When it comes to creating a stunning design for your vehicle wrap, you’re going to want to use some real high-quality images. But not everyone is a photographer, so many times they’ll want to use other people’s pictures. However, there are copyright laws and licensing issues that you’ll want to be aware of.

Generally, images fall into one of four categories:

1. Your Own Work: You own the rights to the image, probably because you created it yourself. No one can dispute that claim.

2. Freely Licensed: You can prove that the copyright holder has released the image under an acceptable free license. There are some restrictions here including images that are only for non-commercial or educational use and licenses that don’t allow you to modify or alter them in any way, or have restrictions on ways that you’re allowed to do this.

3. Public Domain: You can prove that the image is in the public domain, which means it’s free of all copyrights. Some people have created images that they then put into the public domain while others have simply been around so long that any copyright claims to them have expired, which makes them free for usage.

4. Fair Use: You believe the image meets the special conditions for non-free content, which meets the exceptions that allow the use of unlicensed images and can provide an explicit non-free use rationale that explains why and how you intend to use the image.

There are a lot of websites like iStockPhoto and Getty Images where you can find high-quality images that have clear guidelines for usage. If you want to use some of these as vinyl wrap images, then you may have to pay a one-time fee or make other concessions.

We Recommend Using Your Own

But we believe it’s always best to come up with a unique design for your wrap. How else are you going to stand out? Best of all, you’ll not have to worry about the rights of your image nearly as much if you were the one who created it in the first place. It’s a sort of right of passage among those who are starting to really expand and carve a place for themselves in the overall business space.

If you’re not sure where to begin, our design team will talk to you about your budget and see what kind of coverage is best for you. Once we know what kind of vehicle you have and how much of it we’ll be wrapping, we can help you brainstorm ways to make your vehicle an eye-catching advertisement or work of art.

Once you have an idea of what you’d like your wrap to do for your car (and your business) and can come up with a small deposit, we can come up with a few different proofs for you to look at. If you pick one of the first proofs we come up with, we’ll give you a round of changes on the house, just in case there’s something you’d like to change. It usually doesn’t take more than that to get squared away.

Working With Licensed Content

Sometimes customers will want to work with a licensed image. Granted, we usually do recommend that vehicle wrap images be made of something that you own, but it’s possible for someone to appropriately license an image. Keep in mind that this might involve paying a license fee in order to use the artwork as part of your vinyl wrap images.

On top of that, other organizations could potentially use it too, which would mean you’re not going to have nearly as unique of a brand image coming out of your work. Free licenses, while quite permissive, may encourage you to allow others to use the work later on.

Say, for instance, that you used a piece of artwork downloaded from the net that was released under any of the various information commons learning licenses. These licenses are designed to allow future derivative works based on the very item that you hope to incorporate into your car wrap images. Many business owners would naturally feel uncomfortable with their car wrap images changing at some point in the future.

However, proponents of information sharing licenses would argue that this could actually help improve an organization’s own image. Licenses illustrate how they’re in favor of the free exchange of information and the sharing of scholarly creations.

In either case, it would be much easier simply to use your own material than even something released under a commons license. This would eliminate the need for such considerations while also ensuring that you could use the same artwork later on in the future. That’s a good thing to keep in mind if you have any plans to eventually wrap more vehicles in the future.

You’ll also want to consider if you’d ever have to license material to someone else in the future or not, which can cause further confusion. While this might not seem like something that’s realistic to think about at the moment, it could be an issue for someone who manages a franchise and might let individuals take on their own marketing campaigns once they become established outside of the greater Las Vegas metro area.

The Team Acme Advantage

We use only the highest quality, name-brand vinyl. You’re in Nevada and this heat cooks the cheap stuff fast. Our graphic designers have all earned their degrees and have a natural eye for detail. We’ve been designing and installing graphics on everything from building to bikes since 2003, so we have a lot of experience and know what works and what won’t.

If you open a fleet account with us, we’ll create custom templates and keep them on file so you can maintain a consistent, instantly recognizable fleet. Everything will be sized correctly and all your trucks will look the same.

We also offer a fast and efficient turnaround. If you get a vehicle into us, we can generally get it back to you the same day. If we tell it’ll be done, it will be done.

We also do window tinting and auto glass repairs, which means you can come to us for everything you need on your new vehicle, get in, get out on the road, and make money fast.

Optimize Vinyl Decals With Team Acme

The crew here at Team Acme is always proud to see a growing small business start to move up in the world. Applying a piece of their own artwork to a vehicle can make a huge difference in enhancing a paint job.
So if you’re ready to work with a professional design and install team, contact Team Acme online today! Or, if you prefer, just get your quote on different types of vehicles!