Sign Builder Illustrated October 2015

identity signs

On-premise Signage Special

wayfind systems

A Complete Airport Sign Package

www.signshop.com

Number 244 | October 2015

How-To

Steel Works

DO YOUR TOOLS PROVIDE THE BEST FINISH FOR THE JOB? NO MATTER WHAT CHALLENGES YOU ARE FACING, TAKE IT ON WITH THE EXTENSIVE RANGE OF ONSRUD TOOLING THAT IS DESIGNED TO PROVIDE A SUPERIOR FINISH ON ALL SIGN MATERIALS.

SEE THE FULL LINE OF TOOLS AT ONSRUD.COM OR CALL 800-234-1560 FOR MORE INFORMATION.

October 2015

52

16 16 24

45 A Whale of a Tale

BY ASHLEY BRAY

The story of how two shops came together to turn an artist’s vision into reality.

Decision Drivers

BY WILLIAM HINDMAN

How to select an aerial work platform to meet your job requirements.

31

On-Time Signage

37 38 40

BY JEFF WOOTEN

Flavor of the Days

BY JEFF WOOTEN

A sign shows off the tasty treats offered by a dessert-oriented restaurant.

45

New Schools and Libraries

47

The Non-Secret Identity

This case study looks at how some high schools and libraries are being enhanced with architectural mesh systems.

BY JEFF WOOTEN

A new comic book store unmasks what they have to offer.

52 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. 12 issues per year. Non-qualified subscriptions Print version, Digital version, Both Print & Digital version: 1 year US/ Mexico/Canada $50.00; foreign $99.00. Agency subscriptions: 1 year US/Mexico/Canada $45.00; foreign $89.10. Single copies are $15.00 ea. Subscriptions must be paid in full in U.S. funds only. Prices are subject to change.

Copyright © Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation 2015. All rights reserved. Contents may not be

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Recognizing SBi: Identities What makes up an identity sign?

BY JEFF WOOTEN

Arriving at a complete wayfinding sign package for an airport.

SBi: Identities

Entrance to Identity

BY MARK K. ROBERTS Replacing old apartment entry signage with brand new HDU signs.

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, (847) 763-9686, Fax (847) 763-9544, e-mail signbuilder@halldata.com, or write to: Sign Builder Illustrated, Simmons-Boardman Publ. Corp, PO Box 1172, Skokie, IL 60076-8172.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sign Builder Illustrated, PO Box 1172, Skokie, IL 60076-8172.

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.

October 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

1

Agenda

How-To Columns

NOVEMBER 2015

13 10

Bright News about EMCs

Pay Attention to the Decals

BY MARK K. ROBERTS

Get more cut of the profit margin with decals.

13 Bright News About EMCs

BY DAVID HICKEY

Electronic message center brightness requires a “just right” touch.

4 UpFront

Editor Jeff Wooten looks at efforts to attract the younger generation to careers in signage.

6 Dispatches

IDENTITY SIGNS

The newest products and services from sign manufacturers.

54 SBI Marketplace

FEBRUARY 2016

8 Sign Show

56 Shop Talk

WAYFIND SYSTEMS

A Complete Airport Sign Package

www.signshop.com

NUMBER 244 | OCTOBER 2015

On-premise Signage Special

Jeff Wooten looks at how a sign shop used mesh graphics to transform a “coming soon” message for their furniture store client.

Steel Works On the Cover

SEI, a steel sculpture by artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, is meant to represent the sei whale leaping out of the water. Photo: Reggin Industries, Inc. 2

December 3-5: USSC Sign World International tradeshow and educational conference takes place at the Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (www.ussc. org/sign-world.php) December 4-5: The final Mutoh America open house of 2015 focusing on SAi Flexi RIP software will be held at Mutoh’s Torrance, California showroom. (www.mutoh. com/company/events)

Colorful wall murals provide inspiration in the children’s section of a library, and digital devices generate excitement at Fab11.

Advertisements and announcements from the sign trade.

HOW-TO

November 4-6: SGIA Expo, where imaging professionals will showcase their best products, methodologies, and applications, is headed to the Georgia Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. (www.sgiaexpo.org)

December 2015

Departments 10 Pay Attention to the Decals

November 3-6: The automotive SEMA Show, featuring 2,300+ exhibiting companies, rolls in to the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. (www.semashow.com)

Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

February 18-20: Graphics of the Americas Expo & Conference, attracting key professionals in graphic communications from North America, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, will be held at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami, Florida. (www.goaexpo.com) signshop.com

LARGE

doesn’t always mean

Heavy...

Down gauge your sign materials with Makrolon® LD • First choice for oversized or formed letters and cloud signs • Extensive industry standard color palate

• Eliminates the need for diffuser films and textures

Get more information at sheets.covestro.com or call 800.254.1707 * 119 Salisbury Road Sheffield, MA 01257

*Formerly Bayer MaterialScience

Up FRONT

by jeff wooten

October 2015, Vol. 29, No. 244 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. 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 212/620-7244; fax: 212/633-1863 jwooten@sbpub.com

Youth Movement

W

ant to feel a little depressed about growing older? If so, my advice to you is to join a Fantasy Football League.

A friend recently invited me to join his group, and since this is my first time “playing,” the things I’ve learned have been eye opening. For example, take the advice I read and heard about telling me to avoid running backs and wide receivers who were “over the hill”—and they were only thirty years old!!!

When I was growing up, all I heard about was the 18-to-49-year-old demographic coveted by media advertisers. (“Yes, someone wants my attention!”) However as my age has increased, these target numbers have decreased: 18-49 turned to 18-40 (“Well I’ve got a few good years left!), then 18-35 (“Don’t shut that door on me!”), 18-29 (“Dang whippersnappers!”), and today 18-24 (“What are you people?”).

Now that I’ve traveled well past the north side of forty and lost my passport to return back, I’m trying desperately not to find myself sitting on a porch telling the kids looking down 24/7 at their smartphones about walking barefoot six miles in the snow to build and install signs with caveman mallets and rope pulleys. (“Now that I think about it, I need to find my receipt to return those rose-colored glasses!”)

Over the past decade-and-a-half with this magazine, I’d noticed that when I met younger folks at sign tradeshows, events, or drop-by shop visits, I was usually talking with second- and third-generation sign makers. Sign building has always been in their blood.

But with technology revolutionizing the 4

sign-making process, it appears our industry is making a concentrated effort to reach out to the under-thirty “outsiders” and promote that sign making is an attractive business to be in, especially for those equipped with creative ideas, computer savvy, and marketing gusto.

The third-annual Sign Manufacturing Day takes place early this month (October 2).

Sponsored by the International Sign Association and the National Association of Manufacturers, this event brings high school, community college, and technical school students to sign shops so they can learn more about careers in the industry.

Last year, more than 1,000 students toured participating companies. This year, a record number of twenty-six sign manufacturers will be opening up thirty-five locations to give these students an inside look at their work and their facilities. (Note: For a detailed list of this year’s participating companies, visit bit.ly/1iz7rvZ.) Speaking of “under thirty,” I also want to congratulate our managing editor, Ashley Bray, for being inducted into the inaugural group of the NSSA Elite Program, an initiative by the Northeast States Sign Association to identify and work with the next generation of sign industry leaders. (Note: The program is modeled on ISA’s Elite Program.)

So as the sign industry makes more of a push to bring more young workers in, let’s turn our attention to an even more pressing question: In my Fantasy Sign Shop league, who should I draft with my first selection—a designer, a fabricator, or an installer?

Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

managing editor

Ashley Bray

55 Broad Street, 26th Floor New York, NY 10004 212/620-7220; fax: 212/633-1863 abray@sbpub.com contributing writers

Butch “Superfrog” Anton, Mike Antoniak, David Hickey, William Hindman, 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

Ian Littauer

212/620-7225; fax: 212/633-1863 ilittauer@sbpub.com Sign Builder Illustrated is published monthly. All rights reserved. Nothing herein may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher. To purchase PDF files of cover and layouts or hard copy reprints, please call Art Sutley at 212/620-7247 or e-mail asutley@sbpub.com.

Circulation Dept. 800/895-4389

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Dispatches

Inspiring Reading Through Wall Graphics

Stow, Ohio—“Inspiring Reading, One Book at a Time” is the mantra at the Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library. And what better place to start inspiration than in the children’s section? So library officials turned to a trusted design partner to redesign their children’s reading area: Central Graphics of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

Central Graphics—a firm specializing in the production and installation of graphics, signs, and wraps for a wide variety of applications—had worked with the library in the past. The goal on this project was to create a place where library patrons and children can explore and transport themselves to anywhere their imagination takes them, emulating the experience of reading a book.

The project incorporated multiple levels of the building and graphic designs 6

that featured a bright, cheerful, continuous scene that extended throughout the entire children’s area.

Patrons begin their journey to the second level surrounded by underwater scenery and emerge “above ground” upon reaching the second floor. Here a floor-toceiling environment was installed with 360-degree wall graphics featuring a pond theme, providing young minds with a stimulating and imaginative experience.

Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

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Devices Generate Excitement at Fab11

Using fifty-four-inch rolls of MACtac® REBEL® 529R (a gloss white facestock with a removable adhesive and lay-flat liner) plus careful installation techniques, Central Graphics made the space come to life exactly as imagined by library staff.

Since the space will be regularly utilized and wear-and-tear inevitable, Central Graphics decided to use MACtac® PERMACOLOR® ColorGard™ LUV™ (a 3.2mil overlaminate with a clear, permanent acrylic adhesive and a matte finish) to keep the graphics looking great for years to come.

The installers had to work around windows, doors, curved surfaces, large pillars, and other challenging elements of the architecture. They were able to turn the challenge into an opportunity by creating a three-dimensional feel to the space with pillars wrapped to look like trees, signshop.com

graphically designed “curtains” surrounding windows, customized garbage can wraps, and more.

“While the large dimensions, multilevel nature, and three-dimensional design of the graphics application presented their share of challenges,” said Jeff Loofboro, managing director for Central Graphics, “we had the support of knowledgeable, easily accessible MACtac personnel to help us find the right products and get the job done.”

Library patrons love the new look of the children’s area.

“I’m so happy with the way this project turned out,” said Ann Malthaner, head of Marketing and Public Relations, Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library. “We’ve seen a 40,000 increase in circulation recently, and word is spreading about this new, fun space.”

Ir vine, California—Roland DG Corporation’s innovative digital devices generated plenty of interest and excitement at Fab11, held August 2-9, 2015 on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge.

Roland DG showcased its new monoFab™ ARM-10 3D printer and SRM-20 desktop milling machine, as well as its state-of-the-art wide format inkjet printers, at the prestigious event, which attracted Fab Foundation members from all over the world. In addition to demonstrating its advanced 3D rapid prototyping and digital printing products at Fab11, Roland DG held seminars on how to build circuit boards and hack the SRM-20.

Roland DG was also a sponsor of the week-long “Make (almost) Anything” conference, comprised of hands-on workshops, seminars, planning meetings, project demonstrations, product exhibitions, a public Fab Festival, and more.

“The rapidly growing fab lab movement is focused on getting young people around the globe interested in STEM and digital fabrication,” explained Tony Miller, director of Sales, Strategic Accounts for Roland DGA. “The goal is to encourage creativity and ingenuity by making related technologies and products more available to everyone, everywhere.

“The Fab Foundation is helping to cultivate and inspire the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.”

October 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

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SignSHOW A D H E S I V E S / TA P E S New Double-sided Tapes for Hard-to-stick, UV-coated Materials Essentra Specialty Tapes has formulated special adhesives with UV inhibitors to manufacture tapes with strong adhesion to UV-coated material. Duraco Red is a specially modified acrylic adhesive that produces a permanent and strong bond for this new double-sided clear film tape. Its release liner and permanent tape are both transparent, allowing the user to accurately position the tape while applying it to a surface with graphics or text underneath. Once the red liner is removed, the graphics will show clearly through the remaining tape. The adhesive will not yellow. It minimizes any hazy appearance and maintains the aesthetic value and readability of the underlying graphics or text. 2811 Tissue Tape is a specially modified, hot melt, rubber-based adhesive that creates a high-performance adhesion ideally suited for application on difficult surfaces and materials that are lightweight. 2811 Tissue Tapes are also user-friendly “finger-lift” tapes, which feature a release liner with a dry edge on both sides that extends beyond the width of the adhesive strip.

The extra width (dry edge) allows the liner to be removed quickly and easily. www.essentraspecialtytapes.com

D I G I TA L P R I N T I N G E Q U I PM E N T/ S U P P L I E S Ardeje Introduces its A 7000 Digital Press Ardeje has announced the availability of its new proprietary digital press, the A 7000. Capable of printing UV/LED in four-color process for parts up to 550 mm or 21.6 inches in height, this digital press can print on most substrates (both absorbent and non-absorbent), including most plastics, glasses, and metals. The Ardeje press is economically priced and can provide significant savings compared to screen and pad, which opens up new markets to the plastic decorator.

602/743-7283; www.ardeje.com

Roland DGA Adds New Heat Transfer Material and Transfer Mask to Its Media Offerings Roland HeatSoft PLUS heat transfer material (HTM3) is a thin, inkjet printable polyurethane heat transfer media that images beautifully and stretches and weeds easily. Compatible with eco-solvent printers, it yields exceptional print quality, fine detail, and vibrant color—making it ideal for producing graphics with a soft hand for T-shirts, sports apparel, and accessories. HeatSoft PLUS transfer material maximizes versatility, allowing the application of graphics to cotton, polyester, and poly-blend in addition to spandex/Lycra and leather. New Roland HeatSoft PLUS polyester transfer mask (PTM2) is specially designed for use with HeatSoft PLUS transfer material. Composed of 100 percent polyester and featuring a medium tack adhesive, PTM2 transfer mask ensures the dimensional stability of Roland’s thin, stretchy HTM3 during transfer, making the process fast and simple. www.rolanddga.com

MAGNETS A Whole New Line of Innovative Changeable Graphics and Signage Systems MagX America has launched MagX Magnetically Receptive Systems! This system can be used to create changeable graphics and signage for retail environments, promotions, point-of-purchase, tradeshow displays, and museum exhibits, to name just a few. MagX Magnetically Receptive Systems utilize MagX Magnetic Sheeting with a special mounting adhesive, which can be mounted to most any wall or smooth surface. MagX Magnetically Receptive Sheeting is then imaged with a graphic and mounted to the magnetic sheeting itself. Magnetically receptive graphics can be easily changed and mounted up to four layers. MagX Magnetically Receptive System components are available in a wide variety of widths, thicknesses, and laminates. 800/979-1150; www.magxamerica.com

POWER SUPPLIES/TRANSFORMERS SloanLED Unveils the New 60C1 Power Supply for the LED Sign Lighting Industry With a rugged, compact, and energy-efficient design, the the 60C1 12VDC 60-Watt Power Supply from SloanLED features wide-ranging universal input voltage—from 100-277VAC—and UL recognition for dry/damp locations. Active power conversion improves reliability and energy efficiency over current offerings. The 60C1 works with all SloanLED 12VDC LED sign products and, thanks to incorporating innovations that speed up installation and reduce labor costs, is designed specifically with sign installers in mind. It eliminates the need to replace fuses or to reset a circuit breaker by autoresetting after an electrical short is corrected. Secondary hook-ups do not require a minimum load, dip switches, or load balancing. The unit’s modular design saves additional costs by allowing installers to combine units together within an enclosure to utilize a single primary power connection. www.sloanled.com

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Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

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S I G N B L A N K S / PA N E L S / S U B ST R AT E S Five-foot-wide Econolite Panels are Available in Eight-, Ten-, or Twelve-foot Lengths Econolite® from Laminators Inc., is a strong, lightweight aluminum composite panel with a high-density corrugated polyallomer (CPA) core that will not swell, corrode, rot, wick water, or delaminate even under prolonged water exposure.

Featuring a single-sided, finished surface of high-gloss, factory-baked, polyester-painted aluminum, Econolite is also backed with an unpainted aluminum sheet for added balance. The painted surface is warranted not to crack, chip, flake, or peel. Available in 6mm or 10mm thicknesses, Econolite is ideal for paints, digital inks (UV or solvent cured), screen print inks, and pressure-sensitive vinyl. The product also easily routes and cuts using standard carpentry tools. The product is wind-resistant for over 120 mph winds when properly fastened between two posts, and it surface is also formulated to resist outdoor dirt and is practically “self-cleaning.” 215/723-8107, x206; www.laminatorsinc.com

SIGN CABINETS/LIGHT BOXES Outwater’s Brite Light Sheet for Backlighting Signage At under $2.95 per square foot, Outwater’s Brite Light Sheet is the most affordable way to create backlighting for signage.

Easy to install, Outwater’s Brite Light Sheet can be cut to any size or shape to accommodate any contour and can be affixed to acrylic or glass substrates by means of its self-adhering backing sheet. Intended for use with Outwater’s Aluminum Channel and corresponding LED Ribbon Strip Lighting, Outwater’s Brite Light Sheet evenly diffuses backlit illumination without any required installation depth. Sold in as little as four-square-foot sheets, Outwater’s Brite Light Sheet is also available in 4-by-25-foot rolls that can be shipped via UPS. All-inclusive Sample Kits [BLPS-KIT and BLPSKIT-DIM (includes a dimmer)] are also available. 800/631-8375; www.outwater.com

Choose the printable magnet that rises above the rest Magnum continues to lead the industry by innovating and introducing revolutionary new products: • MuscleMag® Latex certified magnetic media for HP 300 series latex printers • High-energy two-sided magnet for the ultimate interchangeable magnetic display system • Protective and aesthetic aqueous and UV coatings for digital and offset printing

Experience the Magnum Difference – call us today at 800.258.0991

800.258.0991 800.258.0991 magnummagnetics.com/do magnummagnetics.com/sbi sales@magnummagnetics.com sales@magnummagnetics.com

signshop.com

October 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

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HOW-TO

By Mark K. Roberts

Business Management

Pay Attention to the Decals

Get more cut of the profit margin with

to show them the high-quality decals we have printed, laminated, and perimeter-cut at our location.

We also offer design services for our clients who want to go to the next level in quality and design. This added value is extremely important when our customers and clients want to create a high-impact design for their decals.

Digitally printed color decals on high-performance vinyl is the most cost-effective solution to advertise, market, and promote your product or service, hands down!

If you are new to this product or service, jump in as soon as possible. If you are not a skilled graphic designer with an advertising agency mentality, then you should look for a technician who can create the print-and-cut files for you.

There has never been a better time than the present to market these highly custom, perim-

Photo: roland dga.

decals.

A

s I approach my thirty-ninth year in the sign business, I have decided to streamline a few things.

A long, long time ago, I was a “young pup” eager to make a difference by serving my accounts with exemplary service and high-quality products. I still have that ambition; however, by focusing on my key accounts, I can raise the bar even higher.

My favorite sign product today is digitally printed decals. Not only can I create beautiful decals, I can also perimeter-cut the decals I have designed. Now no longer limited to square and rectangular decals, our company (The InterSign Company in Houston, Texas) can create any type of “freeform” decal.

Most of our custom perimeter-cut decals are in the 4-by-6-inch to 12-by-24-inch range.

(However we can also print a 48-by-144-inch full-color decal, if you would like to have one!)

We are proud to be a one-stop shop for a couple of hundred clients to date, and we love

10

Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

signshop.com

eter-cut decals. Your customer and clients will see the difference immediately, and they will appreciate the extra time and effort you have taken to make these decals memorable. For added longevity, we also offer our laminated perimetercut decals, which are extremely durable.

Your clients are ready for more impactful designs and products that will command attention, and with these decals, you could be the industry leader in your

marketplace.

Speaking of marketing, you will need a source of advertising to promote your digitally printed decals.

Samples sell! Chances are your existing customers are already buying roll labels, and you can add your own personal style and technique to persuade the others to give you a chance at their label printing.

The most cost-effective way to do so is to print about six rolls of totally different roll labels and mail the six different decals to your established clientele.

Always start a new sales campaign in your local market. Your marketing materials should consist of several small rolls of perimeter-cut, digitally printed decals. Create one small roll of plain vanilla decals to establish a base line.

Next raise the bar a little. Show your clients your level two, your level three, and your top-of-the-line, flat-out awesome perimeter-cut digitally printed decals. This is the level where your profits exist.

Creativity will propel you to additional clients and increased sales, if you market nice, clean, and effective decals.

Another way to increase awareness of

your perimeter-cut decal products is to market them to your entire client base.

Perhaps you have been in a successful digital printing environment for five, ten, or fifteen years. This is a tremendous base of business opportunities.

Your sales market could be small, medium, or large, however the ability to persuade new and existing clients to buy from you is in your hands.

Be likeable. Be on time. Dress at a level higher than the typical printing salesperson.

Create a symbiotic selling environment where everyone wins.

And make sure your sales materials are up-to-date and cutting edge. We have all seen the “same-old, same-old” brochures and fliers. Well nothing will beat handing an actual printed and perimeter-cut decal to your client. Sell your client on the high quality of digital print vinyl.

Next entice them on the very valuable perimeter cutting. Trust me, you will see that this is the real money-maker!

If you have any questions or comments about this article, please email Mark at markrobertsigns@gmail.com.

MIMAKI CJV150 Series The Mimaki CJV150 Series cut and print devices go beyond extraordinary to deliver a wide range of applications. Utilizing eco-solvent inks – including Silver, advanced printing technologies, superb quality, color fidelity, and flexibility – plus cutting capability – you’ll go beyond the expected to increase your business and deliver more than your customers can imagine. The CJV150 is available in four versatile media widths – 32”, 43”, 54”, 63”.

mimakiusa.com info@mimakiusa.com 888-530-4021 © 2015 Mimaki USA

12 Mimaki_CJV150_H_SB1015.indd Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015 1

signshop.com 9/8/15 11:11 AM

HOW-TO

By David Hickey

Electric

Bright News About EMCs

Electronic message center brightness requires a “just

too much, and it is not effective; restrict it too little, and it is equally ineffective.

Like Goldilocks’s tastes, EMC brightness must be just right.

To the sign and visual communications professional, this might seem easy to do. But it is not necessarily in the toolkit of a local planner, who may lack both the know-how and equipment required to determine the brightness of signs.

A few years ago, ISA developed Recommended Night-time Brightness Levels for Electronic Message Center Signs, based upon work by noted lighting expert Dr. Ian Lewin. This publication helps communities understand how to measure signs, ensuring that they are bright enough to be effective without being too bright.

To date, more than 150 communities (including cities like Columbus, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois) have adopted these recommendations

Photos: indigo signworks; daktronics.

right” touch.

I

t is an all-too familiar story: Someone complains that an electronic message center (EMC) is too bright. Then the community leaders must determine whether it is and, if it is deemed so, what to do about it.

There is no doubt that EMCs are vital to the industry and to our end-users.

A case study included in the Signage Foundation Inc.’s 2012 study, Economic Value of OnPremise Signs, profiled a Ford® dealership that used a new EMC sign to advertise a corporate tire sale. Though a competing tire shop was located just across the street, the Ford dealer had the fourth-highest sales figures among U.S. Ford dealers. It also increased the number of appointments for service by 6.5 percent in the first ten months that the EMC was in use.

Electronic message centers are an important type of sign to many businesses. But restrict it

signshop.com

October 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

13

EMCs are important to businesses, but if they are restricted too much or too little, they are ineffective.

Like Goldilocks’s tastes, EMC brightness must be just right.

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Save time and money with the fastest, most reliable, most precise systems available to sign makers. Bend returns faster than with our nearest competitors’ machines. Cut hand finishing time. Fabricate face-lit and reverse letters, or Trimless letters with our LetterBox™ return material. Finish the stroke of a letter with a serif as small as ¼".

From Starbucks® to Saks Fifth Avenue®, ChannelBenders can bend any sign. For more information, call AdamsTech at 303-798-7110 or email us at info@channelbender.com.

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Other U.S. and international patents pending. Starbucks and Saks Fifth Avenue trademarks are the property of their respective rights owners and no endorsements are implied.

14

Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

in whole or in part. Most recently, York County, Virginia, joined the list.

York County started down the path for the same reason many do: Because of complaints related to a couple of EMCs. The planners there reached out to ISA, and we assisted them throughout the process, providing the guide and responding to questions.

This research is just one of the many valuable tools that ISA offers to help local communities.

Others can provide scientific evidence that EMCs do not cause traffic accidents.

Another proves that EMCs can increase a business’s bottom line. We developed a Webinar on regulating EMCs that was provided through the American Planning Association. (Note: All of these resources are available at www.signs.org/local.)

The research is important. But so too is sticking with an issue for the long haul.

York County spent nearly eighteen months evaluating its sign codes related to EMCs. We often ask member companies to attend a planning commission meeting or city council event to discuss sign code changes. Busy with other responsibilities, they will promise to show up at the most important meeting.

I understand; it can be frustrating to sit at a meeting only to have the issue deferred to the next meeting. Often codes are a long process, and it is important to stay on top of them throughout the many months.

This requires commitment—and it is often one that our opponents are willing to make.

We have to meet opposition with the same long-term commitment. When we engage and assist planners along the way—building bridges to understanding and serving as industry experts and assets to the planning process—we make tremendous strides.

Our industry has incredible tools to help businesses grow, and EMCs are certainly near the top of that list. As an industry, we understand how they can best be used.

We can beat back misconceptions, such as the old saw about “driver distraction,” with facts. We are here to help— and when we are allowed to do so, it is a winning argument for all involved.

David Hickey is vice president, Government Affairs, at ISA. He can be reached via email at signcodehelp@signs.org. signshop.com

S c u l p t u r e / B y A s h l e y B r ay / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Additional artists Yahgulanaas flew in from Calgary spent three days at Reggin Industries applying copper leaf to the underside of the sculpture.

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Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

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

Whale of a Tale

The story of how two shops came together to turn an artist’s vision into reality.

T

all Photos: reggin industries, inc.

ravelers passing through Vancouver International Airport now have the chance to glimpse a unique public art structure. SEI, a steel sculpture by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, is meant to represent the sei whale leaping out of the water.

Just how this structure was built and installed is a whale of a tale in itself.

Custom metal fabricator Reggin Industries, Inc. (www.regginindustries.com) of Calgary, Alberta became involved in this project through a referral, and they then brought custom cutter Empire Cutting Corporation (www.empirecutting.com) on board.

Both companies are used to unique jobs that push the boundaries of their equipment and creativity. “[This project] combined a lot of architectural structural engineering with this vision of an artist,” says Vincent Larsen, president of Empire Cutting.

“That’s turned out to be one of our specialties— seeing what an artist is trying to do.

“They don’t speak engineering or architectural or my equipment language, so one has to be able to interpret what they’re trying to do.”

The artist provided hand sketches showing the general shape and size of what he wanted as well as a view of the final site.

“We worked very closely with the artist in his conceptual stages; that way, he could understand the limitations of what was possible to do with sheet metal,” says Brett Kostka, senior designer, Reggin Industries.

“We knew what he wanted it to look like, but we had to make sure that we were going to achieve that intent.”

Reggin Industries used SOLIDWORKS software to design the sculpture (even though AutoCAD is the standard in construction projects).

“With this project, it was critical that we could plan and build it in 3D, predict how we were going to assemble all these parts and where we were going to have

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October 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

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The stainless steel skins had to be thick enough to withstand handling from the public without denting.

problems, and how much weight we were going to have to lift with a crane to put the next panel on,” says Kostka.

Next they worked with an outside engineer to get the plans stamped. They figured out the details for the connections, reveal lines, internal mechanisms, and how the parts came together.

Because the timeline was so tight—they only had three months—Reggin Industries ordered parts and started building as soon as they reached the more detailed part of the design.

The design wasn’t fully finished until late into fabrication. “We weren’t even sure how we were going to put everything together

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Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

The finished sculpture stands 15 ½ feet tall on its base.

with lots of the parts, until almost the last week,” says Kostka.

“It was good because, if there was ever some sort of a hiccup or something didn’t fit together, we could almost instantly troubleshoot it and fix it for the next pieces we had to design.”

The sculpture includes three parts. The first is the internal structural ribs made of 304 stainless steel that connect the external skins to the structural steel.The ¼-inch ribs run perpendicular and attach to the structural 12-inch 304 stainless steel pipes. The 12-gauge (0.1046-inch) ribs run perpendicular and attach to the ¼-inch ribs. This support structure was designed like the inside

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Empire Cutting handled the cutting on everything but the twelve-inch-diameter pipe of the internal ribs.

of an aircraft wing with holes in the metal framework that take out weight while still keeping the integrity of the structure.

The second part is the 12-gauge structural steel. Structural “boxes” were made to create frames and support for the voids.

The last section is the 12-gauge external, cosmetic skin made of 316 mirrored stainless steel rated for outdoor exposure.

“The reason why the external skins had to be 12-gauge was because we have to basically roll them by hand,” says Kostka. “If it’s too thick, you’ll have a really hard time forming it.”

Forming was easier, however welding and grinding were not.

“With mirrored finish stainless steel, once you weld something, you have to grind out and polish that weld down and bring it back to a mirror finish,” explains Kostka. “With a thick material, you can do more grinding and polishing because, as you polish the surface, you’re actually removing material.”

Reggin Industries sent in orders to Empire Cutting. Because the deadline was so tight, Empire Cutting was constantly receiving design files, cutting, and shipping the pieces out.

“We were cutting as fast as they were drawing, and they were installing as they were drawing,” says Larsen. “You really need to do

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it that way, unless you’ve got really deep pockets and can hold it.

“It’s best to just keep the cash flow moving as the bill goes out— it gets paid that way.”

Larsen always made sure to double check the dimensions, as things are sometimes thrown off when opening files in different software.

“When you take all those curves and things and interpret it into a flat drawing, I have no way of telling if that’s the right curve or the wrong curve because it’s not a circle,” says Larsen.

“So we developed a way of doing a back check or a double check using different software.

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“[During] cross check, if they all match, then we know everything’s good to go. If something’s off, one of the drawings will be out and then we have to investigate a little further.”

When the files were set, Empire Cutting began cutting on its 400-watt Kern Laser

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HSE Laser System with metal cutting option. (Note: Empire also used its OMAX® MAXIEM® 1530 waterjet cutter to cut a few ¼-inch stainless steel pieces.)

Empire typically cuts with oxygen, as they did on this job. “[Oxygen] guarantees that we’ll have the best and most

Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

successful cutting,” says Larsen. “You can cut with nitrogen, but the machine isn’t that powerful—so your very, very thin gauge you can cut with nitrogen.”

One of the big cutting challenges was on the mirrored stainless steel panels. The pieces come in with vinyl film on top to protect the surface. This film is laserable, but if it isn’t adhered properly, the laser could cause it to pillow up and hit the machine head. These blowouts lead to holes or divets in some very expensive material.

Empire Cutting couldn’t take that chance, so it pre-burned the vinyl.

“We changed the settings so it would only cut the plastic,” says Larsen. “We went on the inside and the outside of the cut line and burned the plastic film.

“Then we peeled it out so there was no chance of the vinyl getting anywhere near the head.”

Empire Cutting cut about a hundred pieces. “It interrupted a lot of the other jobs,” says Larsen. “but thankfully a lot of them coming through were thicker products, so we did those on the waterjet instead.”

Over at Reggin Industries, the shop was also swamped. Workers had to rearrange the shop to fit the sculpture and still have room

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“It was an extremely motivational and exciting project for everyone.

I’ve had fabricators from the shop tell me it’s the coolest thing they ever worked on.”

—Brett Kostka The sculpture weighed 7,900 pounds and the shipping frame 4,100 pounds, so a total of 12,000 pounds was driven to the job site. to receive and ship out materials.

“It was definitely the busiest project that we’ve ever had,” says Kostka. “At one point, we had about ten fabricators working full time on it—all at once in the shop.”

Reggin Industries built a shipping frame and assembled the sculpture within it. The company had to make sure the sculpture was small enough to fit in a truck, as well as under bridges and power lines on the way to the final site.

“We took the sculpture in its final position and tilted it down about six feet,” says Kostka. “We designed a shipping frame around that envelope.”

The shipping crate also helped give them references to take measurements “Nothing on the sculpture was square so it was really hard to measure anything on the sculpture itself,” says Kostka.

To assemble the sculpture, everything was welded with the exception of a few structural pieces that were bolted in place with typical pipe bolts. Some pieces were also welded and partially glued.

“As soon as you weld on mirror finish, you’re going to burn through and create brown carbon markings from the heat,” says Kostka. “So there were some places where we actually had to find a way to glue the panels on.”

After about two months of fabrication, the sculpture was complete, and it was loaded onto a semi with a drop trailer and driven to the airport for installation.

Since the sculpture was installed at the mall outside of Vancouver International signshop.com

Airport, there were a number of constraints: It had to be installed at night when air traffic is at a minimum, air regulations dictated that workers couldn’t exceed a certain height with the crane, and the sculpture had to be lifted over buildings to be put in place since installers couldn’t drive over

the new stonework to get to the job site.

Reggin Industries rented a crane with a very long reach, and it was a nailbiting moment as they watched the crane lift the sculpture through the air. But it went off without a hitch, and SEI was anchored and bolted onto the base plate.

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Service Equipment / By william hindman //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Aerial devices can reach quite high—as in 331 feet with this Bronto Skylift model—so operating them safely is important.

Decision Drivers

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Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

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

How to select an aerial work platform to meet your job

Photos (left): bronto skylift; (all others) jlg industries.

requirements.

M

any jobs require reaching overhead areas. Sometimes it’s no more than six feet off the ground. Other times it can be one hundred feet or more.

But no matter the height, accessing those overhead areas efficiently and safely is essential.

In years past, overhead access was accomplished by climbing ladders or erecting scaffolding. Today more and more people are getting to overhead work faster and more safely by using aerial work platforms. These machines quickly elevate workers directly to an overhead area, so no time is wasted erecting scaffolding and no energy is wasted climbing up to the job.

Aerial work platforms can be purchased or rented and are available in a variety of styles and sizes to fit almost any overhead access need. The leading manufacturer offers over sixty different models including vertical personnel lifts, slab and

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rough terrain scissor lifts, and telescoping and articulating boom lifts featuring platform heights of up to 150 feet.

With such a wide variety of machines available, there’s a model that will match your needs whether you’re using it indoors or outdoors, on a solid concrete surface, or driving through mud.

But selecting the right machine requires more than just knowing how high you want to reach. If you don’t look at all your needs, you may end up with a machine that doesn’t work like you planned.

Here are some things to consider when selecting a machine:

Reach Obviously platform height (how high will it reach) is the number one criteria. But what good is a machine that is capable of reaching the desired height if, because of job site conditions, you can’t position the machine directly under the work area?

In this case, look at both height and horizontal outreach capabilities.You need to determine where you can position the

machine first, then you can determine what machine will give you the combination of height and horizontal outreach you need to access the work area.

Power Is the work area located inside or outside? Various power sources are available—including gas, diesel, or dual fuel engines and AC or DC power—to meet these different applications.

Where noise is a concern in outdoor areas, electric-powered boom lifts up to sixty feet in height are available.

Surface Look at the terrain around the job site. Is it a concrete slab or soft earth? Is it level or sloped?

If it’s sloped, you may need a machine with more gradeability. And if there’s a lot of debris scattered around, you may need a machine with higher ground clearance. Boom lifts with additional outreach or rough terrain scissorlifts with outriggers may be required.

Next look at the surface you’re going to travel over.

Watch for any hollow spaces beneath the ground. If it’s soft or muddy, you may need four-wheel drive or a machine with a crawler undercarriage.

You can also choose from a variety of tire options—including foam-filled, pneumatic, high-floatation “turf tires” or solid non-marking tires for use on wood flooring or tile and marble surfaces.

Weight Is the surface firm enough to support the machine weight?

Determine if there are any weight restrictions in places where you will be using the machine. Many areas like parking structures, bridges, and sidewalks have load limits.

Location

When selecting a machine, consider the location you’ll be operating in. Are there are any low clearance or tight areas? What is the surface like?

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Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

No matter what machine you select, you have to be able to move it from its point of delivery on the job and around the job site to the actual work area.

See if there are any low clearance areas or overhead obstructions where the stowed height of the machine might be critical or if there are any “tight” areas you need to pass through where a narrow overall machine width or tighter turning radius might be required. If so, signshop.com

you may have to use an articulated boom lift or a boom lift with an articulated jib to reach up and over obstacles.

Capacity What is the work requirement? How many people are required for the application and how much material is needed? This will dictate the platform size and capacity required.

Check the platform capacity of the machine to determine how many people

and tools or supplies it will hold. You’ll also want to look at the platform size to make sure it will provide you with an adequate working area and that it will accommodate your largest load.

Once you have decided on what type and size of machine best meets your needs, consider the type of work you’ll be performing from the elevated platform and what tools you’ll be using to do the work. Along with electrical outlets and air lines on the platform, today’s leading manufacturers offer

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a variety of optional features that will increase your productivity even more when you reach the overhead area.

Built-in generators in the base, with power cable and air/water lines running through the boom to the platform, are available to power everything from welders and plasma cutters to saws, pressure washing systems, and lighting packages.

Using these integrated tool systems in the platform increases productivity, eliminates the need for costly ancillary equipment, and provides a much safer working environment, since you don’t have wires or hoses running over the side of the platform to the ground.

Conclusion Aerial work platforms have changed the way we work. They make us more productive and provide a greater degree of safety than other methods of accessing overhead areas.

With the wide variety of products on the market today, there’s a machine for almost any application.

So take the time to review all of your needs and job site parameters before selecting a machine and ask questions before you order. It could save you a whole lot of time and trouble on the job.

William Hindman is president of Industrial Marketing Systems in Fountain Hills,Arizona.

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Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

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A few practices and precautions when operating a service vehicle can go a long way in keeping a crew safe.

First make sure your employees are educated on the use and handling of the vehicle by reading safety manuals, operating directions, and OSHA rules.

“ANSI A92 standards require operator training for vehiclemounted, manually propelled, self-propelled booms and scissor-type lifts that include both classroom theory training and demonstration of hands-on operational proficiency of the aerial device,” says Tony Groat, vice president of International Powered Access Federation (IPAF).

This education and training should also make sure employees recognize area hazards: electrocution, mechanical failures, falls from the aerial platform, a device tipping over, occupants in the aerial device being crushed,

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and the aerial device being struck.

Operators should also follow safety regulations, such as wearing a harness in the boom lift, to help prevent accidents and avoid hazards. “Most accidents [related to] height in a boom lift are caused from people being thrown out because they’re not tethered in,” says William Hindman, president of Industrial Marketing Systems. (Note: It’s recommended that workers also wear a hard hat.)

Proper maintenance and inspections on both the truck and the aerial device can also prevent accidents. A truck requires normal vehicle maintenance like oil changes, tire pressure checks, etc. An aerial should be checked to make sure it’s in operating condition and that there are no hydraulic leaks, that the lift can go up and down, that the controls work, etc.

The ANSI A 92.2 standard covers aerial devices and addresses required frequent and periodic inspections.

“Between the daily inspection required to be performed by the operator prior to use and periodic inspection performed by a qualified mechanic based on activity, severity of use, and environment (but no longer than twelve month intervals), any problem or malfunction should be identified and addressed to keep the aerial device in proper operation,” says Groat.

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Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

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Photo: bronto skylift.

Keeping Safety Within Reach

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On-Time Signage Arriving at a complete sign package for an airport.

all Photos: sign effectz, inc.

S

ix million passengers made their way through General Mitchell International Airport (GMIA) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin last year. That’s a lot of people (both visitors and locals) trying to successfully navigate through the complex to find their destination.

And then you have to consider that many of these visitors who are departing inbound flights are also using the airport’s layout and presentation to generate their first impressions of the city.

So when GMIA officials wanted to upgrade their airport to a cleaner, more efficient facility, they also knew it was an opportune time to implement a brand new wayfinding sign package (featuring the “latest technologies and effective designs”) throughout it.

Over the past year-and-a-half, Sign Effectz, Inc., a full-service, custom sign manufacturer also based in Milwaukee, has built and delivered a diverse sign package for the GMIA, as well as provided installation guidance (after winning an open bidding process).

The shop manufactured five different types of non-lit interior ADA signage, four types of interior illuminated signs, and five types of exterior illuminated signage.

They also installed six different regulatory signs (stop, pe-

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destrian crossing, speed limit, etc.) supplied by safety signage solutions provider TAPCO (www.tapconet.com).

Sign Effectz, Inc., had prior working relationships with one of the project’s construction companies, CD Smith Construction of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, who invited them to bid on the project. The sign company also worked with JCP Construction of Milwaukee on this project.

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Sign Effectz built a lightbox that fits into a granite cabinet and features an LED light system covered by yellow polycarbonate.

Rather than make all the sign types at once, Sign Effectz focused on providing signs as needed for the segment of the airport that was being renovated at that time.

Departure: Design & Plan There are a lot of “time-critical” factors to consider for wayfinding signage at airports—parking, curbside pick-up, taxis, gate numbers, restrooms, etc.

But keep in mind that not all airport visitors have the same wayfind needs.

“Business travelers who fly out of Milwaukee every day probably wouldn’t notice the signs if they were taken down.

They’d still manage to find their way through on their own,” says Sign Effectz Project Manager Mark Lemke. “But for a lot of people, if it’s their first time flying into Milwaukee, they need to know where they should go to pick up their luggage.

“You want to make sure everyone (incoming visitors and outgoing locals proceeding through the airport for the first time) knows how to navigate through the airport and have a good experience.”

Architectural firm Engberg Anderson (www.engberganderson.com) supplied Sign Effectz with the initial designs, colors, 32

sizes, verbiage, etc., of the wayfinding signage for GMIA. “They had a nice design that worked really well,” says Lemke. “They were also very receptive to any of our suggestions and explaining to us why something would or wouldn’t work.”

Appearance was paramount on this project.

The airport officials, architects, and contractors were very strict about limiting the number of exposed fasteners and the number of seams one could see on the frames of the overhead wayfinding signs. “They didn’t even want mitred corners on them,” says Lemke, noting that these signs are much closer to the people than signage that sits on top of a pole or a building (which meant paying closer attention to detail).

This was no build-install project normally completed in a week or two. It was going to last a year-and-a-half. “Scheduling became critical not just within our

Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

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Many of the wayfind signs feature white polycarbonate faces with 3M blue translucent film.

company but also with the contractors, architects, and airport,” says Lemke, noting that his project team has “deep experience” making 300-plus pages of building plans, addenda, and specs come together.

Planning material purchases and managing inventory proved critical in the early stages too. “You don’t want to have to purchase $50,000 worth of materials upfront and have it sit in the shop until you’re ready to use it,” says Lemke. “But then again, you also have to make sure your suppliers are going to have the product in stock when it’s time you need it.”

On a typical sign project, Sign Effectz would make all the sign types at once. But due to the size of the airport and the length of the project, they didn’t want to get too far ahead of themselves by building twenty wayfinding sign types at once, installing three of them, and then waiting months as the other seventeen awaited sporadic installation.

So they focused on providing just the signs as needed for each individual segment of the airport that was being renovated at the time. So if construction crews were working on certain baggage claim areas, they focused on building and installing just those signs.

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Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

“If we built all these signs at once initially, we’d probably have had to redo 30 to 40 percent of them thanks to little changes,” says Lemke. “Sign types were deleted, other sign types were added, sizes changed, etc.”

Sign Effectz first created and set up two different types of short-term temporary signs.

The first directed incoming passengers from the baggage claim to a different level for curbside pick-ups (since the road typically used for this function was closed for its own upgrades).

The other temporary signs were overheads directing passengers to new airline relocations and open baggage claims.

In-Flight: Baggage Claim In an effort by GMIA to generate consistency and eliminate confusion between the baggage carousel and its entrance, Sign Effectz fabricated eighteen overhead directional signs for the baggage claim area, including five baggage return carousel signs (one per carousel).

Each of these signs features the carousel number and incorporates a television monitor (supplied by another provider but with specs built by Sign Effectz) identifying the airline name and flight signshop.com

numbers for that particular carousel.

GMIA officials mandated a minimum of two functioning carousels be kept open at all times during this renovation. As construction crews worked on the carousels, sign faces in the temporary signage directed people to different areas or exits.

“My basic system of project management is to come up with a plan, implement it, control it, and adjust it,” says Lemke.

But like gate numbers and delayed flights, plans at airports change.

The GMIA changed the order of the carousels to be demolished and rebuilt, while sometimes moving the host airline to a different carousel than originally intended. This required Sign Effectz to quickly change out the temporary directional signs to feature this new information.

The other new sign type in this area is a lightbox that Sign Effectz built to fit into a granite cabinet supplied by the general contractor. It identifies the baggage carousel number and features an LED light system covered by yellow polycarbonate.

some airlines no longer fly out of Mitchell,” says Lemke, “while two or three new ones have taken their place.”

The airport has its own “sign and graphics department” that does basic face changes and vinyl cutting, so moving forward, the GMIA plans to use this service, when needed, to take the face(s) out, remove the vinyl from it, replace it with new vinyl, and reinstall the face(s).

This will save time and costs.

Sign Effectz left them extra white

polycarbonate faces with all the mounting and stud holes.

They also provided more thorough shop drawings and electronic files. “If we were doing these change-outs ourselves, I’d just add ‘four-inch copy,’ ‘five-inch arrow,’ and ‘it’s blue’ to the drawings,” says Lemke. “But for the airport maintenance crew, we also detailed the percent kerning and spacing we used and showed the length from the base line to the edge of the retainer, among other things.”

In-Flight: Overhead Wayfind The overhanging double-sided, internally illuminated wayfinding signs throughout the airport feature a white polycarbonate face with 3M blue translucent film applied to it.

But these clean, sleek signs are only three inches deep, and in the illuminated world, that’s mighty thin (an inch-and-ahalf from center on both sides).

Populating LEDs back-and-forth inside them would require bunching them together tightly to achieve even illumination. So Sign Effectz instead ran strings of SloanLED’s PosterBOX™ modules along just the top and bottom of the cabinets.

This allowed them to direct the LED lighting towards the middle. It also cut down the length of LEDs needed from sixty feet to twenty feet, resulting in cost and energy savings and reduced maintenance.

Lemke says that the dark blue backgrounds on these double-faced signs proved helpful, even forgiving, for LED illumination. “If they were white backgrounds with blue letters, getting even illumination towards the middle would’ve been more difficult,” he says, “and more noticeable.”

The faces on these signs also had to be interchangeable. Airlines come and go, they merge, and they even change names. “Since we started on this project, signshop.com

October 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

35

Arrival: Airport Challenges Since this was Lemke’s first airport project of this size, he paid even more attention for use in future airport signage opportunities.

The airport remained functional during this eighteen-month period the upgrades were being made. Since airports don’t really close, there was no going down on a Sunday morning as Lemke would for his retail and business clients.

“We found that four in the morning was the best for getting work done,” he says. “This was when the least amount of flights were coming in.”

Adding vinyl to the automatic glass entrance/exit doors proved a bit challenging. “The sliding door would automatically open and close every time someone walked up to it,” says Lemke, noting that, even though he would turn they system off, he’d have to stop what he was doing and open the doors back up for people and let them come through, when necessary.

Security is another major concern at airports, so it’s important that all members of a sign crew are where they’re supposed to be. “When we delivered signs, we didn’t just put on our fourway flashers and walk away from the truck,” says Lemke.

Lemke coordinated frequently with the on-site airport officials and called them to verify they could meet him when he pulled up. “We always made sure that one person was with the vehicle at all times, in case the sheriff’s department showed up,” he says.

Lemke also looked differently at the little things one might take for granted on non-airport jobs. “I couldn’t set down a toolbox with some mounting screws or a container of vinyl while I walked away for a minute,” he says.

“You also remember to keep business cards on you at all times.”

Deplaning: Taking It In The end-result is a facility and signage program that’s more organized and logical and less cluttered.

“The consistency is a big help,” says Lemke. “The blue is just a wonderful color running through the airport. “[GMIA] is doing a good job stepping away from the dark brown, Helvetica world of the ’70s and ’80s and moving into something a little brighter.”

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Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

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: Identities A supplement to sign builder illustrated

A Showcase of Identity

Signs

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IDENTITY: Introduction | By Jeff Wooten

Recognizing SBI: Identities

W

elcome to SBi: Identities, a special section devoted to showcasing recent on-premise identity signage projects. You’ll find articles and case studies that touch on the design, fabrication, and installation aspect of the various types of identity signage.

So just what is an identity sign? Well a better question could very well be what is not an identity sign? Everything from pylons and monuments to custom letters and dimensional elements make up this exciting sign form that is used to help announce the presence of the end-user.

Here’s a preview of the articles you’ll find over the following pages: Pg. 40, “Flavor of the Days.” This story covers multicomponent signs that were recently built and installed for a trio of hamburger-and-ice cream restaurants across the Milwaukee area. You’ll see channel letters, custom-built sign cabinets, electronic message centers, and LED lighting combined to prove a tasty treat.

The owners approached the sign makers wanting a new, “iconic” on-premise sign that would let people not only know what it is that they have to offer, but also serve as an announcement of the “flavor of the day.”

More impressively, the sign makers and restaurant owners actually managed to convince the local communities to

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SBI Identity // October 2015

change/adapt their long-standing height and square footage ordinances in order to make a sign that would be the “talk of the towns” for years to come.

Pg. 45, “New Schools and Libraries Name It!” This case study takes a look at how blast-etching, sandblasting, and powder-coating were used for three custom signage projects at high schools and libraries where stainless steel mesh created a unique and eye-catching signature for the buildings.

Pg. 47, “The Non-Secret Identity.” Super heroes are well known for having secret identities, but the owner of a newly opened comic book store couldn’t follow suit. He knew he was going to need a sign that would let everyone in the area know who he was and what he sells. This article will take a look at the colorful design process behind this sign, as well as the vinyl solutions that were employed to save the day!

Pg. 52, “Entrance to Identity.” This how-to-oriented piece offers a first-hand account of how a sign maker retired some old apartment entry signs and used HDU and painting skills to replace them with brand new, classy signs and lettering that really make the property stand out even more.

Hopefully the identity projects we’re spotlighting in SBi: Identities will help inspire you in your design ideas with customers, solve challenges when it comes to permits and ordinances, and figure out more seamless installations. signshop.com

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IDENTITY: Freestanding | By Jeff Wooten

The Taylors wanted a design that would tell people who they were and what they offer.

Flavor of the Days

J

im and Susie Taylor, the owners of Oscar’s Frozen Custard & Sandwiches casual dining restaurants, recently wanted to upgrade the older single-color, text-only electronic message center on their existing double-pole sign at one of their locations in West Allis, Wisconsin.

Through collaborations with sign makers and the community officials, the Taylors would end up with an iconic sign that not only acts as an area landmark but also serves as an example of how a sign ordinance can be successfully modified to favor a business.

Michael Dlugi, sales account manager at custom sign manufacturer and installer Sign Effectz, Inc. (www.signeffectz.com) of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, discussed sign ideas with the Taylors, after learning from them that their message center had been experiencing service issues. “I learned that they also wanted the new sign to resemble their popular homemade-waffle cones,” he says, “which 40

SBI Identity // October 2015

makes the most sense visually.”

So Dlugi visited the West Allis restaurant and took digital photos of the three-foot-tall cones mounted on the interior walls, drew an initial thumbnail sketch of the “waffle cone” sign, and returned to his design department with them.

The dramatically improved twenty-two-and-a-half-foot-tall, double-sided custom pylon sign that Sign Effectz built for them features (in descending order): ✶ A five-inch-deep, #2283 Red Acrylic face-lit cherry formed with 0.063-inch-thick aluminum and painted PMS 485 C Red with internal light baffles; ✶ Three-inch-deep, 0.063-inch-thick aluminum “Oscar’s” channel letters with one-inch black trim cap and 0.125-thick #7328 White Acrylic faces with 3M™ 3630-22 Matte Black vinyl and 3M™ 3630-33 Red Translucent vinyl; ✶ A white, 0.177-inch-thick polycarbonate face resembling an signshop.com

all Photos: sign effectz, inc.

A new sign shows off the tasty treats of a family-owned restaurant.

ice cream scoop supported by a custom-routed aluminum retainer and internally illuminated with Ecolocity® Super Nova color-changing RGB LEDs; ✶ Non-illuminated “Frozen Custard & Sandwich” letters with 3M 3630-22 Matte Black vinyl applied to the first surface of the “scoop”; ✶ A 10-1/2-inch-deep cabinet featuring 1-by-1-by-0.125-inchthick supporting aluminum tubes and 0.063-inch-thick aluminum returns painted with Matthews Paint Satin Black with custom-routed retainers; ✶ A Daktronics Model AF-3550-32x128-20-RGB-2V Galaxy® 20mm RGB Outdoor LED Matrix Display with a standard cabinet separation up to eighteen feet; ✶ A pole skirt resembling a waffle pattern formed with 3-by3/8-inch-thick aluminum and painted Matthews Paint Gold Ochre and featuring a white LED strip between the waffle cone layers; ✶ An eight-inch-diameter steel pole set in concrete, three inches Below Grade with 5/8-inch rebar footing; and ✶ 120V Primary Electrical Connection to the existing power source.

In addition to doing a better job of identifying their product offerings, the Taylors wanted to use this new sign to also help reduce energy consumption compared to the dated standard sign cabinet they had been using. So Sign Effectz installed white SloanLED VSeries modules in the channel letter interiors and the light trough at the base of the sign and employed red LED modules inside the cherry. The 12V power supplies for the LED lighting are located in the pole cover.

Initially Oscar’s Custard wanted to use just the full-color EMC

To show off the crease of the waffle cone design, designers added bricks to the layout, as well as waffle patterns and different layers.

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A request for an updated EMC leads to landmark signage.

to announce their flavor of the day. However Sign Effectz convinced the owners to also employ color-changing LEDs inside the ice cream scoop cabinet to help identify this flavor.

Sign Effectz looked at the Oscar’s flavor menu and came up with a base of twelve colors, ranging from light purple to reds to blues to greens. “The colors are phased in-and-out on a rotating basis—whites for vanillas, browns for chocolate, reds for strawberry, and then the flavor of the day (green for mints, purples for raspberries, etc.),” says Dlugi.

This lighting system is based on a Wi-Fi system. The managers access an app on their phone or tablet to change the color component of the ice cream scoop.

Sign Effectz built the individual letters using an Accu-Bend, but they had to figure out how to mount channel letters to a color-changing acrylic face when the internal LEDs of the letters stay white.

They put stand-offs above the ice cream cone cabinet with plates and then sandwiched the acrylic face between the stand-off with the plate and the back of the letter. Those letters are anchored to the back of the ice cream cone cabinet rather than to the face.

In the end, the Taylors loved the EMC upgrade and sign design idea at West Allis so much that they had Sign Effectz build similar freestanding identity signs at their Brookfield and Franklin locations.

However there was a big obstacle that had to be addressed in the design stages before Sign Effectz could begin building anything: The nearly-twenty-three-foot-tall sign didn’t meet the city ordinances limiting sign heights to only ten feet.

Going in, Sign Effectz already knew about these height and square footage restrictions, so Dlugi pursued what it would take for variance requests at these other municipalities to build, install, and use these signs. “We kind of reverse-engineered it and said that, in order for these signs to be effective, the message center has to be this big and the letters have to be this high,” he says, “and let us design around that.

October 2015 // SBI Identity

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IDENTITY: Freestanding | By Jeff Wooten

“What we ended up with was a twenty-two-and-a-half-foottall structure.”

Meeting with city officials, Dlugi stressed that they were going to create a “landmark” that would be linked to the city—and one that would be business-friendly by attracting customers not only for Oscar’s, but also the surrounding business community.

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“The new sign will help drive customers into the city,” he says.

“These visitors will spend more money in the community and will support nearby businesses.”

One question the municipalities asked Dlugi was why couldn’t they cut off the sign to fit their height restrictions. He countered by asking them where they would do this. “Are you going to take

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SBI Identity // October 2015

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it from the base? If so, it would just look squat,” says Dlugi. “Even they admitted that wouldn’t look right.”

When the city asked about shrinking the sign proportionately, Dlugi explained this would reduce the size of the sign so much that it would be a danger to drivers because they would have to slow down and/or stop to recognize what the sign was

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actually saying.

At a meeting with municipalities, Dlugi also brought up International Sign Association reports that talk about letter height and contrast. “Those explain that you need to get ten seconds of readability and visibility for a driver to execute a safe driving maneuver to turn into a business or exit a freeway,” he says. “So

October 2015 // SBI Identity

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SBI Identity // October 2015

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we weren’t creating something that’s just pretty and big, but we’re also trying to be safe in driving more traffic into the city.”

Dlugi credits the Taylors for being accommodating with the city’s lighting restrictions, in order to get the landmark sign they wanted.

However different municipalities had different standards.

While the Town of Brookfield allowed the additional height and square footage because of the iconic design and visibility concerns, the Town of West Allis’ unique sign code required architectural review boards to review signs that fall outside the standard sign criteria (creative design, unique properties, etc.) before granting exceptions. “We had to show them why this was creative and why it represented the business and what they did,” says Dlugi.

Amazingly the City of Franklin actually brought in the state attorney to rewrite the ordinance procedure so that the governing body could grant height exceptions via variance. “They realized that, in their actual ordinances, they allowed a grant up to a 20 percent increase in square footage via their variance, but there was no variance provision to allow for additional height,” says Dlugi.

All three signs almost follow the exactsame design. The City of Brookfield requested Sign Effectz eliminate the brick planter base used at the other two spots.

“They wanted the cone to extend down the additional two-and-a-half feet, because the sign was going to be placed in a very small corner on the lot,” says Dlugi, “which they thought was overpowering aesthetically.”

Installation at each site took only a day.

Sign Effectz shipped the sign to the site in pieces. They first removed the existing sign and then used their crane truck to drop down the base and anchor it in.They then dropped down the cone portion followed by the message center portion, the upper component of the ice cream itself, and, literally, the cherry on top.

“The city planning commissions appreciate how the unique design of the new sign [enhances] the restaurant’s business and attracts new customers,” says Dlugi. “Everyone involved with this landmark project is thrilled!” signshop.com

IDENTITY: Case Study

New Schools and Libraries

Name It!

all Photos: cambridge international.

C

ambridge Architectural (www.cambridgearchitectural. com), a division of U.S. Cambridge, Maryland-based Cambridge International and an experienced full-service provider of architectural mesh systems for both interior and exterior building applications, recently completed three custom signage projects at new high schools and libraries in Delaware, Iowa, and Maryland. Stainless steel mesh was used in each to create a unique and eye-catching signature for the buildings.

Utilizing blast-etching, sandblasting, and powder coating, Cambridge highlighted names, brand marks, and logos on durable metal mesh fabric that added a personalized and distinct design element to the building signs.

For Laurel High School and Middle School, a new public school building that opened earlier this year in Sussex County, Delaware, Cambridge powder-coated the “Laurel” name in red and its Bulldog logo in black on a series of nine Shade mesh panels.

Becker Morgan Group of Newark, Delaware selected Cambridge Shade mesh for the signage, and the panels were hung on a highly visible corner of the school façade using an Eclipse Mid Ejector attachment system. signshop.com

A series of nine Cambridge Shade mesh panels were hung on a highly visible corner of the school facade using an Eclipse Mid Ejector attachment system. The “Laurel” name was powder-coated in red and the Bulldog logo in black.

October 2015 // SBI Identity

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IDENTITY: Case Study

Meanwhile above the entrance of the new Mid City High School in Davenport, Iowa—which opened at the beginning of the 2014/2015 academic year—bold MCHS lettering was blast-etched onto four mesh, in-tension panels.

BLDD Architects in Davenport collaborated with Cambridge to create GRILLE, a custom metal fabric weave. The panels were hung with an Eyebolt attachment system over the school’s entrance.

Cambridge also worked with the Lukmire Partnership of Rockville, Maryland on an addition and renovation of the Montgomery County Public Library branch in Olney, Maryland that was completed in 2014.

New signage marking the library was created in Cambridge’s Pellican mesh and mounted above the entrance using a combination of Cable and Eclipse attachment systems. Lettering was etched onto the mesh panels.

The library’s westward-facing façade also incorporated mesh to provide solar shading.

Other academic projects using Cambridge mesh for a combination of custom signage and solar shading include the Texas A&M Memorial Student Center in College Station, Texas and Moreno Valley College’s Student Academic Services facility in Moreno Valley, California.

New signage marking the library was created in Cambridge’s Pellican mesh and mounted above the entrance using Cable and Eclipse attachment systems. Lettering was etched onto the mesh panels.

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SBI Identity // October 2015

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IDENTITY: Design | By Jeff Wooten

The Non-Secret Identity A new comic book store unmasks what they have to offer.

T

he comic book world is filled with colorful characters, larger-than-life plots, and dynamic graphics. So when a store opens up that’s devoted to selling these vivid issues (and collectibles), they also need a sign that will attract the fan base and collectors. The worst thing a shop can do here is pull up it’s cape and hide in the shadows Batman-style waiting for customers to find them.

JR Verheul is the co-founder/co-owner (along with Mike Pilgreen) of World’s Coolest Comics and Collectible Toys, a family-run comic book store that opened this past spring in Winterville, North Carolina.

Even though his shop is nestled on Main Street in this typical American small town, we’re talking comic books here, so Verheul knew he was still going to need to avert signshop.com

a business-related “Crisis on Infinite Earths” and utilize a sign that had to stand out.

“When we were planning to open, the first thing I knew was that we were going to need a nice sign,” says Verheul. “It’s already hard enough to get people to come into a small business around this area. Everything is always, ‘Walmart, Walmart, Walmart!’”

Verheul felt the best way to capture everybody’s attention was with one logo. “I didn’t want a sign that just said ‘Comics,’” he says. “I wanted something visual that helps people know exactly what they’ll find in here. It had to look big and epic, just like super heroes.”

Using Photoshop®, Verheul designed the entire sign himself, including all the artwork for the characters featured on it. He October 2015 // SBI Identity

47

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Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

Company

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Companies in Sign Show

signshop.com

IDENTITY: Design | By Jeff Wooten

learned the in’s and out’s of Photoshop years ago by creating posters and brochures for custom car shows. (Note: In a previous work life, Verheul was heavily involved in custom car art.)

Over the years, Verheul honed his skills by designing ads and flyers for other industries, so he relished the opportunity to design a sign for his very own business. “I really enjoyed being able to use characters that I was interested in,” he says.

Since the name of this business is “World’s Coolest,” Verheul thought a global-shaped sign would be ideal. “I originally planned to use a shot of Earth taken from outer space as the background,” he says. “It was perfectly illuminated, but I was

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going to superimpose comic book characters over it, and they got a little lost in it.

“So I changed it to a more cartoonish-looking Earth. This worked out great!”

For the main characters, Verheul played with spacing and what would fit in his desired circular sign shape. Three major characters seemed a good fit, so he selected the popular “Trinity” image of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman that has long played an iconic role in DC Comics marketing. “It’s just one of the most epic images I’ve ever seen,” he says.

But the sign logo features so much more. For example, he also found a spot to use Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man along the upper interior border of the logo. “I noticed that when other people used Spider-Man in their marketing, they would use a splash of white for webbing and then throw the colors in,” says Verheul. “But I thought it would be awesome to block out everything so you could see through the web.

“That ended up being wildly taxing, but I think, in the end, it was worth it.”

World’s Coolest also sells die-cast cars and toys, so Verheul found a spot to incorporate a toy train and the Hot Wheels™ logo into the design as well.

Since the sign features copyrighted characters, Verheul first contacted his national distributor/supplier, Diamond Comics, to see if they were okay to use on his sign. “The reps told me that as long as we weren’t directly profiting from the logo, then it was fine,” he says. “Down the road, I want to switch them out and maybe do more original characters.

“But for now, I just wanted to make sure that everyone who sees the sign will associate it with what we do.”

With the design out of the way, Verheul filled out the paperwork for the permit, letting the town know what the sign October 2015 // SBI Identity

49

IDENTITY: Design | By Jeff Wooten

was going to look like. Officials initially had some reservations about using the Wonder Woman image on the sign.

However Verheul stressed to them that using this universally recognized character would help promote his store, and besides, it was all in fun. “A week later, we received the permit approval in the mail,” he says.

Next Verheul sent the Photoshop file to 3rd Degree Signs, a sign-and-graphics provider in Greenville, North Carolina, to make the five-by-five-foot logo sign. He was impressed by Owner Ian Oliver’s doanything attitude and openness to ideas.

Oliver redid the lettering in Illustrator, changing it to a vector format for later third-party printing onto ORAJET digital media with laminate supplied by Grimco.

“The image he provided was very clean,” he says. “[Verheul] saved it at a very high resolution, so there was no pixilation when the image was enlarged for output.”

3rd Degree centered the print onto Max-Metal aluminum composite material, drew guide lines around it with a Sharpie®, removed the print, and cut the shape out with a band saw.

Oliver then applied the ORAJET vinyl to the Max-Metal using Rapid Tac application fluid and added a clear UV coat finish for protection.

Installation of the sign to the shop’s brick veneer was accomplished via a cherry picker and mason screws.

Verheul’s sign definitely gets exposure: His shop is located diagonal from a stoplight, and a school is nearby.

However he also wanted to make sure that people approaching from the backside of the store were also aware of his business, so he hung another Max-Metal sign on the back of the building. It features a smaller version of the logo, his store’s name, its phone number, and the word “Comics” in large font.

One of the magic buzzwords businesses often toss about these days (and no, it isn’t “Shazam!”) is “branding.”

Verheul has embraced this concept, sharing the logo throughout his store and on any promotional materials he uses, as well as on the store’s business cards and Facebook page. He and his 50

SBI Identity // October 2015

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employees also wear T-shirts with the colorful logo printed on it.

World’s Coolest also sells at comic book shows across the Southeast, so Verheul decided to invest in two retractable vinyl banners establishing what his business does to set up at these events.

The banners feature a blue background with ghost-like images in the back to help it stand out more, as well as a surrounding glow. “It’s a 3D effect—like the logo is lifted off the banner,” says Verheul.

World’s Coolest is also invested in selling toys and sets up at toy shows during the holiday shopping season. Verheul plans to switch out the comic book characters in the logo for something more toy-oriented to display on banners at their booth.

Fortunately it won’t require Optimus Prime to make this transformation.

“I saved the logo as a digital file,” he says. “So we’ll keep the name and the logo template and then interchange the images on top of the world.

“Then we can have 3rd Degree create new banners for us.”

As a business owner, Verheul says that it’s not too smart to change one’s logo often, but he does admit that he has an itch to change-out the heroes or even create his own to fill in the space within the next few years.

“Using the copyrighted images was basically to make it recognizable to kids, existing fans, and potential new customers,” he says.

Verheul also plans to open a new location next door to a movie theater. “We’re talking about designing an even larger sign with possibly even more characters on it that will be located over the lip on the top of that building,” he says.

Verheul wants to explore other signage options as well—possibly customcut letters and/or a backlit sign featuring a transparent image. “I feel we’re going to need a more dimensional sign next to a movie theater,” he says.

But his current sign has aleady proven amazing, uncanny, and downright fantastic.

“It really ‘pops!’” he says. signshop.com

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IDENTITY: Panels | BY MARK K. ROBERTS

Entrance to Identity Replacing old apartment complex signage with brand new HDU signs.

A

long-time fellow sign maker called me recently, asking if I wanted to help him perform some signage upgrades. After surveying the job site for myself, I quickly understood the urgency for this “signage makeover.”

The customer in question owned an apartment complex, and his existing signs at the entry were very old and very weathered. (“Dumpster food,” as we call them at my company.)

He wanted two new signs—one at each entrance gate. And he wanted them identical to one another.

He furnished the design he wanted for the new signs. Since the artwork for the two signs was already established, there 52

SBI Identity // October 2015

really was little room to improvise here.

We thought it was best to use fifteenpound Precision Board HDU from Coastal Enterprises, which just so happens to be my favorite substrate for dimensional signs.

Cutting the 4-foot-by-8-foot-by-11/2-inch Precision Board was really quite easy. We popped two cut-lines with a chalk line onto these blanks and proceeded to get ready for cutting.

Placing the first piece of Precision Board on our cutting table and anchoring it down, we chose to use our circular saw and aluminum cutting guides, secured with “C” clamps. Then we proceeded to cut with minimal effort.

After all pieces had been cut to size,

we thoroughly washed each piece and let it dry.

Then we took the layout of our letter patterns and created a perimeter border surrounding the sign face. We spraypainted the entire surface.

Once it was dry, we removed the letter patterns, revealing the sign design.

Using a large router with a 0.50-inch bit, I carefully cut around all the letters and designs. This process took about twenty minutes per sign.

Next I took my Dremel® router with a 1/8-inch straight cutter and carved right to the edge of each letter and the borders.

Bringing out my five-foot aluminum rule, I began drawing horizontal lines signshop.com



















approximately 0.50 inches apart.

After the lines had been drawn, I took my 45-degree gouge and followed each line drawn on the Precision Board, gently shaving down the HDU grain.

Working the gouge from left to right, the “veins” cut in the Precision Board were starting to take shape.

The top of each vein is lower than the rear of each vein, creating a “sandblasted” appearance in the Precision Board.

After veining about twenty minutes per sign, we vacuumed and washed each face with water.

After drying, we applied the FSC-88 primer to both faces. This primer gives a great bond to the Precision Board, and the top coat of paint adheres very well. I first applied one coat of primer and followed with two coats of paint to both of these signs.

After drying, the lettering on the signs was now ready to be beveled. I chose to bevel each element with emery boards, gently rounding every letter.

We gave the signs one more water bath and performed a final drying.

We selected Ronan Aqua Coat sign enamel for the black background color and then Sign Painter’s 1-Shot metallic gold enamel for all the lettering on both signs. This gold paint is my preference for dimensional signs.

We removed the old signs and set up the new ones at the desired point on the property grounds.

As you can see, the finished product is truly a work of art.

signshop.com

Mark K. Roberts is a thirty-seven-year sign veteran and the owner of The InterSign Group in Houston, Texas.

1 C reating the grain in the HDU panel.

2 Gently shaving down the HDU grain.

3 Vacuuming the HDU dust while carving.

4 Additional precision shaving of the HDU veins in the background.

5 Beveling the edges of the HDU letters with emery boards.

6 Painting the tooled HDU background surface.

7 Adding a second coat of the One Shot Metallic gold paint.

8 Brushing the background for a final coat of paint.

9 The two finished entry signs.

October 2015 // SBI Identity

53

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Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

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October 2015 // Sign Builder Illustrated

55

Market Place

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“

SHOP TALK

B y J e f f Woot e n

Merritt Graphics Big Color of East Hartford, CT

Coming Soon: Mesh Graphics

W

hen Jordan’s Furniture in New Haven, Connecticut was remodeling a future location on a quarter-mile stretch of road close to the busy I-95 and I-91 interchange, they decided this would be an opportune spot for a “Coming Soon” sign.

But they didn’t want any typical “Coming Soon” sign. Instead they’ve leased six 8-1/2-foot-tall-by-40foot-wide shipping containers to use for six months, stacked them two-wide-by-three-high level on a pad, and branded them with full-color graphics.

The furniture store hired Merritt Graphics Big Color Division (www.merrittgraphics.com) of East Hartford, Connecticut to produce and install this bold, vibrant mesh vinyl vision.

Merritt Graphics is a diversified grand format/ wide format graphics solution provider that has been around since 1908. They’re also trendsetters, serving as an early adopter of large format printing back in the 1980s for example.

The company was already experienced working with mesh wraps. In addition to baseball stadiums, they’ve also supplied a mesh graphic to the scaffolding used to renovate the U.S. Supreme Court building a couple of years ago, as well as provided the giant mesh curtain on the side of the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City that David Letterman would drop to unveil the image of that year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit model.

But this was the first time they’d ever attempted to install mesh vinyl onto shipping containers. “[Jordan’s] already owns the property there, so spotting those containers was a cost-effective situation for them,” says Pat Freer, vice president of Merritt Graphics Big Color, “probably even less than using a billboard.”

Merritt Graphics printed the graphics onto six panels of Ultraflex mesh vinyl using a Matan 4Q grand format printer and UV inks. The finished graphic measures about 30 feet high-by-96 feet wide.

Freer’s team had to make sure the mesh fabric could handle high wind loads and that it looked flat and non-wavy. In addition, the owner of the six containers [Eagle Leasing] didn’t want thousands of grommet holes penetrating them.

During the survey, Freer noticed the containers had great anchor points for fastening. So installers affixed the mesh vinyl panels to the containers with strategically placed anchor hardware and a cabling system that stretched across the top left to right, the bottom left to right, and the return edges.

“We added in a pole pocket-type steel pipe to bolt the return edges and then ratchet-strapped those sides through strategically placed clips,” says Freer, “so that stretched it left to right.”

This graphic is scheduled to be up through the holidays. For Merritt Graphics Big Color, finishing this job seamlessly made for an early present.

56

Sign Builder Illustrated // October 2015

all Photos: merritt Graphics big color.

Installing a jumbo mesh vinyl graphic onto shipping containers.

signshop.com

The Road Ahead

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