North Iowa Reporter

A North Liberty business has designed a protective acrylic shield, which is being used in business, banks and voting stations to assist in the prevention of the spread of the coronavirus. 

AlphaGraphics has designed a portable, clear protective acrylic shield that sits on legs and can be placed virtually anywhere there is needed face-to-face contact. They are also able to create larger designs and have been supplying them to local hospitals for their check-in areas. There has also been a demand for the shields at dealerships and banks where they can be used when people need one-on-one attention. 

“We’ve made and sold about 400 to date,” Dennis Tallman, co-owner of AlphaGraphics said, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen. “We’re marketing them statewide and have shipped them to auditors in about a dozen counties so far.”

These will also be used for the upcoming voting season where they will help protect officials and poll workers as they inspect IDs, ballots and deal with the public. 

“We made one that was 132x36 inches in two pieces for the Floyd County Public Health Department,” Tallman said, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

AlphaGraphics is just one of many businesses trying to survive the COVID-19 economic battle and this small innovation has helped them keep up in these hard times. 

“We’re not making many business cards now,” Tallman said, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen. “We’re just trying to keep the doors open and get through this by getting creative where we can.”

Born by an idea his wife had who noticed another business installing protective shields in these in-person areas in their business. 

“I thought, we have acrylic and we have a router,” said Tallman, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen. “We came up with a good design, put it on Facebook, and pretty soon the Jones County Auditor called me. A product was born.”

AlphaGraphics is a family-owned business and ran by Tallman and his son Nick Tallman. If you would like to contact the Tallmans for more info on ordering shields for your business they can be reached at 319-626-3700.