CV Graphics is based in Huddersfield in the north of the United Kingdom and has been in business since 1994. In the thirty years plus that have passed, the company has become established as one of the region’s best-known makers of bespoke signage and graphics with a reputation built on creativity and design among other things.

The team that runs the business is no stranger to potential customers making contact with little to no idea what they might need beyond the fact it is a sign. With its team of designers, CV Graphics can take a simple and unformed idea and develop it into something that raises the profile of a business or establishes a new brand. With its work seen all over Yorkshire and beyond, there’s evidence confirming the company knows its business.

Huddersfield Grammar School was referred to CV Graphics when it was decided by the teaching staff that the school would benefit from wall graphics to reflect its teaching facilities and curriculum. Upon surveying the site, the CV Graphics team was told in clear terms what the school wanted. ‘We don’t want to have seen anything like the graphics you’ll make for us in any other school,’ was the message.

With that message, lots of naked walls, and basic details about the premises, the CV Graphics team had its brief and returned to its premises to begin the creative process.

Creative wildfires can spring from a spark of inspiration and on this occasion, the team at CV helped the initial blaze to establish itself using AI tools. With design time invested in iterative development and manual interventions, the team had a range of visuals to present for review to its client. The review uncovered subtleties beyond the wit of AI tools but understood by CV’s design team.

With inputs and corrections including fixing the batting stance of a boy playing cricket and observing the need for PPE for students depicted in science experiments, the team refined its developed ideas into bespoke interpretations of the initial visuals, harmonised around an individual look and feel that was, as the school had requested, ‘unlike anything they’d seen before.’

Production followed the school team’s approval of CV’s visuals. Standing up to bumps and abrasions in a busy school corridor, and resisting cleaning were among factors considered as was the site’s difficult lighting conditions. Metamark MD5HB was used for the job, with its matching matt laminate. CV’s production team printed the MD5HB on a Mimaki CJV 300, eight colour printer and the MD-Class media produced a finished result that lived up to the promises of the visuals thanks to its ink handling capabilities.

Application of the printed graphics was managed over a weekend and proceeded without unforeseen challenges thanks to the detailed survey and the team’s project management expertise. The transformation is total, and it reflects the client’s expectations in full.

What was an expanse of characterless emulsion paint, punctuated with an occasional, tired-looking hessian noticeboard, is today an involving horizon with amazing graphics reflecting diversity, curriculum and learning. It is inspiring and colourful. It celebrates literacy, endeavour and learning. It hints at creative potential on CV Graphics’ part, adding to the evidence that the company’s intelligent design approach produces amazing results.