August 12, 2021 Reanne Duffy

CN Signs put down roots about fifteen years ago and soon became a widely respected signs and graphics producer with its base in Warrington in the north of England. The company’s founder, Chris Nylan, came into the signing and allied industries along a somewhat tangential route.

 

Chris was, then, a motorsports instructor and he also had an interest in graphic design. Associates of his often asked him to come up with suitable designs for the fast cars he was around, and he discovered he was good at it. One ‘thing,’ as ‘things’ do, led to another, and his interest very soon became a thriving and influential business.

 

Designing and producing livery for vehicles in the broadest sense supports and supplies a thriving market with companies of all shapes and sizes participating. Livery, or graphicsfor racing vehicles, a valuable part of the vehicles graphics market overall, has always been a deep specialisation, and the price of entry into it is paid for by the quality of design and technical execution. The market has very high standards.

 

Racing vehicles, need livery and graphics which attain a balance reflecting the interests of sponsors, the statutory elements required to race or compete, and the overall impact of the design. Hot vehicles in the more general sense, they need to look fast when they’re not even moving. CN Signs has earned itself a reputation for getting these things spot-on.

 

CN Signs’ reputation in the market exerted sufficient pull to attract Tegiwa. The company, based in Stoke-on-Trent, has elevated business relationships around the world connecting it with sources of exotic auto performance parts that just aren’t on the shelves elsewhere. Tegiwa is enthusiast owned and run and its team’s bios make interesting reading for anyone that sees cars as more than an a-to-b means of conveyance.

 

Tegiwa’s team isn’t just an observer of the markets it supplies. It’s a well-known participant too. Among its competitive outings is the extremely popular Time Attack series - do a lap, then do it faster. Tegiwa’s weapon is a Honda NSX. As might be expected, that’s not just fast, it’s very fast - Tegiwa’s has also had the benefit of being modified and prepared by some of the best informed and most technically accomplished race-oriented people in the business.

 

The NSX started its career with Tegiwa as a shell with no engine or interior. It’s 2021, the lack of a motor has been fixed and it can get over 600bhp on to the track breathing through a Kraftwerks/Rotrex supercharger and turning its wheels through a Satchel Engineering six speed sequential ‘box.

 

For the first time in its life, the car has a name - ‘NSX V2’ didn’t make the cut - Tsuki NSX did. Taking the view that such a stunning, one-of-a-kind car needs an equally distinctive and attractive livery, Tegiwa commissioned Itasha designer, Luth from Ontakeriput in Japan to create the desired look. The result is beyond stunning.

 

Nobody could accuse the design of evoking subtle cues to Japanese heritage - it’s explosive in terms of visual impact and crystal clear on that subject. Starring, is Tsuki, Tegiwa’s very own character, and she’ll even soon make an appearance on air fresheners that Tegiwa will bundle with customer orders. As distinctive and individual as it is, the livery design is still deeply informed by Tegiwa’s own design vocabulary in terms of colour. Again making a point dear to Metamark - Colour Communicates.

 

It fell to CN Signs’ team to get the stunning design prepared for production and application. That’s a far from trivial undertaking. Anyone who’s prepared design for the printed page will have had a heart-stopping moment when critical detail gets lost down the publication’s gutter. On a vehicle as complex in detail as the Tsuki NSX, there’s ample opportunity to lose something. CN Signs did a superb job. Everything fits.

 

CN Signs printed the NSX livery on its HP Latex printer using Metamark’s premium cast wrapping film - MetaCast MDC. The result is a great testimony to the team’s technical ability as a printer. The colours pop and are spot-on in terms of the ID’s fidelity. MetaCast MDC gets a pat on the back too. It, and the HP Latex ink species represent a proven partnership and the Tegiwa livery is right up there among its best exemplars.

 

It may take an expert eye to see beyond the livery content itself and discern the quality of the application work, but those who have it will admire CN Signs’ work. Every detail flows across boundaries, elongation has been managed and distributed with feel and sensitivity for the design. There’s no thinning of colour or matting to detract. Nice one CN. A masterpiece in fact.

 

The Tsuki NSX is an eyeball magnet but somewhat shares the available wow-factor with other parts of the high-impact Tegiwa entourage and, in particular the artic-rig that’s home-from-home for the NSX when it’s competing. It has every ounce of the pit-presence claimed in any motorsport formula and is a stunning counterpart to the car.

 

Tsuki stars again and this time it’s a feast for the eyes rendered and applied in MD5 and MD3 Metamark digital media. Pixel-perfect printing and flawless application again maintain the stellar standards set by the NSX and are a credit to CN Signs’ technical abilities.

 

Thanks to CN Signs, Tegiwa has a car that fully reflects the excitement of the spectacles in which it competes. It also has a showcase that achieves that tippy balance promoting the interests of sponsors. Above all, it’s truly memorable and readily imprints. Tegiwa is already well known. The Tsuki NSX with CN Signs’ input greatly amplifies its brand values.