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Design-It-Yourself Custom Laminate From Formica

by GR Chair

Creating a great brand experience in your client’s quick serve or fast casual restaurant comes down to the details, and for years we’ve been in awe of the beautifully creative wall murals and bold flooring choices that have dominated the scene.  Thanks to technology there are more ways than ever to create personalized products for your interior , one of our favorite products being custom designed laminate table tops.

In facet, Formica recently launched their ENVISUALIZER tool which allows you to create stunning patterns in seconds. We jumped on the opportunity to try it out for our recent photoshoot. Here was our experience with this uber cool product:

Here’s what they say about it: “Now in beta, the FORMICA ENVISUALIZER™ gives you the power to explore the limitless possibilities of algorithmic pattern generation. Create something completely unexpected by scaling, distorting and randomizing pre-set shapes or drawing with kinetic brushes within the tool, or drag and drop your own image (a sketch, photo, or logo) into the kaleidoscope interface to discover new design opportunities. Customize your pattern by inputting CMYK, RGB or HEX values to ensure your color palette is spot-on.”

Here’s what we thought: The tool has so much potential, and we’re excited to see how it evolves as it moves from beta into a finalized format.  Our only critique is that it’s hard to understand the scale of your pattern in relation to a laminate sheet,  but after a few emails with their graphic designer, we successfully scaled our design and had the information needed to order our custom design from our supplier. We loved the final product and the print quality was excellent.

Truthfully, there were a few very minor hiccups along the way, so we figured we’d share our learnings with you to help make your first experience easy and stress-free.

  1. When you drag and drop your image into the kaleidoscope tool it immediately starts swirling around. We spent a few minutes...more like 2 hours, trying to push the pause button at the perfect time to create straight lines in our design above. Later we learned that you can pause the movement right away and use your cursor to drag the image to your perfect alignment.
  2. When you’re ready to submit your design for production, download the artwork and send it directly to NA.Envision@formica.com. Someone from Formica will walk you through the next steps and help you find out where to buy from.  They even create a custom code so that your supplier can order it using that as a part number.
  3. Just try it! We threw some of the most random images in the tool and had so much fun playing around. Try tossing in a picture of french fries from your favorite fast casual restaurant, the results are trippy, but amazing.

French Fries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(French Fries)

Custom Bird Lamiante

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Seagulls)

 

Here are the basics to help get you started:

  • One (1) sheet Minimum
  • Standard Laminate Grades - Grade 10 and V4 (equivalent to Grade 20)
  • Sizes:  3' & 4' widths; 8', 10', and 12' Lengths        
  • Matte (-58) Finish only
  • (18x20) Lab Sample lead time (once artwork approved) - 5 business days
  • Production lead time (once order is received) - 4 weeks
  • Artwork Guidelines (in preference) - PDF, EPS, TIFF, JPG, PSD all the Envision artwork requirements are attached.
  • Design Use Agreement - Grants us permission to use your artwork (attached) and to be signed prior to 18" x 20" lab sample submittal
  • Pricing - based on Grade and Volume; Pricing available through your Formica Rep

If you’re ready to add a little design pizzaz to the tables in your next restaurant you can get started here or if you have more questions visit Formica’s Envisualizer F.A.Q.s page.

Check out our Spartan, Orbit, or Rambo tables for your next restaurant project, they’ll look great with a custom laminate and download our Finishes brochure for available edgeband and vinyl edge options.

 

Informational Materials