Refreshing the WOW! Smiles Ukiah Location with Custom Window Graphics

A fresh set of window graphics gave an established WOW! Smiles location updated messaging, stronger branding, and a new opportunity to turn its exterior glass into valuable marketing space.

Sometimes a signage project isn’t about changing a brand. It’s about taking a brand customers already recognize and giving it a fresh, polished presentation.

That was the goal when WOW! Smiles in Ukiah, California came to Signarama for a refresh of the window graphics at their dental office.

Their existing graphics had aged, some of the messaging needed to change, and the exterior was ready for an update. The project gave us an opportunity to build on artwork previously created for another WOW! Smiles location while adapting the graphics to fit this particular building.

The result is colorful, energetic, and unmistakably WOW! Smiles.

But what we especially enjoyed about this project wasn't just the finished graphics. It was the collaboration behind them—and a relationship that continued to grow after the installation was complete.

Refreshing an Existing Brand Without Starting Over

A business doesn't always need a complete rebrand to make a noticeable difference.

For WOW! Smiles, much of the existing visual identity was already working. Their blue and green color palette, smile iconography, conversational messaging, and playful personality all fit the experience they wanted to communicate.

The challenge was to refresh the presentation while maintaining that established identity.

Our team worked from artwork that had previously been developed for another WOW! Smiles location and modified it for the Ukiah office. That allowed us to maintain consistency between locations while making changes based on the dimensions, windows, doors, and messaging needs of this particular property.

It is an important distinction in multi-location signage.

Consistency doesn't necessarily mean duplicating the exact same graphics everywhere. Buildings are different. Window configurations change. Sightlines vary. What works perfectly at one location may need to be adapted at another.

The goal is for customers to recognize the same brand even when the physical environment changes.

Turning Windows Into Part of the Brand Experience

One of the things we like most about this project is how extensively the windows are being used.

Rather than treating the glass as empty space around the entrance, WOW! Smiles uses it as another part of its visual identity.

Throughout the exterior, visitors encounter a combination of recognizable smile graphics and short marketing messages, including:

“Share a Smile.”

“Big Smiles.”

“Expert Care.”

“Trusted for Superior Results!”

Large exclamation-point graphics and smile icons carry the blue and green color palette across the building and tie the individual windows together visually.

At the main entrance, the graphics also communicate practical information such as the WOW! Smiles logo, website, phone number, and office hours.

That combination is important.

Good window graphics can do much more than decorate a storefront. Depending on the business, they can help communicate who you are, what you offer, how to contact you, where to enter, and what customers can expect from your brand.

For a dental or orthodontic practice, there is another consideration as well: the environment.

Healthcare signage doesn't necessarily have to feel clinical.

WOW! Smiles has a fun, approachable identity, and the graphics help carry that personality outside the office before a patient ever walks through the door.

A New Full-Door Graphic with a Marketing Purpose

One of the biggest changes in the project was a new graphic for a full glass door.

WOW! Smiles provided direction for what they wanted to communicate, while giving our team creative freedom to develop the final application.

Instead of simply placing a small logo or lettering on the glass, we treated the entire door as a marketing opportunity.

The finished design features lifestyle imagery alongside the message:

“Your Dream Smile Starts This Way!”

The artwork incorporates WOW! Smiles' familiar smile icon and supporting messaging to create a much more substantial visual presence than a conventional door decal.

For this portion of the project, we used perforated window vinyl.

Window perforation is particularly useful when a business wants to utilize a large area of glass for graphics while retaining some of the functional characteristics that make windows and glass doors valuable in the first place.

The work order called for a 30.5" × 70" premium laminated perforated window graphic on this door.

The result gives WOW! Smiles another large branded surface that can support marketing and messaging while feeling like an intentional part of the overall exterior.

Why Material Selection Matters for Exterior Window Graphics

The artwork is what most people notice first.

What they don't necessarily see is the material specification behind it.

For the primary window graphics on this project, the work order specified 3M IJ180CV3 vinyl with gloss cast laminate. The project also included removal of the previous window graphics before the new materials were installed.

Material selection matters, particularly with exterior graphics.

Window graphics are exposed to sunlight and weather while also being viewed from relatively close distances. The vinyl, laminate, printing, finishing, and installation all contribute to how the finished product looks and performs.

That's one reason professional sign projects involve more than simply sending artwork to a printer.

We consider the application, environment, surface, expected use, artwork, finishing requirements, and installation when determining how a project should be produced.

For businesses investing in their physical location, those details matter.

One Building, Multiple Messages, One Cohesive Look

This project is also a good example of why we approach a group of graphics as a sign system rather than a collection of individual decals.

Look at each WOW! Smiles window individually and the artwork is different.

One says “Share a Smile.”

Another communicates “Big Smiles,” “Expert Care,” and “Proven Results.”

Another features an oversized exclamation point.

Another communicates “Trusted for Superior Results!”

The entrance provides the brand and important office information.

And the newly designed door uses photography and a larger marketing message.

Yet when you look at the building as a whole, everything belongs together.

The repeated colors, typography, shapes, smile icons, speech-bubble elements, and visual language create continuity across the exterior.

That's the difference between putting several graphics on windows and developing branded environmental graphics.

Each surface can perform a different job while still contributing to one recognizable identity.

Designing for Dental and Healthcare Environments

Healthcare and dental offices have an interesting signage challenge.

There is obviously important functional information to communicate, but the environment also needs to establish trust.

For many patients, particularly younger patients or anyone who may be apprehensive about dental treatment, the experience begins well before they sit in the chair.

They see the building.

They find the entrance.

They notice the branding.

They walk through the door.

Every one of those interactions contributes to their impression of the practice.

For WOW! Smiles, bright colors and smile-focused graphics reinforce a personality that is energetic and welcoming rather than overly institutional.

This is where environmental branding can become especially powerful.

The signage outside a business shouldn't feel disconnected from the experience customers find inside.

It should introduce it.

A Smooth Collaboration from Start to Finish

There wasn't a dramatic installation obstacle or unusual fabrication challenge behind this project.

And we actually think that's worth talking about.

One of the things we're proudest of is how smoothly the project moved from beginning to end.

WOW! Smiles had an established identity and previous artwork to build from. They communicated the changes they wanted and provided direction for the new door. Our team was then able to adapt the existing creative, develop the new elements, produce the graphics, remove the aging materials, and install the refreshed package.

It was collaborative without becoming complicated.

That's what a good signage relationship should look like.

Our role isn't simply to manufacture whatever file arrives in our inbox. Sometimes we're developing a concept from scratch. Sometimes we're working with an outside designer. Sometimes we're reproducing an established national brand. And sometimes, as with WOW! Smiles, we're taking existing creative and figuring out how to make it work better for a particular location.

Being able to move between those roles is an important part of what we do.

And Then the Relationship Grew

Perhaps our favorite part of this project happened after the signage itself.

WOW! Smiles has worked with us on another location as well. They also own a dental office across the street from the Ukiah location—and after working together, they immediately entrusted us with additional work for that business.

For us, that's one of the best measures of a successful project.

Of course, we want the finished signage to look great.

We want the colors to be right. We want the materials to be appropriate. We want the graphics installed cleanly. We want the final result to accomplish what the customer envisioned.

But we also want the process of getting there to be a good experience.

When a customer finishes one project and trusts us enough to hand us another, that's something we're proud of.

More Than a Window Decal

Window graphics can sometimes be treated as an afterthought.

We see them differently.

A storefront or office exterior may contain hundreds of square feet of glass. For the right business, that is an enormous amount of visual real estate.

That space can be used for branding.

It can communicate services.

It can promote products.

It can provide privacy.

It can display hours and contact information.

It can direct customers.

And, as this project demonstrates, it can help turn an ordinary building exterior into something that feels distinctly connected to the company operating inside.

The key is designing the graphics as part of the overall environment rather than simply filling available glass.

A Fresh Look for WOW! Smiles in Ukiah

The completed WOW! Smiles refresh didn't require changing what makes their brand recognizable.

Instead, we helped bring that identity forward with updated graphics, refreshed messaging, new materials, and a custom perforated door design created specifically for the location.

The blue and green graphics now carry across the exterior windows and doors, creating a cohesive presentation while giving individual areas their own purpose.

It's colorful.

It's approachable.

It's easy to recognize.

And most importantly, it feels like WOW! Smiles.

We're proud of the finished project, but we're equally proud of the collaboration that produced it—and that the relationship has already grown into additional signage projects.

Because good signage can refresh a building.

Good collaboration can build a relationship.

Need to Refresh the Signage at Your Business?

If your window graphics are fading, your messaging has changed, or your location simply doesn't reflect your brand as well as it should anymore, you may not need to start from scratch.

Signarama can help evaluate what is working, what needs to change, and how existing branding can be adapted into an updated signage and graphics package.

From custom window graphics and perforated window vinyl to dimensional signage, ADA signs, wayfinding, wall graphics, vehicle graphics, and complete business signage packages, we can help bring your brand into the physical environment.

Contact Signarama to start planning your next signage refresh.