Thursday, January 21, 2010

Dimesional Signs

Dimensional signs are really any sign that has a 3D appearance. This could be the individual raised letters that you see above a retail store. The logo on a wall at an office reception area, or even blade signs hanging in front of a boutique.

Dimensional signs come in all kinds of shapes, sizes and materials. We have produced signs in everything from sandblasted cedar wood to etched brass and just about everything in between.

Pictured here is a portion of an exterior building sign we produced late this past fall. It incorporated a custom painted aluminum panface with 1/4" thick custom cut and painted aluminum letters and tenant suite signs. The advantage producing this sign with the raised suite signs is twofold: it adds a bit more visual appeal and allows the building owner to easily replace a sign should a tenant move out or need to update there information.

Not only does this sign look great but it functions creatively well and will allow the building owner, and tenants, to save hundreds of $$$ on future sign replacements.

At Big Idea, you get what you pay for.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Window lettering in the winter

Working in the State with the Northern most point in the lower 48 requires us to deal with winter. In the sign world this can pose some real problems, not so much with hanging signs but more specifically with applying adhesive backed vinyl graphics and lettering outside.

Pictured here is some exterior window lettering we did before Christmas. With the single digit temperatures we had some cold weather obstacles to overcome. The main issue was with the adhesive-back vinyl that we use, it requires temperatures well above freezing before application is recommended. This is obviously a non issue several months out of the year. However, in God's country waiting for warmth in the winter is not always possible. The business shown here needed to have hours and they needed them now.

We have been working with cold weather graphics for nearly 20 years and have developed some tricks to help get graphics like these applied even during the below freezing days of winter. Though we always recommend waiting for the warmth, you can get vinyl like this to stick but there are some steps that the end user must follow in order for the lettering to stay in place. Note too, there is a degree point were the graphics just won't stick, usually around 0° and below.

Feel free to contact us for more information on getting graphics to stick during the winter months.