Wall Graphics in New York

Printed and applied wall graphics for retail interiors, offices and events. Marble, stone and pattern effects, full-wall brand graphics, cut lettering and logos, printed in our own facility in New York and installed onto the wall you actually have.

Single walls, full store rollouts and campaign changeovers. Removable or permanent, specified for your surface.

Send Us a Photo of the Wall

The print is the easy part

Printing a wall graphic is straightforward. Large format printers are common, the files are big but not difficult, and the colors come out. Almost nothing goes wrong in the printing.

What goes wrong is everything on either side of it. Vinyl applied to paint that had not finished curing takes the paint off the wall when it comes down. A gloss finish on a wall with a slight undulation turns every ripple into a highlight. Standard vinyl on a textured surface lifts at the edges within weeks. A panel seam falls through the middle of a face. A file that looked sharp on a laptop prints soft at twelve feet wide. Removable adhesive left up for three years stops being removable.

So the work is in the specification and the installation, which is where we spend the time. We print in our own facility in New York, and we ask about the wall before we ask about the artwork.

Two words people use interchangeably, and what we mean by each

Aspect	Wall graphics	Wall murals
What it is	Applied brand elements. Logos, lettering, patterns, material effects, partial coverage.	A single large image covering a wall. The picture is the point.
Bought for	Communication and identity.	Atmosphere and space.
Usually	Cut, shaped or printed in sections. Often changes with a campaign.	Full coverage, printed as one artwork across panels. Usually stays.
Typical buyer	Retail, workplace, events, environmental branding.	Hospitality, feature walls, reception, interiors.
Where it lives on this site	This page.	Our wall murals page.

In practice the two overlap and plenty of jobs are both. If you are not sure which you need, send us the wall and what you want it to say, and we will tell you.

From a cut logo to a full wall

Type	What it is	Typically used for
Material and texture effects	Printed marble, stone, concrete, timber and metal finishes applied to a flat wall.	Fashion and retail interiors. The look of a stone wall at a fraction of the cost and weight, and changeable by season.
Pattern and repeat graphics	A designed pattern printed across a wall or a run of walls.	Retail environments, brand spaces, feature areas.
Full-coverage brand graphics	Artwork printed in panels and applied across the whole surface.	Reception walls, brand walls, event backdrops.
Cut vinyl lettering and logos	Shapes cut from colored or printed vinyl, no background.	Logos, headlines, values and wayfinding text directly on paint.
Partial and accent graphics	Applied elements that leave the wall visible around them.	Workplaces, corridors, anywhere full coverage would be too much.
Textured surface graphics	Conformable material worked into brick, block and textured plaster.	Exposed brick and concrete interiors, industrial spaces. A specialist job, not standard vinyl.
Glass and window application	The same printing applied to glass rather than wall.	Covered on our window film and store window graphics pages.
Temporary event graphics	Short-life material for walls that are branded for days rather than years.	Activations and events. Our event signage page covers the wider build.

New paint is the most common cause of a bad outcome

Wall graphics applied to paint that has not finished curing can pull that paint off the wall when they are removed, sometimes in sheets. Paint is usually touch-dry in hours and cured in considerably longer, often a few weeks, and the paint manufacturer’s own guidance is the one to follow rather than a general rule.

This is the single most common cause of a wall graphics job going wrong, and it almost always happens because the wall was painted as part of the same fit-out, a week before the graphics were due. Tell us when the wall was painted. If it is recent, we will tell you what we think and, where the date cannot move, which material gives the best chance of a clean removal.

What we need to know about the surface

Surface	What it means for the job
Smooth painted drywall	The ideal case, if the paint is cured and in good condition. Most materials will work.
Matte, eggshell and some low-sheen paints	Harder for adhesives to key to than a satin or semi-gloss. Worth knowing before, not after.
Textured drywall and plaster	Needs conformable material worked into the texture, or the edges will lift. Standard vinyl is the wrong choice.
Exposed brick and block	A specialist material and a slower installation. It can be done well and it cannot be done cheaply.
Concrete	Depends entirely on whether it is sealed and how smooth it is. Worth a photograph.
Glass	A different product. See our window film and store window graphics pages.
Recently repaired or patched walls	A patch takes adhesive differently from the wall around it and can show through. Tell us where the repairs are.

Removable, permanent, and what happens later

Removable and permanent are specifications, not opinions, and the right one depends on how long the graphic is staying.

Removable. Designed to come off cleanly within a stated life. Right for campaigns, seasonal work, events and anything in a leased space.
Permanent. A stronger bond for graphics that are staying. Removal is possible but it is a job, usually with heat, and the wall may need making good afterwards.
The thing nobody mentions. Removable material left up for years, particularly in direct sunlight, stops behaving like removable material. If a campaign graphic is still up three years later, plan for that rather than discovering it.
We remove too. We take graphics down as well as putting them up, and it is worth quoting the removal at the same time as the install when a graphic has a known end date.

What looks sharp on a laptop is not what prints at twelve feet

Resolution and viewing distance. Resolution is judged at the size it is printed and the distance it is seen from. A wall graphic seen from six feet needs more than a billboard seen from sixty. Send us the largest version of the file you have and we will tell you what it will hold.
Vector and raster. Vector artwork scales to any size. Photographs do not. For material and pattern effects we often work from high-resolution scans and textures rather than from a supplied image.
Panels and seams. Almost any large wall is printed in panels. Where the joins fall is a decision, not an accident: they can be planned onto architectural lines, away from faces, logos and eye level.
What is on the wall already. Switches, outlets, vents, pipes, door frames and baseboards all interrupt a wall. A photograph and dimensions let us design around them rather than through them.
Brand color. Printed color and a brand’s specified color are not automatically the same thing. Where the match matters, we proof it before we print the wall.

Marble that arrives in a tube

A stone wall in a store costs what stone costs, takes the time stone takes, weighs what stone weighs, and stays until somebody demolishes it. A printed material-effect graphic gives the same look from normal viewing distance, goes up in a day, adds no load, and changes with the season.

That trade-off is why material effects have become standard in fashion retail, and it is the most commercially useful thing this page can explain. It is also the work Velement’s own portfolio shows: marble, floral, pattern and chain graphics in clothing and footwear stores.

Consistent across sites. One store or a rollout. A pattern specified once can be produced for every location and applied to walls of different sizes, which is a print job rather than a construction job.
Seasonal changeovers. Retail changes on a calendar. Graphics can be specified as removable from the start so a changeover is a single overnight visit.
Installed out of hours. Store graphics go up around trading hours, usually overnight, and the space has to be sellable the next morning.
To a brand standard. We work from retail and brand specifications and match to the finishes already in the store.

Photograph to finished wall

Send us the wall. Send a photograph of the wall and the rough dimensions. We will tell you the surface issues, the material we would use and roughly what it costs.
Three questions. When the wall was painted, whether the graphic is staying or changing, and whether the space is trading or occupied. These three answers decide the specification.
Specification. Material, finish and adhesive chosen for your surface and your timeframe. Printed sample on request.
Artwork and layout. Artwork checked at final size, panels and seams laid out around what is on the wall, color proofed where it matters.
Print. Printed and finished in our own facility in New York.
Installation. Surface prepared, panels aligned, applied and trimmed. Out of hours where the space is trading or occupied.

A printer that asks about the wall first

Capability	What it means for your wall
We ask about the surface	Material, finish and adhesive specified for your wall rather than for a standard one.
We print in New York	Our own facility, which means short lead times, reprints that match and proof that it is a conversation rather than a shipment.
We do material effects	Marble, stone, concrete and timber finishes, which is the work our retail portfolio is built on.
We lay out the seams	Panel joins planned around what is on the wall, not left to fall where they land.
We install and remove	Out of hours in trading and occupied spaces, and we take graphics down as well as putting them up.
We keep the specification	A reprint or a second location matches the first.

Frequently Asked Questions About Wall Graphics

What are wall graphics?

Wall graphics are printed or cut material applied directly to an interior wall: logos and lettering, patterns, material and texture effects such as marble or concrete, and full-coverage brand artwork. They are printed in panels, applied to the existing surface, and specified as removable or permanent depending on how long they are staying.

What is the difference between wall graphics and a wall mural?

In practice the words are used interchangeably, but we separate them usefully: wall graphics are applied brand elements such as logos, lettering, patterns and material effects, often with partial coverage and often changed with a campaign. A wall mural is a single large image covering the wall, where the picture itself is the point. Plenty of jobs are both, and if you are not sure which you need, send us the wall.

Will wall graphics damage my paint?

They can, and the usual cause is paint that had not finished curing when the graphics went on. Paint is touch-dry in hours but takes considerably longer to cure fully, often a few weeks, and the paint manufacturer’s guidance is the one to follow. Tell us when the wall was painted. On a cured wall in good condition, a correctly specified removable graphic should come away cleanly.

Can wall graphics go on brick or a textured wall?

Yes, with the right material. Textured surfaces and exposed brick need conformable material worked into the surface rather than standard vinyl, which lifts at the edges. It is a slower installation and a more expensive material, and it looks very good when it is done properly. Send a photograph and we will tell you what is involved.

How long do wall graphics last?

Indoors and out of direct sunlight, a permanent graphic will last for years. A removable graphic is specified for a stated life, and the thing to know is that removable material left up well beyond that, especially in strong light, becomes harder to remove cleanly. If a graphic is meant to be temporary, it is worth taking it down roughly when planned.

Can you match our brand colors?

Yes. Printed color and a specified brand color are not automatically identical, so where the match matters we proof it before printing the wall, and we hold the settings so a reprint or a second location matches the first.

Do you install, and can you work out of hours?

Yes to both. Most retail and workplace graphics go up outside trading or working hours, and the space is ready the next morning. We also remove graphics, which is worth quoting alongside the install when a graphic has a known end date.

What file do you need from us?

The largest and least compressed version you have. Vector artwork scales to any size; photographs do not, and a file that looks sharp on a screen can print soft at wall scale. Send what you have and we will tell you what it will hold at your dimensions before anything is printed.