Design

Best Electronic Message Centers of 2014

A display lovely as a tree

Published

10 years ago

April 4, 2014

Steve Aust Signs of the Times April 2014 Issue

FIRST PLACE

Fabricator
Accent Sign & Awning
Houston
(713) 470-8731
www.accentsignco.com

Designer
Ethan Newton

Client
Aunique

Kudos to this farm-equipment vendor for investing in a unique sign (usually such companies spec standard-issue cabinet signs or channel letters). Accent designer Ethan Newton said, “They asked us to create something fun and unique, and they loved the tree idea.”

Newton designed the sign with CorelDRAW and BobCAD 3-D software, and fabricator Jack Persey built the framework from aluminum, fabricated the top cabinets on the shop’s MultiCam 3000 CNC router, and applied second-surface acrylic clad in ivory-colored, translucent vinyl. Jaime Gutierrez decorated it with Matthews acrylic-polyurethane paint in varying shades to create the appearance of depth. A Daktronics 19mm LED message board informs passing motorists about the shop’s available merchandise.

SECOND PLACE

Fabricator
Gardner Sign Co.
Troy, MI and Toledo, OH
(248) 689-9100
www.gardnersigns.com

Designer
Dawn Funck

Client
Freedom Hill Music Theatre/Luna Entertainment

Sterling Heights, MI’s Freedom Hill Music Theatre hosts events from spring through fall. The display’s cabinet comprises a fabricated-aluminum structure and exterior aluminum cladding that’s painted with Akzo Nobel’s Grip-Gard acrylic-polyurethane paint. The Macomb County emblem was created from routed aluminum and applied 3M reflective vinyl.

The main cabinet contains an aluminum face decked out with push-through, ¾-in.-thick acrylic rendered on a MultiCam A Series table router. The cabinet face contains first-surface, vinyl drop shadows applied with 3M opaque vinyl cut on a Mimaki CG-160 FX vinyl cutter. The secondary guitar cabinet is illuminated with SloanLED VL Plus White modules. The routed-aluminum guitar face features push-through, clear acrylic that’s decorated with first-surface, translucent vinyl and a second-surface, diffuser film. Gardner Signs installed the signs with SloanLED Colorline tubing. The Watchfire XVS 19mm RGB display operates with Ignite Graphics software, creates up to 590 quintillion colors, and runs video at up to 60 frames per second.

THIRD PLACE

Fabricator
DeNyse Companies
Douglasville, GA
(770) 942-0688
www.denyseco.com

Designer
Mike Butler

Client
City of Winder, GA

Rough-sawn, 8-in.-diameter, cedar posts and a stacked-stone foundation set the stage for a homespun display that welcomes drivers to Winder, GA, a town 45 minutes away from Atlanta that still possesses country charm. DeNyse MIG-welded the aluminum cabinet that houses the Adaptive Displays 20mm display with a Miller MIG welder. The main panel comprises push-through clear acrylic that’s decorated with first-surface applied HDU letters. The city seal was routed with ½-in. acrylic that’s covered with first-surface 3M translucent vinyl. Because the sign was shipped in one piece, two trucks were used to stand the sign up for installation.

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