Design

Best Electric Building Signs of 2011

Vibrant restaurant signs earn the top three category nods.

Published

13 years ago

March 25, 2011

Steve Aust Signs of the Times April 2011 Issue

FIRST PLACE

Fabricators
Identity Sign Group
Pottstown, PA
(484) 624-4585
www.identitysigngroup.com

J & F Commercial Products
Pottstown, PA
(610) 718-9060
www.jandfcommercial.com

Designers
James D. Nelligan
Richard J. Scott
Identity Sign Group

Client
Gridiron Sports Bar & Pizzeria

Selling Price
$6,500

Sports-bar signage has evolved considerably from the days when all such establishments seemingly only had cabinet signs with images of footballs, baseball bats and related equipment. Nelligan and Scott designed the sign using CorelDraw. J & F Commercial routed Evonik Acrylite® acrylic and Sabic Lexan® polycarbonate on its Gerber Sabre 404 CNC router. Identity Sign Group built the channel letters using US Sign stainless-steel components, and decorated the faces using FDC Graphic Films’ cast vinyl. Lumificient Technologies’ Hyperion LEDs and R-Lite power supplies illuminate the sign, and a Miller Corp. Millermatic® MIG-welder joined the component layers.

SECOND PLACE

Fabricator
Jack Stone Signs
Landover, MD
(301) 322-3323
www.jackstone.net

Designer

John Lee Beatty

Client

Peterson-Fireman Venture B45 LLC

You can probably imagine Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett sitting next to you at Bond 45 while chowing on a prosciutto platter or a “101 layer” lasagna. Jack Stone Signs worked for the Fireman Hospitality Group, which owns various, NYC-area, Italian restaurants, and The Peterson Companies, a prominent, Washington, D.C.-area, real-estate developer, on the project.
To bring some NYC flair to National Harbor, MD, Jack Stone Signs built two sets of 3-ft.-tall and three sets of 2-ft.-tall, open-face, aluminum channel letters illuminated with rows of Voltarc neon tubing. The “O” also houses a neon-lit clock. Fabricators built the letters using MultiCam’s 3000 Series CNC router and sheetmetal-forming and Eurocom neon-pumping equipment, and coated the metalwork with Matthews acrylic-polyurethane paint.

THIRD PLACE

Fabricator
TDI Signs
Long Beach, CA
(562) 436-5188
www.tdisigns.com

Designer
Lansing Pope
Drew Rivas
TDI Signs

Client
Don Chente

TDI’s Art Rivas said, “Our goal was to bring the spirit of Mexico’s food and culture into the restaurant. The agave plant, scrolls and background bring it to life.” TDI designed the sign using CorelDraw 13, built the components using its MultiCam 3000 Series CNC router, and formed the letters using Computerized Cutters’ Accu-Bend machine. TDI created several layers of illumination – exposed neon, hidden tubing and reverse-lit channel letters – to achieve a muy festivo color palette using EGL 6500K white, ruby-red and veep-green tubing, which are powered by Transco 12,000V/60mA transformers.

HONORABLE MENTION

Fabricator
Creative Sign Designs
Tampa
(813) 818-7180
www.creativesigndesigns.com

Designer
Creative Sign Designs

Client
Straz Center for the Performing Arts

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