Design

Best Commercial Monument Signs of 2012

These entry signs create curb appeal.

Published

12 years ago

February 23, 2012

Steve Aust Signs of the Times March 2012 Issue

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

Designer
Nancy Kaiser
Danthonia Designs
Client
Kingsway Christian College

Selling Price
$18,000 (AUS)

The Kingsway property recently gained frontage on a major highway that passes the campus, and college officials wanted to maximize exposure with an effective entry statement. The monument sign is the cornerstone of a $70,000 sign program that enhances the school’s identity. Kaiser developed the program concept using Adobe® Illustrator® 15.

The sign panel and letters were built using Sign Arts Products’ Sign•Foam® 3 18-lb. HDU. Danthonia’s fabrication team cut the letters and the crest’s shape with a Festool 1400 EQ handheld router. Then, they shaped the scroll using Pfeil Swiss-made chisels and woodcarving tools. The recessed, blue area behind the cross was sandblasted, and the letters’ prismatic shapes were roughed out with the router and finished with handcarving.

The EPS-foam monument structure was finished with multiple layers of a “hammer-proof” polyurethane hardcoat, with an internal, aluminum-post structure. Dulux Weathershield water-based paints, Resine quick-dry primer and Luxury Paints Graffiti Buster coating will preserve the sign’s message for years to come.

Second Place
Fabricator
Snyder Signs
Johnson City, TN
(423) 282-6221
www.snydersigns.com

Designer
Ted Tubbs
Snyder Signs

Client
Blue Ridge Apartments

Snyder Signs fabricated this double-sided sign from 0.125-in.-thick aluminum, which it fashioned on a Techno CNC router. Fabricators also perfected fine details with hammers and chisels, and decorated the 12-ft.-wide monument with Matthews acrylic-polyurethane paint. Snyder matched the apartment complex’s environment with a stacked, dry-rock monument whose contents were collected from a local quarry.

Third Place
Fabricator
DeNyse Cos.
Douglasville, GA
(770) 942-0688
www.denyseco.com

Designers
Mike Butler
Vickie Tippens
DeNyse Cos.

Client
Sterling Management Co.

DeNyse fabricated this golden gateway monument with hardcoated EPS foam accented with MultiCam CNC-routed aluminum letters and prismatic-carved Sign•Foam accents. The letters were painted with Akzo Nobel acrylic paint and installed with 1-in. standoffs from Sabic Polymershapes. The handpainted bloom was crafted from routed aluminum, and gilded with 23K goldleaf from Art Essentials of New York.

Honorable Mention
Fabricator
Danthonia Designs

Designer
Donal McKernan
Danthonia Designs

Client
St. Mary’s School

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