Design

Best Commercial Freestanding Signs of 2011

Australia’s Danthonia Designs pulls off a category sweep

Published

13 years ago

March 23, 2011

Steve Aust Signs of the Times April 2011 Issue

FIRST PLACE

Fabricator
Danthonia Designs
Inverell, NSW, Australia
(612) 6723-2100
www.danthonia.com.au

Designer
Nancy Kaiser
Danthonia Designs

Client
Beckett Park Preserve

Once again, Danthonia Designs cleaned up in this category. Its talented artisans and craftsmen routinely produce creative, high-quality work. The sign panel comprises 18-lb. Sign•Foam®3 HDU, which fabricators laminated to the EPS with 3M adhesives. The sign panel was handcarved and sandblasted. Tree and leaf shapes were decorated with Dulux Weathershield acrylic paints and coated with Graffiti Buster 200. The shop outsourced the direct printing of the aluminum panel that describes the native plants.
Designer Nancy Kaiser said “To make sure the sign reflected authentic, Australian colors, we conducted a photo shoot to accurately depict a gum tree.”

SECOND PLACE

Fabricator
Danthonia Designs

Designer
Geordie McKernan
Danthonia Designs

Clients
Larry and Ann Rindfleish
Transann Bulk Haulage

Selling Price
$6,000

I once worked as a dispatcher for a trucking company, and it’s hard to imagine its executives signing off on such an artistic, yet appropriately masculine, sign design. McKernan said he met the client at a large Australian agricultural tradeshow. Larry specified the image of a Kenworth truck and double trailer driving through a wheat field.

Geordie perfected the design using Adobe Illustrator and plotted the paint masks using Roland’s Camm-1 Pro plotter. Fabricators handcarved the panel and 3-D appliqués using Pfeil chisels and woodcarving tools. Dulux Weathershield acrylic paint and Liquitex artists’ acrylics decorate the text, banner and appliqués, and Resene aluminum paint yields an accurate replica of diamond-plate metal. Akzo Nobel’s Interpon powdercoat protects the aluminum pylons and hanging brackets.

THIRD PLACE

Fabricator
Danthonia Designs

Designer
Donal McKernan
Danthonia Designs

Client
Torquay Montessori Centre

Selling Price
$2,500

The Montessori school model, pioneered in the early 20th Century by Italian educator Maria Montessori, emphasizes learning through self-directed study and discovery. McKernan captured that with this sandy scene, which he designed using Adobe Illustrator. Fabricators carved Sign•Foam 3, which it backed with PVC panels using 3M adhesives, with Pfeil chisels and tools. Danthonia used Resene quick-dry primer and painted it with Dulux Weathershield and Liquitex acrylic paints. To mimic sand’s texture, the team used Rockote heavy-texture, acrylic paint.. Interpon powdercoat provides the required durability for the aluminum components, and Lacnam’s two-part, metal primer delivers the desired brown color.

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