This project was done in a week's time from start to finish for a Beneteau 55 coming out of re-commissioning after its sale to a new owner, and bound for Bellevue WA. Originally the owner had in mind a certain logo style to be used for the lettering, but after a stroll down the docks his eye was caught by a boat we had done a few months earlier. He fell in love with the styling on "Salty Fox" so we crafted his lettering with the same styling. A few tweaks to the typography to better work with the longer name and for appropriate proportions for the bow quarter decals hit the sweet spot.
The "secret sauce" in getting the silver back shadow to come alive on inked vinyl lays in how we build the gradations in the gray tones. Each letter is shadowed independently not as a group, and the angle of the gradations is critical. So often we see gradations on vinyl boat names cast at 90 degrees. There is rarely a moment when that angle actually looks good. And those angles may need to change from letter to letter based on the letter's shape and width.
The "Salty Fox" was the Beneteau 55 owner's inspiration for the look on Hideaway. The proportions of the opening cap sizes and stem height was right for Salty Fox, but we needed to change that for Hideaway - especially for the bow quarter decals. This styling of a near black letter infill with our 'secret sauce' of a silver backshadow has become a popular styling in our portfolio.