Window Graphics Are Redefining First Impressions for Modern Businesses
Most Orange County retail businesses spend real money fitting out their interiors. Edmund Karam of Lucent Graphic Solutions keeps noticing how little thought goes into the part that faces the street.
Two salons sit next to each other on a busy stretch in Newport Beach. Both well-reviewed, both open for years. One has clear windows — chairs, some lighting, a front desk visible from the sidewalk. The other has a window graphic: the name, what they do, a few words that make it obvious who walks in there. Watch the foot traffic for an hour. The second salon pulls more people off the street. Not because it's better. Because it said something.
Edmund Karam thinks about this a lot. As founder of Lucent Graphic Solutions, an Orange County window graphics and commercial signage company, he works with retail businesses, restaurants, medical offices, and service providers across OC and Los Angeles County to turn their windows into something that earns its square footage. The window is the only part of a business that reaches people who haven't committed to coming in. By the time someone pushes through the door, the window already did its job — or didn't.
"Most business owners think about their window as glass that lets light in," Karam says. "I think about it as the first employee who never calls in sick. It's working at 6am before you unlock the door and still going at 10pm after you've gone home. Every person who walks past gets a message from your business whether you planned one or not. Blank glass sends a message too. It says: we haven't thought about you yet."
Orange County's retail market is as tight as it's been in 16 years. Availability dropped below 4% in 2024 and held there through 2025, per CBI Commercial data. New tenants are filling spaces in Irvine, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, and Costa Mesa — paying premium rents where foot traffic is genuine and a slow month can hurt. Every square foot of window is either pulling people in or letting them walk past. Most owners haven't thought about which one theirs is doing.
Window graphics along the Southern California coast take a beating. Cheaper films yellow and peel here inside a year — the UV load is serious, and beachside cities add salt air on top of that. Lucent handles design, printing, and installation in-house, and Karam is specific about which materials go where. A shaded interior door is a straightforward job. A full south-facing storefront in Huntington Beach is not. Perforated vinyl — the kind that reads as a graphic from the street but lets light through from inside — requires a different install approach than frosted privacy film for a medical office. They look similar until they don't. Getting it wrong is visible from 30 feet away.
"We worked with a juice bar in Irvine that had been open two years and couldn't get walk-in traffic," Karam says. "Beautiful interior. You just couldn't tell from outside. We did the windows — made it obvious what they sold, who it was for, gave people a reason to stop. The owner called three weeks later. Walk-ins had nearly doubled. Same location, same product." He shrugs. "Different window."
Lucent Graphic Solutions provides custom window graphics, perforated vinyl, frosted and privacy films, full window wraps, and branded storefront design for businesses across Orange County and Los Angeles County. Design, printing, and installation are handled in-house. Most projects are completed within 5 to 7 business days.
About Lucent Graphic Solutions
Lucent Graphic Solutions is a vehicle graphics and commercial signage company based in Orange County, CA, founded by Edmund Karam. The company offers vehicle wraps, fleet graphics, wall graphics, window graphics, and branded environmental design for businesses across Southern California, with design, printing, and installation handled in-house. To request a quote, call +1 877-582-3680, email info@lucentgs.com, or visit www.lucentgraphicsolutions.com.