Truck magnets
Before you design a truck magnet, look at the truck
Navy magnet, black truck. Nobody can read it. The panel decides the design, so start there.
Start with the panel
Walk out to the truck. Find the flat panel where the magnet will go, usually a door or a side panel. A magnet needs a flat steel surface. Curves, handles and trim do not work, and a magnet that sits across a crease will not lie flat.
Note the paint color. Everything about the design depends on it.
Color and contrast
A magnet that does not contrast with the truck disappears. Printer guidance calls out two failures: navy on a black truck and white on a white truck. There is no tested chart of every pairing, so use your eyes and a simple rule: pick a light and dark gap that is large, and put the dark color against the light one.
On a dark truck, use a light background with dark type, or a bright panel with a clear outline. On a white truck, a dark or saturated background works. Keep the background behind the phone number quiet.
Pick a color that fits your business, not a color someone says means trust. If your logo colors fight the paint, ask your assistant for a version that puts the logo on a plain panel.
Make the phone number readable
People read a truck while moving, or from the next lane, so the phone number is the job. Give it the most space and the strongest contrast.
Printer guidance varies on type size for magnets, and the sources do not agree on a single minimum, so treat any single number with care. As a rule of thumb, the business name and phone number should be the biggest things on the magnet, and the phone number should be bigger than anything in the services line. Keep the services line short, or drop it.
Check the proof from a safe distance, standing on the ground. Do not read or scan a magnet while driving.
Pick the size
Two sizes cover most trucks. A 12 by 24 magnet suits a van or a truck door. Measure the flat area first, and leave a clear border of about an inch around the edge so the magnet does not hang over a curve.
Tell your assistant the size and the paint color when you start, so the design is built for that panel.
Look after it
A magnet is easy to look after. Printer and maker guidance is consistent on the basics. Grit trapped under a magnet can scratch the clear coat, and moisture can mark the paint.
Remove the magnet and wipe both the panel and the back of the magnet weekly. Do not put a magnet on fresh paint, so wait 60 days after a repaint. Wait 48 hours after waxing. Put it back on a clean, dry panel.
Magnet guidance varies, so ask your body shop if you are unsure about your paint.
Before you order
Run through four quick checks. Is the panel flat? Do you know the paint color? Does the phone number have the most space and the strongest contrast on the magnet? Does the size fit inside the flat area with a clear border all around?
If the answer to any of those is no, fix it in the design chat first. Changes are free and unlimited until you approve, and it is a lot easier to change a proof than a magnet that has already shipped.
Ask your assistant
Tell it the truck, the panel color and the size. Say Offscreen, make me a truck magnet. You get up to four designs, you ask for changes in plain words, and nothing prints until you approve and pay.