21 Cypress Street Manistee, MI 49660
The Challenge
When we first encountered the client’s distinctive logo, we realized this project would be a challenge. Hearing their request for a one-of-a-kind sign elevated the difficulty even further. They envisioned a custom sign that would be truly unique, unlike anything we had ever created. Though the various components of the sign had been used on numerous projects in the past, we had never combined all of them into one sign. They wanted face, edge & halo lit letters, dimensional graphics, a lighted background, twinkling lights all wrapped up in a large roof mounted pair of contoured sign cabinets. It was time to call on all of our experience, knowledge & skills to pull this one off!
The Solution
After a few design presentations & revisions, we settled on a plan. It included a fabricated aluminum contoured cabinet & face retainers with internal led lighting & a polycarbonate plastic face. The letters for “Scooby’s” are stand-off mounted halo lit. To cast a halo onto a lighted face, it required non lighted opaque panels behind each letter. This was accomplished by using a four layer digital print. First a white layer then a black opaque layer then another white layer so that the final color layer wouldn’t be affected by the black layer. Fortunately, our printer can do up to five layers in one pass! The Scooby letters have clear plastic backs, so that pests can’t get inside, they have a ½” white lighted side & colored lit faces. The next solution included ¾” thick flat cut acrylic for the “snack shack” letters with lighted sides and black opaque faces. For the “stars” & under score we called on an architectural lighting company to provide UL listed exterior twinkling led modules. Each led pulsates randomly with its own microchip! The stars are two piece front & back fabricated aluminum. The signs are installed on three aluminum stanchions that are attached to the internal structural steel on the canopy overhang. Designing, building & installing these signs was quite an adventure for all of our talented staff that rose to the challenge.
The Result
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, these pictures may make you use words from a dog’s vocabulary! The completed signs are a delight to see, you can’t look at them without cracking a smile. When you see them at night all lit up, with the colors & special effects, you know you are seeing a true one of a kind sign!
