996
Annual sales: WND
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
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For a description of what Providence large format digital printing service Graphic Innovations does, one need only refer to the huge definition of the word “innovation” in owner Jim Larkin’s office:
In-no-va-tion: n. 1. to become different, 2. evolve, 3. a new method, 4. advance to new ideas, 5. the process of changing
“Anything that’s big and has color on it, we can do,” Larkin said. “If you have an idea, I’ll find a way to do it — and between all of us, we usually can.”
That includes wrapped vehicles, trade show booths, signs and banners — anything with a printable width of 52 inches by just about any length. Graphic Innovations’ Arizona 3M Certified Scotch Printer is one of only 400 installed — in the world.
“It’s all part of the digital age,” Larkin said. “It’s the new way to print.”
And every project is as individual as each client.
“It’s casual,” Larkin said. “We lay it out, we figure out what we have to do. Clients are not a number. They sit down with us, we look at their files. We become friends.”
He had worked at traditional printing companies for years, but when Larkin decided to start his own business, his due diligence lead him to the decision that “technology was going to drive different ways to print, and a lot of that was going to be digital.”
And when Graphic Innovations opened in 1996, “in Rhode Island, there wasn’t anyone else who focused on what we do,” he said. “Large format printing has only been around eight to 10 years.”
Larkin said his core client base consists primarily of advertising agencies and graphic designers – a group that can be “demanding,” he said. “They always want the newest thing out there.”
But it is exactly that kind of pressure that Larkin feels keeps him competitive.
“As Providence becomes more attractive, the out-of-state companies are coming in,” Larkin said. “That’s one of the reasons I went with the Arizona, because now we can compete with almost anyone.”
The City of Providence serves as a living portfolio for the company, whose projects have included banner signs for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) and some of the backlit signs for the Providence Civic Center, T.F. Green Airport and Providence Place, among others.
Larkin estimated that 90 percent of Graphic Innovations’ business is for companies in the Ocean State.
It’s a wrap
To wrap a vehicle with an ad, a client presents Graphic Innovations with a file or design idea, and they consult the Digital Auto Library, which includes the templates for almost every vehicle imaginable. The company often works with a client to decide how the logo or slogan should be translated to the vehicle.
The proof is printed on the Arizona, using paper with an adhesive back liner (“like a big label,” said Larkin) and applied to the vehicle by professional installers.
“That’s where the expertise comes in — that every letter lines up, it’s seamless and you’ve got one big mobile billboard,” he said.
Once applied, an auto wrap can last up to five years, although Larkin said most campaigns are much shorter.
Graphic Innovations also works with companies to develop trade show booths for collapsible advertising that can travel all over the country — or the world.
A full-size photo mural, 10 feet in length, with four panels held in place on the frame by magnets can cost around $4,500, said Larkin. The structure can be fully collapsed, the printed panels rolled up, and transported to the convention location in a case similar in size to a large suitcase.
Timeliness is everything.
“If it has to be at a trade show in Spain on Monday and it’s not there until Tuesday, it’s no good,” Larkin said. “Everybody always wants it yesterday, but that’s our niche. We pretty much say that we can do any job in three days – most of the time we’re done in two.”
Larkin said that he’s proud of the fact that even with as many as 20 jobs in some phase of production at any given time “we’ve never missed a deadline. I don’t take jobs unless I can guarantee that it’s done. I don’t say yes just to get it.”
And to help achieve that result, Larkin said he’s a big believer in cross-training.
“Everybody has a strength, but we’re a team,” he said. “The speed with which these jobs come in here and go out, it has to be like that.”
Larkin said that one challenge Graphic Innovations faces time and again is trying to anticipate what his customers will need next.
“I always try to get a feel for what our core customer base needs,” he said. “The toughest thing, technology-wise, is what to buy and when. ‘If I buy this now, what’s coming down the road?'”
Larkin said that his company has grown largely through the word of mouth of the advertising agencies that are often its collaborators. Graphic Innovations is currently undergoing a major expansion and will soon inhabit three floors of the building where it is located on Ship Street.
“We’ve grown slowly because we’ve wanted to do it right,” said Larkin.
When the renovation and expansion is complete, the company plans to hold an open house to celebrate the new space.
“I want to bring all our customers here and let them see how we’ve grown,” Larkin said. “They’ll be able to see the machines running, a sample banner, a trade show booth. We’re pretty proud of what we’ve become, and this is our way of saying to them ‘Come in and take a look.'”
