Offer HN: I'll make a decal for your startup.

[guynamedloren]

I make vinyl decals. It's not a business - I do it for fun. It's extremely satisfying to see an idea come to life so quickly, and the labor itself is somewhat therapeutic. I genuinely enjoy the creative process involved with making vinyl decals, and I sure could use a break from these brain-busting college courses. If there could only be one community I would give back to, this would definitely be the one.

So here's my offer: You have a startup. I make decals. I will make a vinyl decal for your startup - for free. You can stick it on your office window to appear more legitimate or slap it on the back of your car for advertising. I really don't care what you do with it, as long as it is your company's logo and/or website. These decals will be "die-cut" style, meaning there is no background or border. Here are some examples for clarification:

http://www.lorenburton.com/decals.jpg

No trademarked logos (unless you own the trademark). To keep things simple, let's do matte black or matte white only, maximum size 5"x8", and no crazy intricate designs. Single color logo/text (see examples).

Final thought: not sure how to handle shipping. Obviously there would be shipping costs incurred, but I don't feel comfortable charing HN for shipping. Any thoughts on how to handle this?

If your interested in a decal for your startup, send me an email at lorendburton (at) gmail.com, with .ai or .eps file attached. Please specify size and color.

Let's have fun with this! I'm interested to see how this idea is received, considering most "Offer HN" threads have been in regards to services. I am not looking for any personal gain here, unless you consider having fun and bringing ideas to life to be personal gain.

[brk]

Curious what software you use? I bought a vinyl plotter (Graphtec CE3000mkII) a few years back but basically gave up on it because all the software I could find either sucked ass, or was incredibly expensive for what it did. Plus, I couldn't find a good affordable Mac option.

If you want, email me your mailing address. I've got a bunch of premium vinyls still left over and can send you some cool stuff.

[guynamedloren → brk]

Yep, the software is generally terrible. Even the expensive stuff is laughably bad software. There could definitely be a market here.

I'm currently using SignCut. It might be called SignCut Productivity Pro - they seem to change the name when they release a new version. It's a pretty lightweight program and relatively easy to use. The difference between myself and most vinyl guys is that I create my eps files in illustrator while they generally rely on the vinyl software for both design and plotting. If the vinyl software stuck exclusively to plotting it would probably be of much higher quality.

[camz]

I'd suggest using paypal gifts since its the easiest and most common form of online payment transfer that everyone uses. Even though i truly hate paypal, it usually is the option thats the easiest to implement. I sent you an email begging for some decal help!

btw your designs rock. =D

[guynamedloren → camz]

I was thinking about paypal, but the part I don't feel comfortable with is asking for money. It might have to do - we'll see what kind of response this gets.

Glad you like the designs!

[tlrobinson → guynamedloren]

There's no reason to not ask people to cover the costs as long as they're fair.

[swah]

Nice, but clarify me on something: if I give you an eps of the logo, what else do you have to do to transform it into a decal ?

[guynamedloren → swah]

Assuming the logo is one solid single color design (like the ones I included in my original post) - nothing. I just send it right to the cutter in eps format and it's done. I consider a solid design one that may have several separate shapes and text but they are all unified into one "shape area" ie - if I change the color of one piece of the design, the rest follows.

If the logo has overlapping shapes and things like that, I'd have to work some Illustrator magic (merge, add to shape area, remove from shape area, expand), but it's not really a problem. Hope that clarifies things!

[moge]

pretty cool idea! We just launched (hangwith.me) and don't have an office...or car so we will save this offer for others but neat that you posted this!

[guynamedloren → moge]

Thanks! I just have to say you have implemented one of the most clever non-.com URLs I've ever seen. It flows so naturally and instantly made me wonder about the application residing at the domain. Nice work!

[moge → guynamedloren]

Wow, Thank you so much for saying that! That is really amazing feedback. We just launched so hearing things like that is just, well, awesome :)

[manicboomerang]

That is so awesome! Love it for so many reasons!

[marcamillion]

This is awesome. Email sent :)

[trizk]

This is awesome. Upvoted.

[jw84]

What's your email?

[guynamedloren → jw84]

Lorendburton at gmail