Thursday, February 11, 2010

Fishing with MN Twins #14

Update for the fishing fans out there. Our owner, Davin Brandt, can bee seen fishing on Kent Hrbek Outdoors this week. In fact it airs tonight on the FSNorth network at 7PM.

The show is about fishing the rivers of Minnesota's North Shore of Lake Superior for the elusive Steelhead, a migratory Rainbow trout. Learn more about the fishery at minnesotasteelheader.com

This picture was shot while scouting a few rivers a few days before the filming.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Shop Time

Today we have a picture of a custom sign we recently finished for Heartland Animal Hospital.

This sign is a great illustration of our ability to produce custom shapes to our signs. This particular sign is 13' long and just under 4' in height. The material used is a 4mm Dibond® material. Click here for more info on DiBond®

What is unique about this sign is the combination of print and graphic applications. It would have been real easy to have just printed this sign, cut to shape and send off to our client, but that is not how we work. After conversing with our client we determined that the best fit would combine a digital printed background of beige and a light navy border. The graphic and text was produced utilizing 3M high performance opaque and metallic vinyl films.

The reason we went this route was to improve on the sign life, retain an eye catching appeal with the metallic highlights, and to reduce costs. Doing all this required several mock ups and conversations with our client. In the end we were able to produce an outstanding sign while saving our client a few hundred bucks.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Banners can be a nice alternative...

In today's world businesses are really tightening their marketing budgets, often looking for alternative sign and print options that can produce similar results to the higher-end desired products.

Pictured here are some #signs from the Minnesota State Fair. At a glance the large blue overhead sign appears to be a nice hard sign panel. However, it is not. It is actually a custom sized large format digitally printed banner. With accurate dimensions and our precise printing and finishing, custom banners like this can often substitute a hard sign under light duty exterior situations.

This particular banner has been in use now for approx. 5 years. What keeps this huge banner working so well is that fact that it is only up for 2-3 weeks out of the year thus minimizing the amount of wind stress and harsh elements mother nature dishes out to us here in the Twin Cities.

Another key factor here is proper installation. I will say it again - proper installation. You can produce signs and banners using the finest materials but without a good installation you are sure to witness sign failure. This banner has been screwed directly to the building face. No ropes. No fancy adhesives tapes. With screws you can see just how tight and flat a banner can be installed.

Next time you are in need of some economical exterior signage, consult with a sign professional and ask if a banner can fulfill your needs.