Sign Builder Illustrated March 2013

monument Entrance Signs

uPLIGHtInG channel Letters

www.signshop.com

Nu mbE r 213

Number 213 | march 2013

How-To

Sign Bu i lder i l luStr ated

State of the Art!

Digital Signs

> Project Management > Post-and-Panels ma rch 2013

> Vehicle Wraps

Like more creative panel mounting options?

G E

A RR

N

I I N A L

standoff system

D TE

O R

W

A

U I N E

G

N

w w w.piz a z z s y s t e m s .c om

Like easy, fast, safe graphic changes?

G E

U I N E

I N A

L

w w w.piz a z z s y s t e m s .c om

I

standoff system

D T E

O R

N T E PA

G

N

March 2013

35

26 26 35

42 Window Dressing

BY MIKE ANTONIAK

Transforming storefront signage into engaging digital attractions. Plus, more digital signage news and advice.

Marketing Moxie

BY ASHLEY BRAY

The right signs in the right place can be the best marketing tool.

42

Gentlemen, Start Your Wraps!

55

BY MIKE ANTONIAK

Design options and versatility secure the enduring appeal of post-and-panel signs.

Solving the Obscure

BY ADAM BROWN

A sign company effectively builds an innovative yet obscure sign design.

BY JEFF WOOTEN

A wrap specialist shifts from one fast lane to another.

Sign Builder Illustrated (Print ISSN 895-0555, Digital ISSN 2161-4709) (USPS#0015-805) (Canada Post Cust. #7204564) (Bluechip Int’l, Po Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2, Agreement # 41094515) is published monthly

by Simmons-Boardman Publ. Corp, 55 Broad Street, 26th Floor, New York, NY 10004. Printed in the U.S.A. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and Additional mailing offices.

Pricing, Qualified individual working in the sign industry may request a free subscription. Non-qualified subscriptions printed or digital version: 1 year US $105.00; foreign $197.00; foreign, air mail $297.00. 2 years US $149.00; foreign $267.00; foreign, air mail $497.00. BOTH Print & Digital Versions: 1 year US $158.00; foreign $296.00; foreign, air mail $396.00. 2 years US $224.00; foreign $400.00; foreign, air mail $600.00. Single copies are $36.00 ea. Subscriptions must be paid for in U.S. funds only.

Copyright Š Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation 2013. All rights reserved. Contents may not be

2

51

Post-and-Panels Forever

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

reproduced without permission. For reprint information contact: Arthur Sutley, Publisher 212-620-7247 or asutley@sbpub.com.

For Subscriptions, & address changes, please call (800) 895-4389, (402) 346-4740, Fax (402) 346-3670, e-mail circulation@sbpub.com or write to: Sign Builder Illustrated, Simmons-Boardman Publ. Corp, PO Box 10, Omaha, NE 68101-0010.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sign Builder Illustrated, PO Box 10, Omaha, NE 68101-0010.

Instructional information provided in this magazine should only be performed by skilled crafts people with the proper equipment. The publisher and authors of information provided herein advise all readers to exercise care when engaging in any of the how-to activities published in the magazine. Further, the publisher and authors assume no liability for damages or injuries resulting from projects contained herein.

signshop.com

ThE>NEXT>sIgN>of>sUCCEss. ThE>NEXT sIgN>of sUCCEss. >>

Beam>pattern>allows>12”>row-to-row>spacing Beam pattern allows 12” row-to-row spacing

>>

Perfect>spacing>for>shallow>letters>and>cabinets Perfect spacing for shallow letters and cabinets

>>

Waterproof>IP68>rated>module Waterproof IP68 rated module

>>

50,000>hour>L70>lifetime 50,000 hour L70 lifetime

>>

Constant>current>driven>LEDs Constant current driven LEDs

>>

LM-79>and>LM-80>test>reports>available LM-79 and LM-80 test reports available

>>

UL certified for use in wet, UL>certified>for>use>in>wet,> damp and dry locations damp>and>dry>locations

TM

AgiLight provides high quality LED products using the latest technology which lowers customer LED cost by reducing the quantity of product needed for each project.

www.AgiLight.com | info@AgiLight.com | +1.866.482.0203

PRODUCT PREVIEW AT BOOTH

#4329

Agenda

How-To Columns

22

Light Those Letters Up

MARCH 2013 March 26: The IPAF Summit Conference, combining education and networking opportunities in the access industry, is being held at the Hilton Miami Downtown Hotel in Miami, Florida. (www.iapa-summit.info)

APRIL 2013

16

april 3-6: The 2013 ISA International Sign Expo takes place at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. (www.signs.org)

Monument Sign: A New Frontier

16 Monument Sign: A New Frontier

BY MARK ROBERTS

Creating an “out-of-this-world” replacement monument sign.

22 Light Those Letters Up

BY PETER PERSZYK

How I learned to love those hidden lights.

Departments 6

UpFront

As digital signage ventures onto new roads, Editor Jeff Wooten looks at some reasons why.

8

Dispatches

The latest news from around the industry.

12

Sign Show

58

SBI Marketplace

60

Shop Talk

The newest products and services from sign manufacturers.

Advertisements and announcements from the sign trade.

MONUMENT Entrance Signs

Channel Letters

www.signshop.com

NUMB ER 213

Ashley Bray delivers an example of building a woman-owned sign business.

UPLIGHTING

NUMBER 213 | MARCH 2013

HOW-TO

SIGN BU I LDER I L LUSTR ATED

State of the Art!

Digital Signs

> Project Management > Post-and-Panels MARC H 2013

> Vehicle Wraps

4

On the Cover Architectural Projection Experience designed by Obscura Digital, Under the Dome, at the Westfield San Francisco Centre.

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

april 11-13: ISS, the largest tradeshow for the decorated apparel industry, is being held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. (www.issshows.com) april 21-25: LIGHTFAIR® International 2013 (including the LIGHTFAIR Institute® Pre-Conference program and the LFI Trade Show and Conference) takes place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. (www.lightfair.com)

JUNE 2013 JUNE 8-14: InfoComm 2013, a tradeshow produced by the audiovisual communications association, will occur at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. (www.infocommshow.org) signshop.com

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Up

by jeff wooten

March 2013, Vol. 27, No. 213

Posted: Digital Billboard Conversions

Sign Builder Illustrated (ISSN 0895-0555) print, (ISSN 2161-0709) digital is published by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation executive offices

President and Chairman Arthur J. McGinnis, Jr.

The future of signage is now, and yes, it’s digital.

T

hose back-in-the-day forward-thinkers have a tendency to gripe every now and then about how mid- to late-twentieth century pop culture really missed the mark in terms of flying cars, rocket backpacks, and time shares on the moon that should be at our disposal today.

However can we agree that digital signage was one innovation they got right? After all, check out their use in retail stores. Or in airports. Or even on the side of the road.

On page 29, you’re going to read how Ken Musser, owner of Target Signs in Gillette, Wyoming, converted six of his outdoor advertising company’s static billboard faces in the area to digital screens from Watchfire Digital Outdoor.

These displays are actually the first electronic billboards in Gillette.

Early on, Musser knew he had to create an occupancy plan for his boards. When he did, he realized that converting a single face in a location with solid traffic would be a start, but converting several faces at once would make a stronger visual impact. “I already had billboard locations in that area, and it was time to change them out, so it was almost a perfect fit to replace them with LED,” he says.

Over the course of his thirty-one years in the business, Musser has evolved from handpainting to wide format inkjet, and he has always tried to gravitate toward the newest technologies whenever possible. But during his decision to convert to electronic signage, the reasoning actually didn’t boil down to innovation alone. “It also came down to the practicality of being able to have multiple advertisers at a single location,” he explains, “and to

6

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

Publisher Arthur J. sutley 55 Broad Street, 26th floor New York, NY 10004 212/620-7247; fax: 212/633-1863 editorial editor

Jeff Wooten

323 Clifton Street, Suite #7 Greenville, NC 27858 252/355-5806; fax: 252/355-5690 jwooten@sbpub.com

be able to compound that income.”

The impact of the digital boards was instant, and Target Signs is on track to meet their occupancy goal right out of the gate. “Digital ads have a way of building momentum because people see them more than once,” says Musser.

“And advertisers love them because they can deliver flexible, timely marketing messages.”

Musser finds that, as customers learn about the power of outdoor advertising signage, they’re even using static and digital to complement one another. “In fact, digital has given us a lot of opportunities to make contact with people who want to do outdoor but realize that static will be a better fit for them,” he says.

For his broad spectrum clientele, Musser is offering rotating spots on the digital billboards via a twelve-week contract that works differently than the contract for a static billboard. “On this contract, clients have the opportunity to be fixed at one location and then two weeks at another location,” he explains.

Target Signs’ twelve-week contracts let advertisers make the most of the medium’s flexibility while gaining exposure on the network of digital boards. “We were asking people to make year-long obligations on static boards. Now that seems so archaic,” says Musser.

Speaking of archaic, Musser believes that digital sign technology is the perfect step-up for the future, and he can’t imagine why any municipality would have restrictions on it. “I think there are going to be fair-minded communities that are looking forward into the future and aren’t going to be afraid,” says Musser. “People need to stay optimistic with digital technology, because the economy is going to get better.”

associate editor

Ashley Bray

55 Broad Street, 26th Floor New York, NY 10004 401/722-5919; fax: 212/633-1863 abray@sbpub.com contributing writers

Butch “superfrog” Anton, Mike Antoniak, Adam Brown, Jim hingst, Peter Perszyk, Mark roberts, lori shridhare, randy Wright art

Corporate Art Director Wendy Williams production

Corporate Production Director Mary Conyers circulation

Circulation Director Maureen Cooney advertising sales national sales director

Jeff sutley 212/620-7233; fax: 212/633-1863 jeffsutley@sbpub.com west & midwest regional sales manager

Kim noa

212/620-7221; fax: 212/633-1863 knoa@sbpub.com

For reprint information contact Arthur J. Sutley 55 Broad St, 26th Floor New York, NY 10004 212/620-7247; fax: 212/633-1863 Circulation Dept. 800/895-4389

signshop.com

VISIT US AT BOOTH #4766

HOW DO WORLD-FAMOUS BRANDS LOOK THEIR BEST AND BRIGHTEST?

PLASKOLITE Engineered to deliver virtually endless design possibilities, the Plaskolite portfolio of plastic sheet substrates offers an extensive range of colors, textures and finish options.

And with superior UV protection and weather and impact resistance, Plaskolite ensures that your signage applications make a great impression that lasts.

Product shown

OPTIX® FAMILY

DISCOVER OUR PRODUCT LINES ENGINEERED SPECIFICALLY FOR THE SIGN INDUSTRY: ■

OPTIX® SG*

■

OPTIX® LD

■

OPTIX® DA

■

MUSTANG®*

■

MUSTANG® CHROME

■

VIVAK®

Product shown

*AVAILABLE IN ROLL STOCK

MUSTANG®

©2013 Plaskolite, Inc. All rights reserved.

signshop.com

PLASKOLITE.COM

| 800.848.9124

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

7

Dispatches

LEDtronics

Torrance, California—With a growing population of over 145,000 and a recognition from Popular Science magazine as “one of the fifty greenest cities in the nation,” Pasadena is fast becoming “an environmental advocate and a leader in environmental compliance and protection,” according to its Environmental Charter.

Pasadena was one of the early cities to sign onto the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Control Agreement in 2005, committing to reduce its carbon footprint dramatically by 2020. The city was also one of the first to apply to a federal grant earmarked for energy programs that was part of the $787 billion stimulus package Congress approved in 2009. Seven months later, the U.S. Department of Energy authorized the city with up to $1,507,800 in Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) funds “to reduce energy use and greenhouse gases and develop and retain jobs.”

Over a span of three years, LEDtronics (www.ledtronics.com) has worked with the Pasadena Department of Public Works on the installation of new 27-Watt, post-top LED streetlights for the replacement of high-wattage metal-halide bulbs—part of an ongoing capital improvement project to add, refurbish, or replace approximately fiftyfour miles of street light systems around the city.

8

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

signshop.com

all photos courtesy of ledtronics.

Lights up Pasadena’s Green City Path

UL Eliminates Fees

The first major LED streetlight installation was completed in its western district.

Approximately fifty of the LEDtronics LED30MH-600-TPW-002 lamps were installed in decorative globe fixtures atop fifteen-foot-tall cement utility poles along the northern section of Orange Grove Boulevard—the thoroughfare where the annual Rose Parade starts. In addition to estimated annual energy cost savings of up to 80 percent, the city anticipates decreased maintenance demand and a much longer lifespan (up to 50,000 hours of continuous operation), according to Greg Krymer of LEDtronics. signshop.com

In early 2011, as part of the general project to implement pedestrian and transportation enhancements within Pasadena’s historic 1920s Beaux-Arts Civic Center, metal-halide lights were r e p l a c e d w i t h a p p r ox i m a t e l y 9 0 LEDtronics 27-watt, post-top lamps along the streets surrounding the recently renovated and retrofitted City Hall building.

By summer 2012, approximately 200 of the LEDtronics post-top LED street lamps had been installed around Pasadena, replacing the now-outdated 100-watt MH lamps.

photo courtesy of ul.

Alexandria, Virginia—The International Sign Association (ISA) reported that UL will eliminate all variation notice (VN) fees related to its electric sign certification program. Elimination of the VN fees is the result of ongoing discussions between UL and the Sign Industry Business Panel, chaired by ISA Executive Vice President Rich Gottwald.

When sign products do not comply with the UL Follow-Up Service Procedures, applicable standards, or other requirements, UL field representatives issue VNs to document the nonconformance. A variation notice is a channel of communication between UL and a manufacturer that creates a record when nonconformance issues are discovered. Prior to this agreement, each variation notice had been accompanied, in most circumstances, by a fee of $580.

“We believe the elimination of the VN fee supports a collaborative relationship between the sign industry and UL, ensuring that we deliver products that consumers and endusers can rely on,” said Gottwald.

The Sign Business panel is made up of sign and sign component manufacturers from the ISA, USSC, and WSA associations.

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

9

Dispatches +

photo by dave forrest.

EMC/Traffic Impact Safety Research Release Washington, D.C.—There is no statistical relationship between the installation of electronic message centers (EMCs) and a subsequent increase in traffic accidents, according to a new study conducted by the Texas Engineering Extension Service at Texas A&M University, which included 135 signs in four states. This conclusion is based on an analysis of crash/accident data from the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Highway Safety Information System (HSIS) database, an extensive crash/ accident set of data for selective states.

Sponsored by the Signage Foundation Inc. (SFI), the study, “Statistical Analysis of the Relationship between On-Premise Digital Signage and Traffic Safety,” only examined data related to signs erected in 2006 and 2007, in order to have sufficient data for the "before" and "after" periods after the installation of the EMC.

Three years of data were utilized for each time period. The signs, located in California, North Carolina, Ohio, and Washington, were used because these are four of the seven states that contribute HSIS data. HSIS data is available for 2004-2009.

“For the 135 sites included in the analysis, there was no statistically significant change in crashes due to the installation of on-premise digital signs. The same can also be said about the results for each of the four states on an individual basis,” the report concluded. “The safety index for all of the states was 1.0 with a 95 percent confidence interval that ranged from 0.93 to 1.07.” (Note: A safety index greater than 1.0 indicates an increase in crashes in the after period, and a value less than 1.0 indicates a reduction in crashes in the after period.)

Think latex.

Think textile. Think signage.

Think new opportunities.

SOFT SIGNAGE & WALL GRAPHICS RETAIL & SEASONAL DISPLAYS EXHIBITIONS & TRADE SHOWS

Ideal for soft signage – Mimaki’s JV400LX prints directly on textile.

Lower power consumption. No degassing required. Ventilation-free operation. mimakiusa.com ATL

888-530-3988

BOS

888-530-3986

Learn more. Visit us at:

ISA Expo

Mimaki JV400LX_TexH_SBI0313.indd 1

10

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

•

Booth 4515

|

CHI

888-530-3985

Las Vegas, NV Apr. 4-6

LA

888-530-3987

© 20 2013 201 0 3 Mimaki M maki Mi ma mak ak US USA, USA SA Inc. n nc. nc

2/5/13 1:37 PM

signshop.com

The data was analyzed using the Empirical Bayes (EB) method, which is the method recommended in the Highway Safety Manual published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and approved for use by the FHWA for conducting before-after studies (AASHTO, 2010).

Only on-premise signs located on major roadways included in HSIS data were used; off-premise electronic billboards were not included. Crashes located within 0.1 mile upstream and downstream from the sign were included in the study. No statistically significant differences were observed when comparing crashes involving single or multiple vehicles. Neither was there any measurable difference for signs with single- or multiple-color EMCs. The complete study is listed on the SFI Web site at www.thesignagefoundation.org.

New SBI National Sales Director New York City, New York—Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation is pleased to announce that Jeff Sutley has been promoted from east coast regional sales director to national sales director of Sign Builder Illustrated.

As national sales director, Jeff will be responsible for managing the national sales team, maintaining and building new marketing partnerships to increase visibility in the sign industry, and coordinating SBI’s promotion efforts.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity to be able to take this next step and contribute to the continued growth of our industry,” says Jeff.

A graduate of Marist University, Jeff joined Simmons-Boardman in 2007 as sales manager of the twice-a-year Sign Builder Illustrated Buyer’s Guide and was promoted to sales manager of Sign Builder Illustrated in September 2008.

He currently lives in Bergen County, New Jersey, with his wife Melissa and two sons, Jeffrey Jr. and Hunter.

Jeff Sutley can be reached by phone at 212/620-7233 or via email at jeffsutley@sbpub.com.

Be seen.

Simply the best inks available.

True plug-n-print cartridges for Mimaki® and Roland® solvent based printers

signshop.com

Marabu North America Phone: 843-886-0094 Toll Free: 888-253-2778 www.marabu-northamerica.com

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

11

SignSHOW dy e - s u b l i m at i o n Epson Enters the Dye-Sublimation Transfer Market with its SureColor F-Series Epson America is now accepting pre-orders for its two brand-new, roll-fed dye-sublimation transfer printers—the 44-inch SureColor® F6070 and the 64-inch SureColor F7070. The new SureColor F-Series printers are the first in the market in which every component (from ink and printhead to printer chassis and bulk ink delivery system) is designed and manufactured by a single company. The result is a high-performance dye-sublimation transfer printing technology designed for exceptional reliability and industrial-level production with high-quality output up to 1,440-by-720-dpi on all leading transfer papers. These printers feature EPSON UltraChrome DS, an all-new, specially formulated dye-sublimation ink that produces outstanding images with vibrant colors, intense blacks, sharp contours, and smooth gradations (as well as resistance to alkaline and acid perspiration) and designed specifically for the 10-channel, 720-nozzles-percolor EPSON MicroPiezo TFP Print Head. Both printer models come standard with Wasatch SoftRIP. www.epson.com

Graphics One Redefines Dye-Sublimation with New GO NeoTack Ink Graphics One, LLC has launched its new GO NeoTack Ink, a professional-grade dye-sublimation ink with integrated tack to eliminate ghosting. This ink offers newly patented, heat-activated Tack Technology developed to eliminate the need for tacky paper with a formula providing tack to conventional dye-sub papers when used with textiles and apparel; even the most basic dye-sublimation transfer papers are capable of producing vibrant transfer results. GO NeoTack Ink also provides a hi-fi twelve-color set with three new neon colors: Neon Red, Neon Yellow, and Neon Blue.

Meanwhile Super Black, Orange, Blue, CMYK, Lc, and Lm are also included to create an outstanding color gamut. The excellent runability and no-clog formula extensively tested in Epson printheads solidifies GO NeoTack Ink as the new standard for dye-sublimation ink. 877/472-7471; www.graphicsone.com

exhibit siGnaGe Lots of New Portable Display Products in Orbus’s 2013 Catalog The Orbus Exhibit & Display Group has added over one hundred new portable displays and over sixty new tension fabric backwalls, exhibit kits and structures, banner stands, and outdoor tents in its 2013 catalog, The Exhibitors’ Handbook. The new products include the Formulate™ Flip line of exhibit kits, which offers exhibitors the ability to create a different look and show a new message by spinning double-sided graphics from front to back or flipping them from top to bottom. Flip kits incorporate layered, staggered walls and stretch and pillowcase fabric graphics.

Also new are Formulate ten-foot and twenty-foot backwalls, which combine pillowcase fabric graphics with lightweight aluminum tube frames to create a functional exhibit. Accessories such as headers, adjustable literature holders, and tables are also available. www.orbuscompany.com

fasten ers/Grommets Mount Signs Securely with the SignGuardian U P&C Tech Products has announced the availability of the SignGuardian U™, a new, U.S.-made bracket for U-channel and square posts. The design simplicity of the SignGuardian U makes it unique. It features locking feet, and when installed with a tamper-resistant bolt, it is almost impossible to remove. It is easy to install; light, yet strong; and can be used in any climate conditions. The SignGuardian U is available in bags of multiples of ten or in bulk.

978/479-0022; www.signguardian.com

l a m i n a t i n G e q u i p. / s u p p l i e s Print on a Variety of Surfaces with Drytac’s Prime Seal Ink Adhesion Promoter Drytac® introduces Prime Seal, a new, low-viscous liquid that enables the printing and coating of hard-to-stick surfaces (including glass, tile, and steel). Applied by hand or with a roll coater, Prime Seal promotes the adhesion of inks and enhances the color density and clarity of the colors printed. Prime Seal is ideal for traditional screenprint ink systems, as well as digital, UV curable ink systems. Although it is not a topcoat, it can be used to stabilize inks after they are printed. It also allows for a UV coating to be applied without transferring inks back to the image. Drytac recommends that customers test Prime Seal prior to use, in order to ensure that it will work with their environment and substrates. www.drytac.com

12

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

signshop.com

The one water doesn’t put out.

Worry-free outdoor lighting a myth? Not anymore.

Our unique potted modules produce unmatched outdoor performance, period. Whether its heat, cold, rain, salt or wind vibration – LuxemBright Fire Series LEDs will perform worry-free year after year.

Get 50 FEET

FREE

Valid on your next full case purchase of any Fire Series White, receive a FREE 50 ft. box of Red equal to or less than product ordered. Call for details. Offer expires APRIL 31, 2013. Promo code: BOWFINNSB1212

Call 877.236.4401, press #1 Above image used for advertising purposes only. LuxemBright® Fire Series™ modules are potted to IP67 standard and are not intended to be submerged in water. Fire Series, Fire, and Flare are Trademarks of CAO Group, Inc. Blaze and Inferno are Registered Trademarks of CAO Group, Inc. © 2013 CAO Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

SignSHOW routers/enGr avers Kern Lasers Helps Shops "Laser-Cut" into Solutions for Commercial Signage Laser-cut signs are present in schools, museums, commercial buildings, and storefronts. Two common ways to create a professional-looking sign are to cut acrylic letters to shape and to etch back-painted acrylic to allow for a contrasting color fill to show through the front side. High-performance laser cutting and engraving machine manufacturer Kern Lasers is now offering several models of laser equipment that are intended for the creation of commercial signage. For example, the company’s HSE laser system (pictured) features an updated X-axis gantry and communications system that allows for even easier operation and maintenance. These turnkey machines are sold with a chilling unit, a vacuum system, a computer, a monitor, and all the software needed to run the machine.

Meanwhile their Dual Head System can be equipped with two laser heads doubling its cutting production. Kern's KCAM software will match the power of each laser, resulting in two identically powered lasers. If you wish to cut a single large file, simply lock one laser to the side, and the remaining laser has full cutting capacity over the entire tabletop.. 218/631-2755; www.kernlasers.com

LaserBits: A Trio of Products that are Ideal for Engraving LaserBits has announced the availability of three exciting products in its engravable and cut lineup. Pattern Acrylic Sheets (pictured) are ideal for adding “bling” to your laser project. Rich-looking graphics are embedded in the mirror film backing prior to lamination on the acrylic sheet. The result is a durable graphic with a mirror look that can be engraved and cut with a laser. Sheets are available in eight different designs. CerMark Metal Marking Solution creates solid black engraving on uncoated metals and is available in bottles in four size: 25, 100, 250, and 500 grams. The solution is brushed or sprayed onto clean metal and then laser-engraved. After engraving, wash the area with water to remove the unused solution. Finally the Beveled Impress Awards feature rich and elegant classic looks using oneinch-thick cast acrylic. A black base with blue or gold accents reflects into the beveled edges of the award. No acrylic glue or special adhesives are required to assemble. Using anaerobic adhesives on the award top, the assembly process becomes a simple peal-and-stick method. www.laserbits.com SloanLED-Mar-V180-hP-SBI.pdf 1 2/7/2013 1:08:29 PM

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

14

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

signshop.com

siGn cabinets/liGht boxes Miratec Systems Introduces PureColor™ Technology Miratec Systems announces a major advancement in the backlit color management of its Miratec Systems® digitally printed sign faces. PureColor™ Technology is the latest innovation for backlit applications where color consistency and accuracy are essential. PureColor Technology makes mirror-image printing obsolete. With this new technology, the days of "compromising on color accuracy," "being too dark in the daylight," and "washing out when back-lit" are gone. Sign shops all over the country can take advantage of this improvement and offer their customers better quality at the same competitive prices. 800/336-1224; www.miratecsystems.com

vehicle Graphics Add a Unique Spin to Car Wraps with 3M’s New Chrome Film 3M Commercial Graphics has added a unique film to its 3M™ Scotchprint® Wrap Film Series 1080: 3M™ Scotchprint® Wrap Film 1080-SE420 Chrome. This new chrome film is the fortieth color and finish combination in the Series. The shiny, mirror-like appearance of the new film offers the opportunity to create a customized look and is available in forty-eight-inch rolls. Chrome film 1080-SE420 continues to offer the same adhesive properties found in 3M Scotchprint Wrap Film Series 1080—it is slideable, repositionable, and removable, and its non-visible air-release channels ensure fast and virtually bubble-free installations. The new film also offers an Expected Performance Life of three years. 800/328-3908; www.3mgraphics.com/1080

Tri-Mod LED Backlighting Panels

100% CONNECTABLE! NO SOLDERING REQUIRED!

• A great way to backlight your graphics, posters and promotional messages • Evenly illuminates without any hot spots • Just 1/16” thick • Less than 1” of installation depth required • Panels are pre-wired and simply clip together

• 6 panel sizes enable endless configurations • Dimmable • Energy efficient • virtually shatterproof fiberglass construction • rated ated for 50,000 hours usage with minimal to no light degradation

New!

Slotted Standoffs

Go to 2012 Web Pages 479-481

Go to 2012 Web Page 101

st Greatte of y Varie

Standoffs for Signage & Display

finishes Polished Chrome Available: matt Chrome

Black nickel Brushed Brass

Can Be Mounted Vertically or Horizontally

Brushed stainless satin Copper Polished Chrome satin stainless

Lowest Prices...

Widest Selection...

All From Stock!

LEAsE InquIrE, As fInIshEs sv vA vAry ry from styLE to styLE * PLEAsE

Best Prices in the Industry!

Eco-LITE SErIES IES

Barrel Lengths from 1/2” – 6” Diameters from 1/2” – 1-1/2”

FrEE 1,000 Page catalog!

Go to 2012 Web Pages 96-102

PrEMIUM EMIUM STEEL STEEL SErIES SEr S rIES

f 1” Diameter Barrel Unbeatable 3/4” Diameter Tamper Proo Part # Length Price Barrel stDE-3224-* 3/4” $1.60 ea.

Part # Length Price stDE-3232-* 1” $2.02 ea. stD-24243/4” $6.55 ea. stDE-3248-* 1-1/2” $2.22 ea. stD-2432- * 1” $6.85 ea. stDE-3264- * 2” $2.42 ea. stD-2448- * 1-1/2” $7.60 ea. stDE-3296- * 3” $2.92 ea. stD-24128-** 4” $10.25 ea. stDE-32128-* 4” $3.33 ea. stDE-32192- * 6” $4.00 ea.

signshop.com

Serving the Industry Since 1972

f PrEMIUM Tamper Proo aLUMInUM SErIES IES Ideal for the 5/8” Diameter Barrel Outdoors Part # Length Price stDA-2020- * 5/8” $1.94 ea. stDA-2032- * 1” $2.26 ea. stDA-2048- * 1-1/2” $2.73 ea. stDA-2064- * 2” $3.26 ea. stDA-2096- * 3” $3.94 ea. stDA-20128-* 4” $4.15 ea.

Plastics Industries, Inc. www.outwater.com/vip2 New Jersey • ArizoNA

1-800-631-8375

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

15

HOW-TO

By Mark roBerts

Dimensional

Monument Sign: A New Frontier Creating an “out-ofthis-world” replacement monument.

O

ne of my long-time clients is the United Space Alliance, a space operations company located in nearby Webster, Texas. They recently contacted me about making a new monument entrance sign for their main offices that would replace their now-outdated one.

However, this time, they wanted a monument sign that would make a statement.

For starters, they needed a new logo. Their former logo featured an image of the space shuttle inside an “A;” but with the shuttle fleet retired, this was no longer applicable. Instead they requested images of the horizon of the moon and deeper space to be placed inside the “A.” The previous lettering featured red, white, and

blue colors. But now they wanted brushed aluminum letters on shiny, factory-painted black aluminum panels.

Before we could make this sign a reality for them, we had to first gain approval from the City of Webster. So to begin the permitting (and fabrication) process, I had to engineer drawings, plot plans, and conduct a survey. There was no problem getting approval, so I immediately went straight to work on this project.

The structural components for the monument sign consist of two 4-by-4-by-1/4-inch square steel extruded tubes. My assistant and I set each square tube into a hole twelve inches in diameter and forty-eight inches below grade.

Next we inserted two forty-eight-inch-tall

The United Space Alliance needed to replace their red, white, & blue front entrance monument sign with this more up-to-date combination of black and brushed aluminum.

16

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

signshop.com

Attaching the horizontal steel bracket to the leg of the monument sign with screws.

Attaching the horizontal steel support on the face side of the sign.

Here are the bottom pans installed, showing the horizontal support.

18

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

Sonotube® concrete forms over each square tube. These forty-eight-inch-tall Sonotube pieces contain the concrete and rebar necessary to adequately anchor the sign to the ground.

After each leg had been aligned and were square with each other, we poured the concrete into the tubes, filling them to the top. (Note: We made sure that each leg was in line with the other leg.)

In addition to the concrete-filled tubes, we also created a slab form from one-by-six-inch pine boards, 3/8-inch rebar cross-tied into place, and eight bags of Redi-Mix concrete. After floating and troweling the concrete surface, we left the job site.

The next day, we returned and attached the structural steel to the vertically set steel legs. Our method of attachment for these structural angles consisted of self-tapping steel screws installed with a high-speed screw gun.

The design for this monument sign was fairly easy. It was constructed with a set of two larger, upper pan-formed, pre-finished aluminum sheets. The two lower aluminum pans were attached to the lower portion of the structure with structural double-sided assembly tape.

Next we temporarily installed four horizontal structural steel “Ls”—two on either side of the top and two on either side of the bottom of the main sign.

These four components hold the main sign faces in place.

To obtain the reveal in the sign design, we welded a one-by-one-inch aluminum framework and installed it on top of the lower two pan faces. This feature breaks up the sign panel into two distinct objects on all four sides of the sign.

Once this framework had been attached to the top of the bottom two aluminum pans, we installed the two bottom frame angles on the square tubing posts.

Measuring up each post to twenty-four inches, we next added a middle section of perimeter framework on all four sides.

Finally we added the upper horizontal framework to the pole structure to complete the internal framework.

The horizontal components installed to support the pan faces were now ready to be concealed.

We had pan-formed the two upper faces in a sheet metal brake to the exact sizes required to attach over the horizontal steel framework. signshop.com

Riveting the horizontal square tubing to the top of the lower pans.

Fisso® Steel

Durable.

Beautitul.

Creative.

Here’s the aluminum square tubing divider placed between the top pans and the bottom pans.

All of the attributes your finished projects deserve.

All products are in stock & ready to ship.

Another view of the aluminum square tubing used as a spacer.

VISIT CLEARPATH’S [Booth #2626] at the ISA Sign Expo, April 4-6, to view our extensive offering of popular stand-offs, sign frames, mounting fixtures and Rowmark’s laser and rotary engravable sheet products.

866.953.2777 clear-path.com signshop.com

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

19

To keep the four sign faces as smooth and “fastener-free” as possible, we used 3M™ VHB bonding tape to attach the faces to the horizontal and vertical framework. (Note: If you’re going to be using this tape in similar-type projects, please realize that it’s extremely aggressive and unforgiving if adhered to the wrong components. Make certain to “dry-fit” each

and every component before applying the pans to the framework.)

We crafted the dimensional lettering for this sign out of fifteen-pound Precision Board™ HDU using a CNC flatbed router. This resulted in a very nice, very sharp, and very clean dimensional letter.

After washing the cut-out letters, we applied two coatings of FSC-88 WB

The new United Space Alliance monument sign greets visitors and employees.

primer to them using a soft brush.

Next we wet-sanded the letters, let them dry, and then finished them with metallic silver paint.

We attached the larger letters to the sign with screws from the inside of the pans and adhered the smaller copy to the front side of the pans with clear silicone adhesive.

Then we covered the ends of the sign with factory-painted black aluminum panels that had been adhered together with more 3M VHB tape.

The last step for this project involved removing the concrete foundation forms from the perimeter of the foundation.

We used blue-coated screws to ease the removal of the foundation boards (which we had sprayed with WD-40® before pouring the concrete).

The United Space Alliance was thrilled with the results. This inter-“stellar” monument sign delivered a fresh and updated appearance for the new lobby entrance and employee parking lot.

Mark Roberts is the owner of the InterSign Group (www.theintersigngroup. com) in Houston, Texas.

20

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

signshop.com

Misplaced your favorite issue of We can help. Back issues are available.

Call for availaBility: 1-800-895-4389 or 1-402-346-4740

Follow Us On: Sign Builder Illustrated

@SBIMag SBIMag

Log on to www.signshop.com

?

HOW-TO

By Peter Perszyk

Electric

Light Those Letters Up How I learned to love those hidden lights.

A

re you are finding that trimmed channel letters and wall-mounted, fluorescentilluminated sign cabinets aren’t drawing enough attention in the retail environment?

Not to worry: You can actually try a few interesting methods to illuminate a set of letters.

Now some forethought is going to be needed for these departures from our regularly scheduled internal illumination, but the plus is unique signage.

For starters, think about pointing the lights up (Photo 1). So what makes this particular set of letters work? It’s not just the up lighting.

One attractive feature you can easily see is that these letters have white returns. This creates a glow on which the dark 2-D faces reside.

If the letters were a darker color, then this effect would disappear.

Another item that is evident (yet not as distracting) are the thin, nicely spaced rods supporting the letters and floating up off the dark entry overhang.

The “Danier Leather” letters and the “Christopher & Banks” letters in Photo 2 both rely on the background being bright. The dark “Christopher & Banks” letters have thinner returns, while the background is very bright and uniform. Ambient light (from the interior location) plays nicely to these designs, as well.

Ironically the photos don’t reveal what produces the up lighting. Let’s assume that the linear back lighting is fluorescent, which is a bright, omni-directional source. Now let’s add some color (Photo 3).

The simple “kids” text plays off the brick texture back alcove. Note the high contrast between the flat face and the sides. Is this a function of light placement? After all, the letters are set close to the edge.

Another stipulation for readability is that the bottom of the letters is also the baseline. Is the light leakage to the above-right planned or is it a consequence of the structure’s location? Either way, it adds to a nice, elegant feel.

Now let’s visit the Sirens store (Photo 4).

Up and down double illumination on these letters gives the perimeter an even glow, while the monochromatic letters struggle a bit. The lack of a solid background (the window) is not a plus to the arrangement. Floating nicely above the header, the white-on-white letters might benefit from a slightly darker face color.

The darker color of the red-on-white letters for the Flight Centre travel agency in Photo 5 are especially dynamic. The up lighting for the letters in the alcove is not the dominant effect.

1

22

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

signshop.com

2013 THE FUTURE. ILLUMINATED. We see the future clearly. And so will you.

Philadelphia, PA USA Pennsylvania Convention Center 4.21.13 – 4.25.13

www.lightfair.com

In collaboration with The Illuminating Engineering Society

In collaboration with The International Association of Lighting Designers

Produced & Managed by AMC, Inc.

PHOTO CREDITS (1) BANNER MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER LANTERN OF HOPE, GILBERT, AZ USA | LIGHTING DESIGN BY CANNON DESIGN | © BILL TIMMERMAN / © MARK SKALNY (2) UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE, WASHINGTON, DC USA | LIGHTING DESIGN BY LAM PARTNERS | © GLENN HEINMILLER, IALD, LAM PARTNERS, © BILL FITZ-PATRICK, UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE (3) CHANDLER CITY HALL EXTERIOR LIGHTING, CHANDLER, AZ USA | LIGHTING DESIGN BY SMITHGROUP JJR | © TIMMERMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

2 7

8 3

4

9

5

6 24

10 Sign Builder Illustrated

// March 2013

signshop.com

Here the faces glow as a traditional set of mall letters should. Punching up the returns is the light from below and the reflection from above.

Essentially this is a bright-white canvas on which a flat red letter sits. Red-on-white is such a classic combination of readability.

By comparison, the underlying red strip just below the copy is a grey, muted tone.

Speaking of “up” lighting, the design for the Up Against the Wall store is a great combination of methods (Photo 6). The curvature on the wall is essential. The lighting effect here is a byproduct of an open-back sign cabinet.

The shape is a simple rectangle and a sufficient length. The fact that this sign does not overpower the wall behind it and above it can be credited to the cutout style of the letters.

Note the über-bright light oozing out from below and above the blue cabinet.

This is often referred to as splash (or gash) lighting, and it is not required to be consistent. Splash lighting draws attention and is very effective in some interior situations—malls, museums, exhibits, etc. Anywhere that there is a predictable

level of ambient lighting would be a start.

But “down” is still a plus for lighting. It’s easy to see that each of these up-lighting examples capitalizes on the fact that the light source is hidden. Results are associated with location (not the lamp nor the light fixture itself). If you hide the up lights under the letters, shining them down and across will have a similar outcome (Photo 7).

Then there are times when you don’t have the required factors to keep the up lights anonymous. One alternative is to light the letters up, down, and all around (Photo 8). This simple adaption of a light box gives the letter set its 360-degree glow.

Observe the twin color scheme:The faces are dark, while the returns are a lighter shade. This creates a 3-D letter with a 2-D face that’s readable at a variety of angles.

Meanwhile the SoftMoc reverse-lit set of letters highlights the benefit of lighter returns (Photo 9). Its white perimeter band provides a great accent with the textured tones in the dividing wave. To its right, the dark 3-D letters start to blend into the scene. Straight on, it looks great.

11 The purple, glowing le chateau letters are essentially an inside-out sign (Photo 10). It’s designed in a similar vein to the shown alcove “up” lighting examples. The recessed cabinet contains the neon glow, while the simple 2-D plate letters are non-illuminated and block the neon tubes glowing from behind. The set-up is easy to construct (Photo 11) and results in a very refined image.

The important things to remember are to be consistent, provide sufficient light, and (if part of the building or the design scheme) keep the background.

ITS_ViewStation_sun_7x4.125_Layout 1 3/23/12 1:36 PM Page 1

it’s guaranteed to overheat your display. we guarantee it won’t.

Your LCD not only needs to look cool, it needs to stay cool. With over 27 years of experience, ITSENCLOSURES has the proven track record to guarantee your digital displays and signage will withstand any environment. Our line of ViewStation LCD enclosures protect against rain, snow, extreme heat, frigid temperatures, theft and even the teenage vandal. From stadium to transportation terminal to drive-thru, ViewStation offers customized solutions for any display – large or small, inside or out. And each unit is installed by trained experts, made in the USA and comes with unparalleled customer support.

To learn how we can help you, call 1.800.423.9911 or visit ViewStation.com.

25

signshop.com

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

25

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Window Dressing Transforming storefront signage into engaging attractions.

W An Evolving Option

When Birnhak launched Inwindow Outdoor ten years ago, its focus was wrapping storefront windows in New York City with large format graphics. “That eventually evolved to where we were cutting an area in the window wrap for a TV screen connected to a DVD player,” he recalls, “and it’s just continued to evolve from there.”

A recent project for client Grow Financial in Tampa, Flor26

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

ida, challenged pedestrians to catch virtual money floating around them on screen to qualify for discounts on loans or other services offered by the credit union. Players could upload a picture of themselves playing to social networking sites.

Such immersive ads “are not cheap,” notes Birnhak, though prices are slowly coming down. For their money, clients can expect more of a return-on-investment than from other types of signage. signshop.com

Photo courtesy of live oPen house.

ith storefront signs and graphics competing for the attention of shoppers and pedestrians on every sidewalk, what can a business or brand do to stand out from the crowd?

Some tech-savvy marketers are exploring one possibility by transforming street-level windows into digitally powered engagement points.

Combining touchscreen digital signage with cameras, specialty software, and tracking analytics, these displays draw pedestrians for an experience that’s hard to ignore or resist. Depending on goals and budget, that may entail simple touchscreen navigation, interactive games and contests, or even video mirrors in which the pedestrian appears to be immersed in the action.

“Eventually all the glass you see in a retail environment will be interactive in some way,” predicts Steve Birnhak, founder and CEO of Inwindow Outdoor (www.inwindowoutdoor.com), “but it’s hard to say when.”

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Digital Signage / By Mike AntoniAk

“Eventually all the glass you see in a retail environment will be interactive in some way.”

— Steve Birnhak, Founder and CEO of Inwindow Outdoor Interactive windows also all have a monitoring function that tracks the number of users, what they do, and their length of engagement. “We provide that info to clients as part of our services,” says Birnhak. “It tells them who they reach and how effectively they engage those people.

“With the social media component, they know if those consumers are helping promote the brand.”

Because interactive signage requires the integration of several technologies, it’s developing as a realm of dedicated specialists. “This stuff can be tricky, since there’s a lot of different elements involved,” cautions Birnhak. “There’s the A/V piece, the programming, and [then] understanding the pitfalls of the different technologies involved.

“A lot you can only learn through trial and error.”

Hands-On With the Brand For Pearl Media (www.pearlmediaus.com), specialists in nontraditional outdoor advertising, “Interactive means anything that works to get the brand in the hands of the consumer,” according to Chief Operating Officer Paul Whitney. “It can take several forms—from gesture-based or touch-based sosignshop.com

lutions to augmented reality, presenting the consumer with an experience they will remember and want to share with friends.”

Last year, in a street-level marketing campaign for the TNT network, Pearl transformed a New York City storefront into an interactive experience promoting the crime series Rizzoli and Isles. The window display presented pedestrians with a crime scene and invited them to solve it on a touchscreen video wall, assisted by an app downloaded onto their smartphone. At game’s end, a virtual picture of the player with the series stars appeared in the window, and they then had the option of uploading the photo to Facebook.

For these interactive storefronts to work, special considerations are required. Unlike printed signage (where impact can be measured in number of viewers), the goal here is to encourage active engagement with the storefront display.

“We look for locations in high-traffic areas, where there’s a lot of pedestrians walking by,” says Whitney. “Depending on demographics of who our clients want to reach, that can be in the busy nightlife sections of the city or where there’s a lot of business people or tourists walking by.”

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

27

Specialty Solutions

Location, the size of the window, and the direction it faces Smaller companies—and smaller providers—are already adaptcan all play into what display technology is used. As far as ing the technology to address the specialized needs of some the experience goes, a delicate balance must be reached. “We business niches, such as real estate brokerages in New York City. have to find that happy medium—just enough time to bring Conceived, installed, and powered by Live Open House (www. people to the point where they do whatever our client wants,” loh.tv), LOH Vision offers a high-tech alternative to the paper notes Whitney. signs and flyers real estate agents and brokers have long used to Based on monitoring of past installations, Whitney promote their latest listings. Subscribers to the service says thirty seconds seems the ideal length of get a turnkey, touchscreen solution that puts interaction. “We use special software for the storefront to work as an interactive tracking everything that goes on,” he platform for capturing new clients. continues. “We can tell clients the Components include touch-foil number of unique impressions film installed on window glass, a forthey’re getting, how many people ty-inch LCD panel, a PC running interact, what they do, and total propriety software and analytics, dwell time. and the information resources of “Over the course of the the Internet. Apartment shopmonth, the numbers get betpers tap the window glass to ter and activity increases. If search properties, review floor we make the interactive winplans, contact the listing agent, dow interesting enough, peoand view tours and maps. ple who pass these displays get “Brokers also like the fact that The goal is to encourage active curious and eventually want to this can be used as a lead generaexperience it for themselves.” tion tool,” points out Co-founder engagement with the Because of the costs, as well as Reale Rose. “When someone uses it storefront display. the many considerations that deterto contact the agent, it captures their mine the effectiveness of this emerging information.” breed of interactive signage, this technology Initial feedback has been so positive that is still a relatively new and novel marketing tool.

Rose and Co-founder Vernon Jones hope to intro“[Interactive displays] have been most effective for brands duce their system in other markets where there’s enough pedesthat need to build long-term relationships with consumers,” trian traffic to make it a cost-effective option. states Joe DePreta, chief marketing officer at Pearl Media.

Whether it’s a busy mall or well traveled sidewalk (wherever “This gets them out of the clutter. those numbers are right), it seems only a matter of time before “It also gives them the ability to deliver an experience a digitally powered interactive window, in some form, appears consumers will remember and then associate with that as an eye-level attraction, enticing consumers to pause, step brand.” up, and engage with storefronts for all types of businesses.

Photo courtesy of inwindow outdoor.

The Magic Mix

It’s important to keep in mind that digital signage, with its many merits and advantages, has yet to replace—and will most likely never replace—architectural and three-dimensional signs. It is safe to assume that an emergency exit pictogram will remain an emergency exit pictogram in ten years time.

However, wherever you have a need for real-time data (directions, menus, departures, schedule of lectures, sales, etc.), a digital sign might be just the right solution.

There’s no question about it: Digital signage offers the highest level of message communication both dynamically and visually. The trick is to teach the sign professionals bidding on jobs to add the digital solution to their offering, as most end-users are not even aware of how much they have to gain until we inform them.

My advice to a sign shop owner looking to make his or her first step into the digital arena would be to start off with a simple digital signage

28

continued on page 30

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

Digital signs now make up an integral part of many sign projects. signshop.com

Photo courtesy of vista system.

Moving to Digital Signage

Converting Six Billboards to Digital

all Photos courtesy of watchfire digital outdoor.

Danville, Illinois—Target Signs, the (www.rmgoutdoor.com) for installation. premier outdoor advertising company “They have a pretty smart kit that’s in Gillette, Wyoming, recently made simple to put together,” he says. “I was the move to digital in a big way by con- able to install the six screens myself beverting six of its seventy static billboard cause of this.” faces at once to digital screens from Watchfire Digital Outdoor (www.watchfiredig italoutdoor. com)—the first digital billboards in the area. With over thirty years of experience in the sign industry, Owner Ken Musser not only made a bold step forward for his business but also for outdoor advertising in the state.

These new digital billboards are Musser has noticed that his phones are Watchfire True-16mm and Truenow ringing more and that he’s been able 19mm 10-by-30-foot boards strato choose his advertisers for these displays. tegically placed along a mile-andThe big selling point with digital a-half stretch of the main commuter route running through Gillette. These billboards are the financial returns, six digital billboards allow for the abil- which take advantage of the fact that ity to run different advertisers on them most premium locations in most maror to be scheduled as a network so they kets today already have a billboard on them, meaning that new locations are can all be used effectively as one.

Before proceeding, Musser did his scarce. “So today the best way for a homework and paid attention to cali- billboard operator to grow their busibration techniques. He wanted to avoid ness is to take those premium locathe tiling that can be found on digital tions they currently have and convert billboards. (Note: Tiling is a “blocky” them to digital,” says Friskney. “They effect that can appear when messages generally get multiple returns revenue per face—generally increasing five and are changing.)

Choosing the right pixel pitch for sometimes ten times after converting the digital billboard displays was all from static to digital.”

Currently there are around 35,000 about the viewing distance. “Depending on viewing distance, as viewers get people living in Gillette and a total of closer to the sign, resolution tends to 45,000 if you count its surrounding increase,” says Darrin Friskney, vice areas, so Musser plans to expand as president of sales at Watchfire Digi- quickly as possible with other digital tal Outdoor. “And in those situations, billboards. His advice to others considwhen people are closer to the sign [at ering a similar move: “Concentrate on an intersection or right off the shoul- your traffic counts. Make sure the size der of the road], customers tend to buy of the billboard is appropriate for the higher resolution 16mm. Meanwhile location. And remember, this can actu19mm displays are placed along the ally be fun—my customers are tickled highways and freeways where there’s about digital billboard ads.” a little bit of a longer viewer distance.”

To read more of Ken Musser’s story, Musser hired a crane truck and used mono-pole kits by RMG Outdoor turn to “UpFront” on page 6.

signshop.com

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

29

continued from page 28

digital signage

Photos courtesy of Pearl media.

digital signage

MONARCH Z CLIPS • Hang signs, art work and panels • Fast, easy and secure installation • No screws in the face of the sign • Industry “Trade Secret” for over 20 years

continued from page 28

media player-based system. This option allows the user to upload the information they wish to display onto a memory chip. Once they have successfully entered the digital experience, they could move onto remote or Internet-based systems.

The latter of the two may require a bit more knowledge, experience, and technical support, and that is why you should consider starting off with the simple digital version first. (Note: For more information about media player systems, visit www.signshop.com) Choose a digital solution that is part of a system—it will make your life easier!

Digital signs are an integral part of a sign project, and therefore a sign shop that wishes to survive in these hard times must offer digital solutions, as well.

Needless to say, there are numerous advantages both for the end-user and the sign shop when using a single system for the entire project instead of zigzagging between vendors.

—Danny Schneider is vice-president of Sales & Business Development at Vista System (www.vistasystem.com).

STANDOFFS • Available in Aluminum, Stainless & Brass • Stock sizes in 1” to 2” Diameters

REQUEST A FREE SAMPLE OR WATCH A DEMO VIDEO AT:

Photo courtesy of vista system.

monarchmetal.com

Tel: (631) 563-8967 / Fax: (631) 563-8976 1625 Sycamore Ave. / Bohemia, NY 11716 30

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

signshop.com

Photo courtesy of obscura digital.

Digital Signage Under the Dome

Obscura Digital (www.obscuradigital.com) recently transformed the interior of the Westfield San Francisco Centre’s iconic 1908 glass dome into a state-of-the-art, 360-degree surround theater that showcases a series of custom-designed animation shows.

under the dome

C

M

Y

CM

MY

continued on page 32

CY CMY

K

Looking to catch some more business?

89% of our surveyed readers have contacted an advertiser after seeing their ad in Sign Builder Illustrated.*

Log on to www.signshop.com *According to the 2009 Readership Survey of our July issue.

signshop.com

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

31

Sign Fabrication Equipment

Auto Bender

Computerized Letter Notcher

6” CLN Bender

Quick-Trim Notcher

The CLN Router

877-256-1043 • www. clnofsouthflorida.com 32

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

continued from page 31

ustomized Obscura hardware and software were combined to wrap, morph, and mask projected images to fit pixel-perfectly onto an irregularly shaped canvas.

These presentations maintain the integrity of the historic architecture and accentuate the intricate detail of the iconic glass and steel Emporium dome. This 102-foot-wide, three-story dome structure weighs 500,000 pounds and features more than 800 crown and lunette windows and 900 lights. Using nine projectors and Obscura’s FireFrame playback server, imagery is successfully projected every half hour each night to fit onto a surface area of 11,781 square feet (which is larger than any IMAX™ screen).

Westfield’s goal with this dynamic digital display is to attract consumers with the latest in projection mapping technology by featuring a series of presentations designed to encourage shoppers to return for a different dazzling show each season while browsing and eating at their Restaurant Collection Under the Dome.

Obscura Digital designs original content and musical scores and compositions for each animated light show (http://vimeo.com/46724156).

The first, Illuminque Under the Dome, featured a lively cast of characters that twirled, drummed, and danced to holiday melodies and spread holiday cheer. Meanwhile Corazon Under the Dome premiered last summer and was a dazzling visual

signshop.com

Photos courtesy of obscura digital.

C

under the dome

INJECTION MOLDED LETTERS Ships in 1 Day • Sharp Edges • Earth Friendly Plastic www.signletters.com journey through 150 years of the city’s history using a nostalgic soundtrack of San Franciscothemed songs from Tony Bennett, Otis Redding, Journey, and Judy Garland, to name a few.

These one-of-a-kind shows are free and open to the public. Obscura Digital’s work here is also a finalist for the 2013 Digital Signage Expo Apex Awards in the “Arts and Entertainment” category.

signshop.com

1-800-538-8377

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

33

Identity Signage/ By Ashley BrAy ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Mox ie Marketing

all photos courtesy of metro sign & awning.

The right signs in the right place can be the best marketing tool.

signshop.com

I

n a city as busy and congested as Boston, making any of its businesses stand out can be difficult. But it’s a challenge Metro Sign & Awning (www.metrosignandawning.com) has risen to meet time and time again.

Most recently, Metro used its skills to fabricate and install signage that would bring greater visibility to The Boston Harbor Hotel’s Meritage and Sea Grille restaurants.

Established in 2004, Metro Sign & Awning has grown significantly over the past eight years. “[We] started with eight employees with little sign industry experience but lots of moxie,” says President Brian Chipman. “Today [our company] has twenty-four full-time employees with ample sign industry and other experience and even more moxie.”

And it’s that moxie that enabled the company to handle all of the elements of The Boston Harbor Hotel project.

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

35

Metro Sign & Awning was brought onboard by Sousa Design & Architecture, whom the sign company has worked with before. The goal was to make the most of the harbor, pedestrian, and street traffic surrounding the hotel with eye-catching signage. “It’s an investment in the marketing power of signage,” says Metro Business Development Manager Elena Berry. “A lot of people don’t even think about that.”

A variety of signs were planned, including vinyl banners; a curved, twopart identity sign for Meritage; and a variety of illuminated identity signs for Sea Grille.

Metro began by retooling the architect’s designs to make them more functional. “You want to capture the essence of who the business owner is and what they’re trying to market while also making the sign function,” says Berry. “We worked with both Stephen Sousa and Jonathan Crellin of The Boston Harbor Hotel to review color schemes, materials, support brackets, vinyl selection, illumination, size, and approach of fabrication.”

When the designs were finalized, Metro began the engineering and extensive permitting process. But the hotel didn’t want to wait that long—it needed new signs to capitalize on the busy summer months.

36

Banners Metro’s solution was to first put up banners, which didn’t require a permit. The company fabricated and installed five banners—three for Sea Grille restaurant and two for Meritage. The banners were made from Sunbrella® 4604 Natural material and hand-painted for a custom look.

Metro also fabricated custom collars and brackets, which were used to attach the banners to the light poles along the harbor. They painted the hardware with Benjamin Moore® Pacific Sea Teal paint.

Meritage Curved Pan Sign Aside from the lengthy permit process, color matching was another hurdle to getting the signs approved. Part of the challenge was to match specific Pantone® colors that were picked by the client for the banners. These colors were also used for the sign cabinets and then ultimately for the illuminated elements.

This proved a task, considering the color shade shifts that can occur during day/night reflection of translucent colors.

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

This was especially true on the channel letter faces of the curved pan sign for Meritage, which is aimed at drawing in pedestrians from the front of the hotel.

Metro considered both painting and digitally printing the vinyl faces but ultimately settled on solid-color vinyl for longevity and cost efficiency. They presented the architects with an illuminated box holding different types of Plexiglas® variations and translucent colored vinyl samples, which (when not available with their in-house inventories) were provided by the accommodating vinyl manufactures.

The architect compared the illuminated and non-illuminated color samples to the PMS brand colors. “Our goal was to try to keep the non-illuminated and illuminated versions as close as possible to the banners and dimensional letters on site for brand consistency,” says Metro Lead Fabricator John McNally.

Metro and the architects settled on ORACAL® 8800 #030 Dark Red translucent vinyl, as well as 3M™ 3630 Slate Grey and 3M #317 Evening Blue vinyl. signshop.com

Metro Sign & Awning roll CAll > Designer: Jamie Potvin > engineering: Corey Fisher > Fabricators: Ian Alder, John McNally, Peter Nolan > installation: Rick Mercik, Glenn Stetzler > President: Brian Chipman With the colors approved, Metro Sign & Awning began fabrication. The site where the sign would be placed was a curved façade, so the first step was to properly capture the radius of the building.

While conducting their site survey, Metro’s fabricators made a template with notched aluminum angle connected with .080 aluminum strips, which were fastened to the building with screws. They added three-foot-long strips of aluminum to secure the radius.

Metro then created the frame of the sign from one-by-one-inch aluminum square tubes connected in multiple frames to create a three-inch-deep pan. It was rolled on an awning tube roller to the correct radius, welded together, and then cladded with aluminum.

An aluminum tray was fabricated around the perimeter for marquee bulbs. signshop.com

> Project Management: Deb Collins > Purchasing/Vendor Sourcing: Craig Wondrasch > Sales/Marketing: Elena Berry, Tom Dunn > Sales/Survey/install: Mike Baldasarre > Vinyl: Ben Brierre, Julie Giannini Samsung LED Warm White modules housed in faceted crystal bulb fixtures were daisy-chain linked in the tray. The sockets are rubber encapsulated and waterproof, which is necessary for an outdoor application.

Channel letters spelling “Meritage” were also fabricated for the sign from .040 aluminum returns, .060 aluminum backs, and 3/16-inch white Plexiglas faces with colored vinyl overlays. The “M-e-r” letters and their swoosh element were fabricated as one piece to maximize rigidity in the delicate design.

The letters are illuminated with International Light Technologies (ILT) LED modules and were attached to the sign with 1/4-inch-thick stainless steel rods and standoffs, which range in height to account for the curve and keep the letters flush.

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

37

Meritage Canopy Sign The second part of the Meritage sign sits below the pan sign and is a curved canopy structure featuring dimensional letters and LED up-lighting. Metro used the same radius measurement for the canopy with an additional measurement taken six feet out from the building for the second channel.

Originally the canopy was to include glass coverings in the

open sections; but due to cost and weather concerns, this idea was scrapped in favor of leaving the spaces open.

Metro fabricated the frame’s channels from aluminum. The front bar was constructed from 1½-by-6-inch aluminum Cchannel, and the rest of the frame was made from 3½-by-6inch aluminum I-beam.

Using hydraulic rollers, the frame was bent to the specific radii.

A lAnDMArk BuilDing wrAP

38

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

“The United States Supreme Court mesh installation allows this iconic building to remain recognizable throughout the restoration for tourists and local residents alike,” explained Chris Fredericks, president of Top Value Fabrics.

“As a company, Top Value Fabrics and our partners are proud to play a small part in the renovation of this National Historic Landmark.”

photo courtesy of top value fabrics.

Media from Top Value Fabrics (www.topvaluefabrics.com) was selected for use in a building wrap for the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. while its façade undergoes a comprehensive restoration.

The company’s 8 oz. MESH 1000 Denier Double Sided Banner media was chosen for this project after an extensive selection process. This banner media is specifically engineered to be printed on UV, solvent, latex, or screen printers. In addition to building wraps, the banner media is also used for stadium wraps, event banners, and murals.

Joseph Merritt & Company (Merritt Graphics) of Hartford, Connecticut printed the media with a full-scale image of the building’s exterior. It was then installed over scaffolding to provide the restoration crew with the needed functionality and ease of access for the duration of the project.

Renovations to the seventy-sevenyear-old building include a detailed cleaning of the façade, replacement of mortar and sealants, and a conservation treatment. The work is ongoing, and as restoration is completed, the scaffolding will be removed.

signshop.com

It was cut and notched using horizontal and vertical band saws and welded. Next it was sent to the paint booth and sprayed with Metal Lok primer before being finished with Akzo Nobel black paint.

The dimensional letters that sit on the outer channel are round-faced, custom cast aluminum. They were gold-leafed and then clear-coated for longevity.

“The difficulty our fabrication and install crews faced here had to do with the support of the letters to the canopy structure while considering the wind load factors of the waterfront and still making the signage aesthetically pleasing,” says Metro Fabricator Ian Alder. “The letters are mounted to a flat bar using brackets and supports that are inconspicuous.”

Accent LED lighting from ILT was used to illuminate the letters, while about 134 feet of ILT exterior silicone-encapsulated 12-volt, white LED flex lighting accents the channels along the structure.

Seven 12-volt, white LED flood/down lights from Advance Lighting were also drilled/tapped into the frame to dramatically illuminate the entrance.

Installation Installation of the two-part Meritage Sign took place early on a Saturday morning so as to not disturb hotel guests. Boston required sidewalk permits and a police detail to ensure pedestrian safety. Metro used its sixty-five-foot crane to hoist the signage pieces and a bucket truck to lag and thru-bolt the sign into place.

But installers ran into a challenge with the canopy. “The canopy install was more challenging due to limited access and a solid wall on the side sections,” say Metro Project Coordinator Mike Baldasarre and Metro Fabricator/Installer Glenn Stetzler. “Our installers had to reroute power to the center legs and use signshop.com

The Newest Kid on the Block

Wilkie Mfg., L.L.C. the old company presents the newest kid on the block the Wilkie Model 52XLR! With 40 years of experience under our belt we have brought to market a great new addition to our already great line up of the most reliable and safest remote service cranes for the Sign and lighting industry.

52 feet of working height, 34 feet of side reach, 2 man power level power rotating basket and basket mounted jib winch standard. PTO power, remote engine start and stop. Meets and exceeds all the new OSHA and CSA requirements with a load capacity under the new OSHA crane operator certifications.

Call Wilkie Mfg., L.L.C. today at 405-235-0920 to get yours. www.wilkiemfg.com March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

39

Brooklyn Hardware’s extruded aluminum mounting hardware products have a 100% positive-stop interlock.

The trademarked brands Panelclip®, VClipz®, and Kingclip® provide the strongest, simplest solutions for your various installation needs.

lags in those specific locations.”

It took four installers about twenty manhours split over two days to install the signage and window graphic treatment.

Simply secure.

Metro Sign & Awning also created two signs promoting the Sea Grille restaurant.

An illuminated sign cabinet at the back of the hotel attracts the harbor traffic and was created from 1½–inch aluminum angle with .090 aluminum sides.

A MultiCam 3000 Series CNC router was used to cut 1/2-inch push-thru acrylic faces for the graphics. Blue Avery 3005C/A9561 translucent vinyl was laid over the faces, and green and blue AkzoNobel paint was used to paint the cabinet and dimensional letters spelling “Rowe Wharf.” ILT-2x2 LED modules light the cabinet, which was thru-bolted to the building with toggle bolts.

An aluminum blade sign for Sea Grille was added to the front of the hotel to draw in pedestrians. A MultiCam router cut out the clear, acrylic, push-thru letters, which were overlaid with green and blue Avery 321C/VC900-619-T and Avery 3005C/ A9561 translucent vinyls. The cabinet was painted with AkzoNobel paint and illuminated by ILT-2x2 LED modules.

The sign was mounted to the building with 1/2-inch stainless steel threaded rod and epoxy through two arm brackets with fabricated aluminum bracket covers painted to match the building.

The final signage element was a set of five-inch-thick acrylic dimensional letters spelling “Meritage,” which were mounted with one-inch spacers to a rear hotel entrance. They were painted with red and blue AkzoNobel paints to keep consistent with the five-star hotel’s branding colors.

All of the new signage has not only brought exposure to The Boston Harbor Hotel, but to Metro as well. Not only has another Boston construction firm brought Metro onto a job, but the hotel has asked them to create another sign for Sea Grille.

“It’s a beautiful job that our team is proud to have been a part of,” says Berry.

Kingclip® Panelclip® Classic & SE

VClipz®

Panelclip®, VClipz® and Kingclip® products secure paneling, signs, artwork, and more to walls.

Made in USA

w w w. p a n e l c l i p . c o m

For orders, simply call 1-888-232-1151 Ask about hole sizes, custom cutting and pricing options.

40

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

Other Signs

signshop.com

Misplaced your favorite issue of ?

We can help.

Back issues are available.

Call for availaBility: 1-800-895-4389 or 1-402-346-4740

Follow Us On: Sign Builder Illustrated

@SBIMag SBIMag

Log on to www.signshop.com

Vinyl Wraps / By Jeff Wooten /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Gentlemen, A wrap specialist shifts from one fast lane to another.

42

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

signshop.com

all photos courtesy of panther graphics.

W

hen the IndyCar Series revs its engines later this month (first race: March 24 in St. Petersburg, Florida), sign makers and graphics providers should pay particularly close attention to driver J.R. Hildebrand. Not only is Hildebrand a fast-rising star on the racing circuit but his team, Panther Racing, is making quite a name for itself in the wrap industry—both on and off the track.

Panther Graphics (www.panthergraphics.com) is the sister company to Panther Racing, which is headquartered in the heart of IndyCar country in Indianapolis, Indiana. Thanks to the success of its wrapped racecars, it was a no-brainer that Panther Graphics would look to branch out its services to also work on vehicles not caught up in a race.

And it can thank the National Guard for this decision.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Start Your Wraps!

The Pace Lap The National Guard has been (and continues to be) the lead partner for Panther Racing since 2008. That first year, they did a patriotic red-white-and-blue paint scheme for their IndyCar racecars.

(At the time, Panther Racing painted the colors, logos, and decals on the cars.)

But since red and white are two very popular colors used on these racecars, Panther Racing began searching for ways to differentiate their car before the start of the 2009 season. Their solution: A camouflage pattern.

However they realized that this camouflage design pattern they’d cooked up was going to be too time-consuming (if not downright impossible) to paint.

They decided a vinyl wrap would be the ideal solution and hooked up with a company in Alabama to print out and wrap former driver Dan Wheldon’s car with their design. “After the first race, we were pleased with not only how well

signshop.com

the camo graphic looked but also how well it held up,” says Nic Baumann, president of Panther Racing.

The original plan was for the camouflage pattern to be a one-off design, but judging from fan reaction, Panther Racing decided to use it regularly in 2010 (and beyond). So a year later, they hired Tony and Robby Kendricks (installers at the company in Alabama) and their graphic artist Neal Cross to come onboard with them full-time.

With this framework in place, Panther Racing soon started giving serious thought to becoming a wrap specialist for clients outside the racing industry as well. The end-result: Panther Graphics leapt into action in late 2011.

Graphics has the freedom to dream up and design anything for Hildebrand’s racecar. “We can do anything except put conflicting sponsors on the wrap, of course,” says Baumann.

Special wrap designs for Hildebrand’s racecar last year included a pink camouflage pattern to honor female National Guard soldiers and an NFL 49ersthemed car complete with a football and the red-and-gold color scheme for a race near San Francisco. (Note: Not only does Hildebrand hail from the San Francisco area, but San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh is a co-owner of Panther Racing, as well.)

Gaining Speed Panther Graphics is racing alongside Panther Racing with five full-time employees for all its wrap work. In addition to the camouflage pattern, Panther

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

43

Your Direct Source for Sign Information 3 Easy Steps

Receive vital product and service information from manufacturers and distributors by completing the adjacent card or visiting www.signshop.com/infodirect

1. Choose up to 10 categories of interest and check off on card.

2. Select up to 28 suppliers and record InfoDirect # on card.

3. Mail card to start getting info!

InfoDirect # Company

InfoDirect # Company

Page

InfoDirect # Company

Page

1 3M Commercial Graphics . . . . . . . 58 2 Agilight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

36 Peachtree City Foamcraft . . . . . . . C3 37 Plaskolite Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

53 3M Commercial Graphics . . . . . . . 15

3 Allwood Sign Blanks . . . . . . . . . . . 54 4 Alpina Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . 58

38 Principal LED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C2

54 Drytac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

39 Roland DGA Corporation . . . . . . . . 46

55 Epson America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

5 Alpina Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . 58 6 A .R .K . Ramos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

40 Sign America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

56 Graphics One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

41 Sign Bracket Store By

57 Kern Lasers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

7 Arris Signs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 8 Brinks MFG (Van Ladder) . . . . . . . . 40

Hooks & Lattice . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Sign-Mart Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Sign-Mart Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Signs365 .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4 Signs By Tomorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 SloanLED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 SloanLED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Small Balls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Southern Stud Weld . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Stamm MFG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 US LED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Wilkie MFG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

42

9 Brooklyn Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 10 CAO Group, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

43

11 Car Top Signs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 12 Clearpath/Rowmark . . . . . . . . . . . 19

45

13 CLN of South Florida . . . . . . . . . . . 32 14 Coastal Enterprises/

47

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

44

Page

Precision Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Delcam International . . . . . . . . . . 33 DSA Phototech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Duxbury Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Gemini, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Graphic House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Howard Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 ITSENCLOSURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 L&L Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Lancaster Sign Company . . . . . . . . 59 Lightfair International 2013 . . . . . 23 Manitex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Marabu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Mimaki USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Mimaki USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Monarch Metal Fabrication 30 Multicam Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Orbus Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Orbus Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Ornamental Post Panel & Traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Outwater Plastics Industries, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Pizazz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

44 46 48 49 50 51 52

Companies in the Sign Show

58 LaserBits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 59 Miratec Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 60 Orbus Exhibit & Display Group . . . 12 61 P&C Tech Products . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

signshop.com

An Easier Way to get Your Message Across Advertise In

Contact Jeff Sutley (East Coast) at jeffsutley@sbpub.com or 212-620-7233 or Kim Noa (West, Central U.S.) at knoa@sbpub.com or 212-620-7221 Follow Us On: Sign Builder Illustrated @SBIMag SBIMag

In Print, In Person and Online Log on to www.signshop.com

For these special designs, Panther Graphics just prints out the new vinyl wrap and places it over the existing camouflage wrap. “That way, we’re able to pull it right off after the race and return to the original scheme without having to take any additional time for repainting or rewrapping,” says Baumann.

Full Throttle Panther Graphics shares with Panther Racing the same 60,000-square foot facility in Indianapolis. They employ two HP Designjet 26500 sixty-three-inch latex printers for outputting all wraps.

Baumann explains that ORACAL ORAJET 3751RA wrapping cast film is their go-to vinyl on just about every

project they do. “It just has that nice blend of conformability and reliability for the adhesive,” he says. “You know that, when you stick it down, it will stay stuck down. And you don’t have to use any primer on it.”

Different work bays are designated for building or fixing the racecars, while the wrapping bay is determined by the location of the car in question at the moment.

Panther Graphics likes to do as much wrapping as they can indoors since they can control the environment this way.

However there are times they do have to perform them outdoors, and with the unpredictable weather in Indiana, timing can be a gamble. “If temperatures dip below 40ºF or 45ºF, the vinyl can start to get brittle,” says Baumann.

“And if it starts to get too hot, the vinyl can want to start stretching or moving around when you’ve barely touched it.”

It takes Panther Graphics about two days to wrap an entire IndyCar racecar.

“Any installer will tell you that a majority of your time involves waiting for artwork from design,” explains Baumann.

Baumann states that his Panther

Graphics team can probably wrap different camouflage patterns in their sleep, which means there isn’t a lot of wasted vinyl on the floor. “You always have to create a little bit of bleed on everything so you can do your final trim work right there on the car,” says Baumann. “We really love using knifeless tape to trim things off the car as we’re working, so that we’re not using any blade on it.”

While Panther Graphics always puts a laminate onto anything that’s printed, they’ve discovered that adding a clear coat on top of this allows the racecars to shine and stand out even more and double or even triple the longevity of its livery. In fact, this is something they’re now offering non-racecar clients as well.

Speaking of non-racecar clients, Panther Graphics has done their fair share of wrapping outside the racing industry— panel vans, box trucks, delivery trucks, Hummers, etc. Even luxury cars—like a special wrap for a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren car. “That’s a $250,000+ car, but we weren’t stressed, since an IndyCar racecar costs $600,000 or more,” start your wraps

continued on page 48

Thrilling performance.

Unbeatable value.

"Our VersaCAMM runs 20 hours a day without any issues. The print and cut feature is awesome, and the metallic and white inks give us a range of additional money-making capabilities in our motosports industry."

Jace Wade, Impulse Design Company Now you can get a VS at its best value ever!

VS-540 Now just $19,995

VS-640 Now just $23,995

SAVE $3,000 SAVE $4,000

For details and a free print sample, visit www.rolanddga.com/vs.

Wrap graphics printed and cut on a VS printer/cutter. 64”, 54” and 30” models available.

46

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

signshop.com

photo courtesy of panther graphics.

Wall-to-Wall Coverage Nic Baumann notes that his business is always up for a challenge. “You can put wraps on just about anything,” he says.

Because of this, Panther Graphics has expanded its wrap reach to cover wall graphics as well.

Panther Graphics has already decorated an exterior wall of their facility with a vinyl wrap that brands their business, as well as several of their interior walls. Elsewhere there are several other interior rooms decorated with vinylbranded wall graphics.

Baumann lets the employees design whatever they want for their walls. And since there are several comic book fans at Panther Graphics, one of the designers created a collage featuring repeatfree comic book covers for the walls of the design room (pictured). The designer spent almost a week surfing the Web to find the best high-res images to print out onto fifty-four-inch-wide vinyl panels. “It only took our installers a couple of hours to put this up,” says Baumann.

Not only do these larger-than-life

signshop.com

wall coverings add some personal style to the environment (and “dress up otherwise blank surfaces”), but they also allow Panther Graphics to test their abilities. “The inside walls are more for customer demo purposes,” adds Baumann, “while our outside wall graphic is for branding and testing.”

According to Baumann, thanks to the capabilities of today’s printers, the design possibilities are endless with wall graphics. “The vinyl is instantly ready for use upon finish—there’s no need for second coats or dry time, like with paint,” he explains. “And vinyl graphics are comparably priced to paint work but with an infinitely higher level of design detail possible.”

Installation takes little time. “And you can always quickly pull wall graphics down with little to no indication that they were ever there,” says Baumann, noting this is significant for clients who are leasing facilities and can’t make permanent changes or don’t want to have to pay to repair holes or paintwork later.

But what about prep work for wall surfaces to receive graphics? For regular drywall, Panther Graphics states a lot of prep isn’t needed. “The main thing is

making sure the vinyl is straight before you apply it,” says Baumann.

However the brick wall outside their facility was more challenging. Baumann and his team spent two days adhering the vinyl with enough detail work to make the brick appear painted. “We first went over it with a pressure washer to knock as much grit and grime off the brick and mortar as we could,” says Baumann, “because that’s the biggest enemy to the adhesive.”

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

47

continued from page 46

says Baumann, “which is a factor that brought this car’s owner to us.”

Panther Graphics uses vehicle outline and design templates for their on-thestreet wraps. But for motor sports, IndyCar racecar templates don’t exist, so they have to build them from scratch. “That’s why I say a lot more of our time is involved in the design than the install,” reaffirms Baumann.

Although they love to get hands-on when it comes to taking vehicle measurements for wraps to make sure that everything will be spot-on, there are those times when it’s not possible.

“Sometimes we have to do all the design work and all the prep work prior to actually being able to physically see the vehicle,” says Baumann. “In that case, we’ll get as many photos as we can, and within those photos, have some sort of reference point [holding up a pack of cards, holding up a ruler, etc.] so that our designers can then have a reference point for the size of the surface.”

Baumann tells his customers that the higher-resolution the image then the

better the wrap will look. He suggests 300-dpi. “An image might look great as a four-by-six photo or on their computer screen,” he says, “but you have to let them know that you’re going to be blowing that image up ten, twenty, or thirty times its size, so you’re going to see a lot more detail, which can lead to pixilation.”

But overall, Panther Graphics prefers working on wraps that are a challenge.

“The racecars are fun because there are a lot of complex curves on them—a lot of things you’re having to work around and deal with,” says Baumann, noting that box trucks and big trailers, on the other end of the extreme, are actually the easiest to wrap. “We’ve wrapped a lot of fifty-three-foot-long semi-truck trailers as well. Other than just the size of the job, when you’re sticking vinyl to flat surfaces, it’s always a lot easier than when you’re not having to work around curves.”

These days, anything that moves can be wrapped—motorcyles, boats, RVs, and more. While this means more business for a graphics shop, the variety in vehicles also brings a variety of challenges.

Luckily most vehicles require the same skill set for vinyl install as a typical car wrap—with a few exceptions. “Boats and RVs usually have

The Victory Lap Panther Graphics is currently working on a couple of unique, top-secret car wrap designs for Hildebrand that they plan to unveil throughout this upcom-

Find companies and suppliers at the click of a mouse!

InfoDirect is your FREE one-stop source for sign products and supplies on the web. Log on and search by company name or category. Plus, there’s no hassle or delay—you’ll receive the information you want within ten days!

HavE quEstions?

Call Jeff Sutley at 212-620-7233 or Kim Noa at 212-620-7221.

www.signshop.com/infodirect Follow Us On: Sign Builder Illustrated

48

Help Box: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

@SBIMag SBIMag

a lot of silicone, which vinyl doesn’t stick to. It needs to be removed before application and then reapplied over the graphics,” says Jason Yard, marketing training manager at MACtac® Distributor Products (www. mactac.com). “In addition, motorcycle fairings are often textured and are hard to stick to without a hightack adhesive product.”

Aside from texture and material differences, installers may also run up against unfamiliar complex curves. Yard recommends that installers employ heat to their advantage. “Employ heat in small areas to stretch the vinyl. Also use a heat gun to post-heat any complex curves af after installing,” he says.

There may also be some concern as to where certain vehicles will travel—through mud, water, etc.—and how this will affect the wrap. “Wrap films are universal—if they will work on a vehicle, they will usually work on a boat,” says Yard. “But always ask your manufacturer or visit their Web site for limitations and suggestions.”

—Ashley Bray

signshop.com

Photo courtesy of gsg.

start your wraps

ing season. In the meantime, the company has also found success wrapping custom designs onto motorcycle and racecar helmets.

“Painting helmets can cost a person $2,000 and take a couple of weeks,” says Baumann. “But we can wrap one in about forty-five minutes at about a quarter of that cost. Many times, they just have one helmet and can’t give it up for two to three weeks. For us, it’s just a matter of figuring out the shape of the visor and where the vents are located.

“In addition to lamination, we’ll also shoot a clear coat over it because helmets get banged around and/or dropped.”

Panther Graphics has also noticed the increasing popularity of using vinyl for full color changes on vehicles. They apply specific-color ORACAL 970RA cast wrapping vinyl straight out of the box and onto the car or truck—no printing, no lamination. “Our wrappers just stick it on,” says Baumann. “There’s no waiting on art files or approvals.”

Meanwhile the company recently concluded promotional activity on their Facebook page where they solicited for unique projects and offered to do free wraps for those that really challenged them creatively and professionally. Not only did these better improve their capabilities, but they also found that this worked as a method of free advertising for their full wrap services.

Baumann and his crew spent last year getting Panther Graphics up to speed to be able to serve their race team and the general public. Now thanks to this experience and their recently receiving Master Certification from the PDAA, they definitely won’t be slowing down with their wrap work in 2013 (and beyond).

signshop.com

a division of World industrial Equipment inc

“Designer & Manufacturer of Lift Equipment”

With Over 45 years of experience Stamm Manufacturing’s Heavy Duty Aerial Lifts, have been meeting all your tough Aerial lifts needs.

A wide variety of optional features gives Stamm Aerial lifts the ability to customize your aerial equipment needs to your specific requirements. Resolve your aerial lift needs today and put Stamm’s muscle to work!!

Offering a new f550 with flatbed and 43’ insulated bucket for $69,500.00 Toolboxes available.

45’ platform lift with jib and winch Aluminum body and boxes International Terra Star truck $108,000.00 Turn K ey

financing Available 4850 Orange Avenue • Fort Pierce, Fl 34947 (772) 461-6056 Main Plant • 1-800-226-5056 in Florida • (772) 464-2716 fAx www.stamm-mfg.com • Email: liftinfo@stamm-mfg.com

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

49

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Post & Panels / By Mike antoniak

Post-and-Panels

Forever!

Design options and versatility secure the enduring appeal of post-and-panel signs.

I

signshop.com

Photo courtesy of diaz sign art of Pontiac, illinois.

nnovations in design and hardware are helping create some new applications for one of our industry’s enduring favorites—the post-andpanel sign.

Brett Aversa, vice president and general manager of Hanson Sign Companies (www. hansonsign.com) in Falconer, New York, partially attributes the increased demand to optimism that seeds of an economic recovery have taken root. “This renewed consumer confidence has seemingly inspired some businesses to improve and upgrade their branding and identification,” he says.

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

51

With advances in CNC router technology, post-andpanels can be created in a variety of shapes and styles.

Photo (toP) courtesy of sign bracket store; Photo (right) courtesy of hanson sign comPanies.

Demand for Design The versatility of today’s materials and components also finds some business owners turning to new variations on the post-and-panel as a way to announce their business.

In fact, as part of the initial conversation with customers, sign sellers should alert them to some of the latest visual options in post-and-panel systems— including shapes, illumination, and the range of finials and post types that could give their signs a more distinctive look.

“When it comes to post-and-panel systems, the design possibilities are only limited by our customer’s imagination,” says Steve McMahon, business unit director at Sign Bracket Store (www.signbracketstore.com) in Carlsbad, California.

Meanwhile Aversa says, “One thing we saw more of in 2012 were routed/ push-through (backlit) LED post-andpanels. Push-through illumination is extremely clean, concise, and very effective visually.”

One of the reasons for the emergence of the push-through lighting trend may be attributed to today’s more affordable cost of CNC routing technology for a wider range of sign manufacturers.

“Routed faces with push-through illumination are growing in popularity now that the cost, in return, has come down for the end-user,” says Stewart Curtis, 52

president of Component Signage, Inc. (www.componentsignage.com) in High Point, North Carolina.

CNC routers have also enabled stylistic elements like arched tops and cut and scalloped corners. These custom elements can help post-and-panel signs easily match the design of the rest of a client’s signage.

Or they can be a removable decorative header. “Sometimes the top design is just for a unique-looking header that adds more dimension and prominence to the sign,” says Stewart. “CSI has designed custom tops that are easily integrated and removable from their postand-panel system, which allows for a custom yet modular sign system.”

John Hoffman, partner & owner of custom sign wholesaler Quality Manufacturing (www.qualitymanufacturing.com) in St. Paul, Minnesota, has also found demand for modular systems.

In such settings, Hoffman says the modular approach provides a practical solution for long-term installations. “With a modular system, if any part of it ever gets damaged or the sign needs to be updated, it can be easily replaced,” he says.

The modular systems also provide more design capabilities. “We can give people the look of a really fancy archi-

tectural sign without the costs,” says Hoffmann. “You can sell someone a simple blade sign, but most (business owners) want a sign that looks substantial, with more presence.”

As an example, Hoffman cites one recent project for a Harley Davidson dealer that combined an extruded aluminum frame and panel, illuminated from within with LED lighting. The panel itself was constructed with a new chrome plastic, molded to the contours of the Harley Davidson logo. “We can build whatever anyone thinks up,” he says.

Hoffman goes on to say that, as far as the posts and support structures go, three-inch frame bodies of extruded aluminum seem to be most popular for wayfinding and directional signage (still one of the most popular applications for post-and-panel systems).

The posts and finials themselves also play a large role in the design and creativity potential for post-and-panels, and they can be a cost-effective way to change the look of the sign. “Another design option that the posts can be used for are post mates,” says Curtis. “This is when a sign has an additional post ‘mated’ to the post just below the bottom of the panel.

“This not only allows for a unique look, but it’s also functional in that it increases a sign’s durability and longterm rigidity.”

Today’s post-and-panels are anything but traditional thanks to new materials and design capabilities.

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

signshop.com

Material Considerations In addition to growing design capabilities, post-and-panel signs offer a greater number of material choices. Signs can now be built from one material or a combination of materials (such as wood, aluminum, HDU, steel, or PVC).

“We’ve found that our powder-coated steel and PVC materials hold up very well in a wide range of exterior applications,” says McMahon.

He adds that PVC offers several advantages over wood for post-and-panel systems: It won’t warp, crack, or split over time; it’s available in various colors (which eliminates the need to paint the sign face, posts, and frame); and the surface is smooth and receptive to cut vinyl, digital graphics, or dimensional letters.

Aluminum continues to be a popular material of choice for post-and-panels because of its durability, versatility, and lightweight nature. “Forming, cutting, welding, and painting aluminum is much easier than a lot of other materials, which cuts back on labor costs,” says Curtis. “And because of its inherit lightweight characteristics, it can be substantially less expensive to ship.”

Curtis also says that HDU is another material growing in popularity because of its durability and its ability to be sandblasted or routed for a custom look.

And if lighting is not an option for a finished post-and-panel, reflective materials may be. “Applying reflective 3M™ Scotchlite™ graphics are a nice option for increased visibility at night,” says Aversa.

Durability With a high degree of durability, it’s no surprise that post-and-panel signs remain so popular with clients looking for a cost-effective solution that also promises a return-on-investment. “We use automotive paints so they’ll have a long-lasting finish,” says Aversa. “In theory, these signs should never have to be replaced, [although] they may have to be repainted after ten to twelve years in the field.”

One of the keys to maintaining the durability of post-and-panel signs is a thorough site survey prior to installation. This should take into account the terrain, as well as exposure to wind and weather.

Depending on location, municipal codes may dictate the depth of sign posts, as well as the set back. “Sign makers in colder areas need to keep in mind signshop.com

the area’s ground freeze line and ensure they’re installing the post below that line,” says Curtis. “If the area the sign will be located tends to see high wind speeds, then material choices such as panel thickness or post reinforcement can play an important role in the postand-panel’s longevity.”

Quality Manufacturing created a post-and-panel sign for Harley Davidson using extruded aluminum and chrome plastic.

Photo courtesy of quality manufacturing.

Outdoor Sign Lighting Gooseneck Lighting Business Lighting Sign Lighting

Serving Sign Shops Across America...

Sign Blanks  Sign Brackets  Banner Brackets  Banner Lighting  Sign Hardware  Post & Panel Systems 

Request a Free catalog at SignBracketStore.com

888-320-0627

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

53

Depending on the material, suppliers recommend posts be placed in holes from two to three feet below grade and back-filled with concrete. If metal posts get scratched during installation, the paint should be touched-up immediately. For systems where the sign face is suspended from the frame or regularly

subject to wind, additional tie-downs or stabilizing bars are recommended.

Customers should also be advised on steps they can take to maintain the sign over its lifetime. With painted metal or aluminum signs, for instance, a yearly buff with car wax can help maintain its fresh, bright finish for years. “It’s not

Posts and finials can be an inexpensive way to create post-and-panel signs that stand out.

uncommon to just replace the panels as companies or tenants move or change their name or logo,” says McMahon.

“But with the occasional cleaning and touch-up, the posts and frames or headers can last indefinitely.”

You simply can't get better quality sign blanks High quality, good on both sides, all vertical grain All boards continuous—No finger joints Minimum 2 3/4-in. board width—Not strips Class A waterproof glue 100% money-back guarantee

Nobody makes a better blank!

Allwood

54

SignBlanks Ltd.

www.allwoodsignblanks.com 800-528-6699 sheryl@allwoodsignblanks.com

Quality Sign Blanks Since 1994

Dealer inquiries welcome

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

It’s one thing to sell and install these signs; it’s quite another to have the means to produce them.

For sign shops without the expertise or equipment to fabricate post-andpanel systems, wholesalers like Quality Manufacturing, Hanson Sign Companies, Component Signage, and the Sign Bracket Store provide a way for shops to share in this potentially profitable category and position themselves as a fullline supplier of sign solutions.

Hoffman reports that Quality Manufacturing has served as a fabricating partner to more than 1,200 sign shops during its 50-year history. “We approach every job as a custom job,” he says. “Smaller companies don’t have the money to buy the aluminum fabrication equipment we have, and they don’t need to.

“They can turn to us to build whatever they need, whatever their customer requires.”

Aversa points out that shops can even continue to control the design phase of their post-and-panels and only subcontract out certain aspects of the sign job.

“This allows them to control the layout phase and dictate the graphic portion of the job by lettering our post-and-panel blanks themselves,” he says. “If they continue to do what they do well and leave the building to us, they can maximize their own time and profits by using their extra time to sell and promote their business.” signshop.com

Photo courtesy of sign bracket store.

Fabricating Partners

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Exterior Signage / By AdAm Brown

all Photos courtesy of sign effectz, inc.

Solving the Obscure

Often the biggest challenge for an architect boils down to creating a cutting-edge vision for a project and not knowing the ideal path to constructing it.

Typically the vision is highly innovative but may be too obscure to build without access to the right fabrication expertise. signshop.com

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

55

I

n the case of Gauthier Biomedical’s new manufacturing site and office in Grafton, Wisconsin, there were two challenges in the early stages of the project.

Our company, Sign Effectz, Inc., was invited by the contractor, Berghammer Construction Corporation, to quote and submit design ideas for implementation of Gauthier’s sign package (exterior and interior signs). The preliminary design for the package of signs was so innovative that it had the owner asking two requirements of our team: (1.) Tell me what it is, and (2.)

How are you going to accomplish it (materials, processes, etc.)?

We met with the architects, and their initial drawings showed an out-ofstandard design—a translucent backlit material that encompassed the entire perimeter of the sign. The structural

supports would have to pass through an illuminated area without creating shadows or obstructions.

After this meeting, we returned to our shop and brainstormed ideal methods and materials. Since this design was going to require more problem-solving than a typical business sign, we borrowed techniques from our architectural-oriented AFX Division.

We then presented our new set of drawings with conceptual ideas and then met again with the architects and contractor to tweak them.

All of this work was pre-contract and therefore based on a gentleman’s agreement. It was based on relationships and trust and calls for a mutual respect between the sub-contractor and the owner of the property. Architects can appreciate that and know that they can’t get that from every vendor.

Solution

The credit goes to Eppstein Uhen Architects for coming up with the concept that presents Gauthier’s image perfectly. Eppstein Uhen designed the exterior monument signs and interior lobby logo for the Gauthier project to be synonymous with the overall design concept for the project.

The next step was to work out the final contract with them and then go into fabrication of the signs.

Power Your Creativity with a MultiCam

®

The RIGHT CNC Cutting Solution for Your Application and Budget

Graph-X-Cutter

• Industry-leading innovations are simply the best values • Cut material waste, decrease job times and increase profits • Over 9000 machines installed worldwide • Local service, training and support from over 70 Technology Centers with 20 across North America

Digital Express

Router 56

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

1025 West Royal Lane sales@multicam.com DFW Airport, TX 75261 www.multicam.com 972-929-4070 store.multicam.com

signshop.com

We built and installed a 5-by-16-foot, double-sided monument sign mounted onto a pre-cast concrete base. We coordinated with Berghammer on the specifications, and they poured the concrete base and put in the electrical placement.

The face of the sign is constructed of routed aluminum that allows the copy to illuminate with an opaque background.

It also includes a 4-by-16-inch fully-illuminated perimeter lens. The light source is low-voltage LED. There were no issues when it came to the mating point between the different trades—concrete, electrical, and sign. Coordination with Berghammer on the install also included landscaping contractors and paving contractors to make sure we weren’t holding up other trades in performing their work or damaging other work that had already been completed.

visitors form an impression about your brand before they even meet you.

Gauthier Biomedical has very high standards for how its brand is presented.

They are detail-oriented and were very pleased with how these signs supported the brand. They were impressed enough

that Mike Gauthier, president of the company, is eager to discuss his next project with us.

Adam Brown is president of Sign Effectz, Inc. (www.signeffectz.com) in Milwaukee,Wisconsin.

To operate smoothly, the job called for: ■ Attention to detail and organization skills; ■ Communication and scheduling; and ■ Working with the other trades on when we were going to be at the job site.

Outcome

Customers that visit Gauthier Biomedical’s new facility have a great impression of the company even before they come in the front door.

The sign is like the letterhead of a well written letter. The building is the content of the letter, and we all know that a good letterhead draws the reader in!

It underscores how important it is that

signshop.com

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

57

INTRODUCING The first graphic

3M and Envision are trademarks of 3M Company. © 3M 2013. All rights reserved.

films that

OPTIMIZE LED light

3M™ Envision™ Translucent and Diffuser Films • Achieve vibrant, richly colored graphics with fewer LEDs, using less energy.* • Bright, even sign illumination with no hot spots.

Dem os at ISA #4113

* For all film colors, except black.

3Mgraphics.com/switchon 1-800-328-3908

3

Make the switch.

Mimaki_CGFX_1_6_RS1212_Layout 1 11/9/12 4:23 PM Page 1

Precision Contour Cutter

USA’S #1 CHOICE FOR

BANNER STANDS TRADE ONLY SUPPLIER

The CG-FXII Series is the perfect precision contour cutting plotter to use in combination with any wide format, roll-to-roll printer.

Find companies and suppliers at the click of a mouse!

InfoDirect is your FREE one-stop source for sign products and supplies on the web. Log on and search by company name or category. Plus, there’s no hassle or delay—you’ll receive the information you want within ten days!

The CG-FXII cutter is ideal for: • Vehicle wraps and vehicle graphics • Decals, stickers, labels...and much more.

www.orbus365.com info@orbuscompany.com

Market Place

41” media width

58

62” media width

74” media width

866.708.8316

HavE quEstions?

Call Jeff Sutley at 212-620-7233 or Kim Noa at 212-620-7221.

www.signshop.com/infodirect Follow Us On:

@SBIMag

Sign Builder Illustrated

Sign Builder Illustrated

You'll love our Balls!

For ADA compliant braille signage

1-888-444-5131 www.brailleballs.com Your supplier of quality Braille Balls & accessories

mimakiusa.com ATL 888-530-3988 CHI 888-530-3985

BOS LA

888-530-3986 888-530-3987

Misplaced your favorite issue of ?

Back issues are available. Call for availability: 1-800-895-4389 or 1-402-346-4740 Log on to www.signshop.com

Sign Builder Illustrated // March 2013

signshop.com

Market Place

Formed Plastic & Cut Acrylic Letters Available from Your Plastic Letter Source

ASK ABOUT OUR

SLAT

SIGN SYSTEM

• Largest Trade Discount • Orders shipped in 3-4 days • Metal Laminate Letters available • Call for Free Catalog A DIVISION OF

Toll Free: 1-800-228-9986 • Fax: 1-800-245-1752 www.ll-letters.com • letters@llindustries.com

TRADE ONLY SUPPLIER wall signs projecting signs directory signs desk stands suspended signs triangular signs snap frames and more…

request your own brochures

866.724.1270 info@signprosystems.com www.signprosystems.com

Straight to Your Inbox SBI Update, Sign Builder Illustrated’s monthly e-newsletter, delivers the latest hot topics and news from around the sign industry right to your email Have questions?

Call Jeff Sutley at 212-620-7233 or Kim Noa at 212-620-7221.

What’s the hot topic this month? Sign up at http://www.signshop.com/sendstudio.html to receive the newsletter and find out!

Log on to www.signshop.com signshop.com

March 2013 // Sign Builder Illustrated

59

“

SHOP TALK

B y A s h l e y B r Ay

M3 General Construction Resources LLC

Building a Business Martin

Moncur

The women handle the bidding process, locate suppliers, and even install some of the interior signs themselves.

To date, M3 has handled projects for libraries, fire stations, and New York State dormitories at colleges such as SUNY. The company is currently putting together a multi-million dollar bid for a sign project at another New York dormitory.

Building the business was a well thought-out process. Both women have business experience (Martin is a retired government IT project manager/business analyst), and this aided them in laying the right foundation. “You’ve got to plan,” says Martin. “What I wanted to do from the beginning was build the foundation for a big business so we could grow into it.”

The duo developed business and strategic plans and set up processes for the future. For example, they purchased and learned QuickBooks™ before it was a necessity for their business.

They also work to differentiate their company through superior customer service. “We decided we were going to go that extra mile—we’re going to be calling people, we’re going to be there on time, we’re going to do what we say,” says Martin. “And [doing so] makes a huge difference. People want to work with us.” all Photos courtesy of m3 General construction resources llc.

T

he roads that lead to a career in the sign industry can be convoluted, and Lorraine Martin and her business partner Micheline Moncur know this firsthand. The pair started M3 General Construction Resources LLC (www.m3gcr.com) in November 2009 after meeting at Capital District Habitat for Humanity, where Martin was volunteering and Moncur was working as construction project manager. The women worked so well together that they decided to start their own company—with the specific goal of becoming a woman-owned business in mind.

In order to become certified, they had to be in business for two years, so they initially worked in managing residential remodels. Once they received their certification as a woman-owned New York business, they decided to switch gears. They met a family-owned sign company, which offered to teach them the sign business. “I had done research, and there were only a handful of women-owned businesses doing signage in New York,” says Martin, “so we didn’t have a lot of competition.”

At the start, M3 focused on bidding and managing interior sign projects. Today the business has expanded its bids to projects that include dimensional letters, exterior signs, and LED signs.

A womanowned business finds its way into the sign industry.

Caption here

60

Sign Builder Illustrated

// March 2013

signshop.com