AUGUST 2011 The World Leader In Sign Information Since 1906 www.signweb.com Product Review: Fujifilm’s Acuity, Uvistar printers, ColorGATE software, p.38 Also Solar-powered signage p.22 Product Showcase: Routers p.42 Taking the NextStep p.56 Saving Tucson neon p.66 Keep Smiling The 2011 CAS/Commercial Report reviews industry trends p.70
In this issue: Keep Smiling, The 2011 CAS/Commercial Report reviews industry trends; Solar-powered signage; Product Showcase: Routers; Taking the NextStep; Saving Tucson neon
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
About the cover: Museum Arts (Dallas) designed a new “K-Girl” for Kilgore (TX) College, which is home to the Rangerettes, Kilgore’s drill team, which has appeared at Presidential inaugurations and high-profile events worldwide. iZone (Temple, TX) fabricated it using its digitally printed, high-pressure-laminate process, and cut it to shape via CNC routing. For more information, see page 60
FEATURES
56 Signs that Make you Stop and Stairby Wade SwormstedtNextStep M3dia adds a new dimension to signage.
59 Wild stuffby Steve AustSign projects that go way outside the box
62 Energy, Mass and the Velocity of Lightby Steve AustA gallery of electronic message centers
66 Bending the rulesby Robin DonovanSaving iconic neon in Tucson
70 2011 CAS/Commercial State of the Industry Reportby Wade SwormstedtStill shrinking, but more slowly
COLUMNS and DEPARTMENTS6 ST Update by Steve Aust
Gerber sale pending; Barbie protest; Pink OBIEs12 Technology Update by Darek Johnson
Design and copycats14 Fixing low-res jpeg logo files by Theresa Jackson
Five options for their use16 Vinyl Apps by Steve Aust
Prints with drive22 Strictly Electric by Ken Naasz
Carbon neutral32 LED Update by Dr. Nisa Khan
Higher efficiency doesn’t always mean lamp efficiency38 Technology Review by Chris and Kathi Morrison
Fujifilm’s Acuity and Uvistar printers, ColorGATE software40 Sign Museum News by Tod Swormstedt
Tools of the trade42 New Products by Robin Donovan
Product Showcase: Routers75 Industry News by Robin Donovan
103 Advertising Index120 Editorially Speaking by Wade Swormstedt
Déjà vu preview
56
About the cover: Museum Arts (Dallas) designed a new “K-Girl” for Kilgore (TX) College, which is home to the
SIGNS OF THE TIMES (ISSN 0037-5063) is published 12 times annually by ST Media Group International Inc., 11262 Cornell Park Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45242-1812. Telephone: (513) 421-2050, Fax: (513) 362-0317. Annual rate for indi-viduals in the U.S.A.: $42 USD. Annual rate for subscriptions in Canada: $70 USD (includes GST & postage); all other countries: $92 (Int’l mail) payable in U.S. funds. Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright 2011, by ST Media Group International Inc. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for product claims and representations. Periodicals Postage Paid at Cincinnati, OH and at additional mailing offi ces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Signs of The Times, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. Change of address: Send old address label along with new address to Signs of The Times, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. For single copies or back issues: contact Debbie Reed at (513) 421-9356 or [email protected]. Subscription Services: P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076, Fax: (847) 763-9030.
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Glenn Carroll is the president of media-measurement company Carroll Media Services (Alpharetta, GA).
Bill Dundas, a former ST technical editor, currently serves as the Director of Technical Affairs for the Intl. Sign Assn. (ISA).
Brigitte Hunt has served as the exhibi-tion director for Reed Exhibitions’ Visual Communication Italy show for decades.
Rob Ivers, the certification director for the Professional Decal Application Assn. Inc., writes ST's "Real World Vinyl" column.
John Johnson, a former ISA president of the board, has more than 30 years of sign-association experience.
Jan Lorenc is a partner in Lorenc + Yoo (Roswell, GA), an environmental-graphic design firm.
Sparky Potter, proprietor of Wood & Wood Signs (Waitsfield, VT), founded his shop in 1972.
Lawrin Rosen founded his shop, ARTfx Signs (Bloomfield, CT), in 1983 with a commitment to artistry and innovation.
Jared Smith is the president of bluemedia (Tempe, AZ), a graphics provider that special-izes in vehicle and environmental graphics.
Kevin Stotmeister is president and CEO of Federal Heath Sign LLC (Oceanside, CA).
Professor Alan Weinstein holds a joint-faculty appointment at Cleveland (OH) State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs.
Noel Yarger is the president of North American Signs (South Bend, IN) and the Signage Foundation for Communication Excellence.
ST UPDATEN e w s f o r a b r o a d e r p e r s p e c t i v e
By S teve Aust
Gerber, Vector Capital Reach Tentative AgreementGerber Scientific (Tolland, CT), the parent company of Gerber Scientific Products, which produces Edge FX™ thermal-transfer printers, Sabre CNC routers and enVision cutting plotters, is announcing a tentative agreement with Vector Capital, a private-equity firm, which plans to purchase Gerber Scientific for $281.8 million. Per the agreement, Gerber shareholders will receive $11 per share in cash, which represented a 35% premium on the Friday, June 10 closing price (the stock price surged and closed at nearly $11 per share after Monday, June 13’s trading, following the announcement).
Donald Aiken, Gerber’s chairman, said, the merger was a “very positive development” for shareholders, employees and partners. Following the terms of the deal, Gerber will actively seek competing bids until July 25. If no better offers emerge, the company expects the deal to close during the second half of the year.
However, as of June 15, shareholder-investigation law firms Harwood & Feller LLP, Levi & Korsinsky LLP and Bernstein Liebhard LLP had launched inquiries into Gerber’s board. In a written release, Harwood Feller’s lawyers stated, “Our investi-gation concerns whether the board of directors has under-taken a fair process to obtain fair consideration for all share-holders of Gerber.”(Editor’s Note: This news item was published on June 14, and the agreement is subject to change.)
Signs of ActivismFor more than a half-century, little girls world-wide have embraced Mattel’s Barbie® dolls as dress-up playmates. However, according to environmental activists Greenpeace, Mattel uses environmentally hazardous materials in its packaging. And, the group used a grand-format banner and its signature, attention-grabbing tactics to make its point.
At Mattel’s headquarters in El Segundo, CA, protesters dressed as Ken, Barbie’s perpetual boyfriend, rappelled down the front of the building and unfurled banners with a scowling Ken that read, “Barbie, It’s Over. I don’t date girls that are into deforestation.” According to Greenpeace, Mattel buys pack-aging material from Asian Pulp and Paper, an Indonesian firm that the group claims cuts down its domestic, rainforest flora to obtain raw materials.
Although he didn’t know what vendor produced the 2,500-sq.-ft. and 1,200-sq.-ft. banners, Greenpeace’s Bob Meyers said they were printed using Circle Graphics’ (Longmont, CO) Eco-Flexx billboard material. The light-weight media, made from high-density polyeth-ylene, is chlorine- and phthalate-free, and reportedly requires 60% less energy to produce than a comparably sized, PVC billboard.
Greenpeace also unveiled anti-Barbie banners and street-level billboards in London.
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ST UPDATEN e w s f o r a b r o a d e r p e r s p e c t i v e
A Sea ChangeTeachers of special-needs children manage various unique challenges. Among other things, they require classrooms designed to promote happiness and tran-quility for students who crave stability. To help Charlene Younger’s special-needs classroom at Cincinnati’s Roberts Paideia Academy cultivate a calm environment, Cincinnati’s Worldwide Graphics & Sign Co. outfitted its walls with 900 sq. ft. of digitally printed, wall and fabric murals and ceiling graphics.
Worldwide Graphics’ owner Christian Beebe became involved with the project through Adopt-A-Class, a Cincinnati charity that matches business owners who wish to contribute time and talents with schools that serve high proportions of at-risk or special-needs students.
Worldwide Graphics & Sign designed the ocean-themed mural with Adobe® Photoshop® software. The shop printed soft-sided graphics on a stretchy, poplin material with its Mimaki JV5 solvent ink-printer; printed vinyl applied to walls entailed 3M’s IJ35 glossy film with permanent adhesive also printed on the JV5. Beebe continued the aquatic theme by printing the ceiling tiles on an HP Scitex FB 910 flatbed printer with UV inks. MACtac’s matte-finish laminate protects
the wall graphics, and Kapco’s floor laminate protects the floor graphics.
Younger said, “Many of the students in my class have sensory needs, and we thought an ocean-life scene would be both soothing and cognitively stimulating.”
About his Adopt-A-Class involvement, Beebe said, ‘It’s awesome. I have the ability to positively impact some-one’s surroundings with little effort, and I like to give back to the community that has helped us succeed.”
The Obies Think PinkThe Outdoor Advertising Assn. of America (OAAA), Washington, DC, recently unveiled its 69th annual Obie Awards. One would assume the Best of Show designation would go to an ad for a new or exotic product, but this year’s edition bucked the trend. Publicis New York executed a humorous campaign for medicine-cabinet stalwart Pepto-Bismol. Billboards and bus shelters featured bottles of the pink stomach-pain reliever as the main ingredient in the middle of a bun or battered on a stick.
Other Obie winners – among 72 finalists, 11 received Gold Obies, and an additional 18 earned Silver designations – included Olson’s billboard, street-furniture and building-wrap campaign for Target Field, new home of the Minnesota Twins, which won in the Amusement and Entertainment category; Juniper Park’s handcarved billboards, which conveyed a down-to-earth theme for Frito-Lay’s Kettle Cooked chips; and Taxi 2’s application, which created a building projection that featured a Mini-filled ”vending machine” that encouraged viewers to text their favorite model for Mini Canada.
ST UPDATEN e w s f o r a b r o a d e r p e r s p e c t i v e
Minneapolis Billboards Display Attitude of GratitudeOn May 22, Minneapolis’ northern neighborhoods suffered a tornado that killed one, injured approxi-mately 30 and exacted $166-million damage. Residents and relief organi-zations such as the Salvation Army immediately mobilized and attended to the victims’ immediate needs.
A week after, residents and offi-cials from impacted areas expressed their sentiments through seven elec-tronic billboards situated throughout the area with the message, ”The city and residents of North Minneapolis thank everyone for their help and generosity since the May 22 tornado.”
Clear Channel Outdoor’s Minneapolis office donated the bill-board space. Tom McCarver, Clear Channel Minneapolis’ VP of real
estate and public affairs, said the seven YESCO digital billboards were located within a five-mile radius from where the tornado touched
down. He also noted every digital billboard in every market is allotted five hours per month for these types of pro-bono messages.
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With speeds like this, it’s like getting 2.4 extra days of production time out of your printer each work week, for absolutely free. Add the optional new SPECTROVUE VM-10 with ColorVerify and manage your color like never before. But rather than simply reading about it, visit your nearest Mutoh dealer for a hands-on demonstration today.
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“Matisse and Picasso didn’t like each other’s paintings at first, but they seemed to sense at once the power each had to challenge and stimulate the other. For the rest of their lives, each would keep a keen eye on the other’s new work, provoking each other to paint the same subjects, sometimes even with the same title. There are many ways to describe their relationship. It could be called a rivalry, a dialogue, a chess game–Matisse himself once compared it to a boxing match. But it also became the abiding friendship of two titans who, daring to paint the ugly, trans-formed our sense of beauty in art.”
-- Paul TrachtmanSmithsonian magazine,
February 2003
Hackles rise quickly when sign-makers discuss studying other’s design work – it seems every shop has had a design plagiarized – but, in the creative world, all designs are a type of interpretation, an amalgama-tion, of existing works. It’s because graphic history precedes all design; and creative people characteristically study and evaluate both associated and historical work – it’s a major source of ideas and inspiration.
For the best and perhaps least abra-sive example, click over an artistic notch and remember that fiction-type books and films – inventive work, indeed – comprise only 20 story plots, and one or more of these plots, says author Ronald Tobias in his 20 Master Plots book, reside in all such books or movies. You’ll recognize these classic examples:
Quest – The hero searches for something, someone or somewhere.
Rescue – A captured someone must be liberated by a hero (or heroic party).
Revenge – A wronged person seeks retribution against a person that has harmed them (or their loved ones).
Other plot lines are adventure, pursuit, escape, rivalry, temptation,
metamorphosis, transformation, a riddle, maturation, love, forbidden love, sacrifice, discovery, addiction, underdog, ascension and downfall.
Sylvester Stallone films, for example, typically include underdog, quest, rivalry, sacrifice, rescue and ascension themes; Seinfeld scripts typically comprise underdog, tempta-tion, pursuit, rivalry and discovery.
Can one apply such simplification to sign design? Sure. Analyze audi-ence, layout, typography, image and color, and then act upon your results.
Audience – Is it motorists on the street or pedestrian shoppers in the mall? Are they buying furniture, dresses or bread loaves?
Layout – Are you creating atmo-sphere, declaring danger or selling Chevrolets?
Typography – Adobe’s Caslon™ Italic Swash, tightly kerned, for wedding dresses, right? And wide-spaced, Neue Helvetica® for hardware sales?
Image – A stop sign’s hexagon shape.
Color – For tool signs, outline gray
panels with orange and apply corn-yellow letters in Adobe’s Copperplate Gothic® type; for a furniture store, weave tones of beige, gold and red and say the brand in Adobe’s Albertus® Standard Regular.
You can also sign up for 3M™’s Visual Attention Service (VAS), a web-based scanning tool that, 3M says, analyzes the effectiveness of visual designs. Essentially, it analyzes colors, faces, shapes, contrast and text, and then displays the visually strong areas on screen.
So, if design is that easy, what makes design difficult?
Being innovative. Why? Innovation detaches your
work from the competition. See it as a profit/survival device.
Designers as assetsA well-trained designer is a busi-ness asset, but not a passive one. Designers should possess energy, curiosity, experimentation, a sense of learning and play – and the ability to analyze concepts gained
CopycatWhat makes designers first-rate – and where should they roam?
Darek Johnson is ST’s Senior Technology Editor/Analyst. Email him at [email protected] UPDATE
By Darek Johnson
12 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
Is Nissan’s Juke a design mistake or disruptive automotive styling? Although unique and loaded with nifty, youth-market features, the Juke draws more puzzled looks than smiles. Ward’s Autoworld magazine said the Juke had a face only a chief designer could love.
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by viewing other’s work. It also helps if they have a determined spirit, because defending innovation often requires swimming upstream.
For creatives, continuous study also solidifies the importance of style development, the design undercurrent that causes onlookers to see, enjoy – and want – an identifiable style.
Clearly, then, designers’ exposure to other designs, plus related learning and observations, makes them better designers which, in turn, adds to a successful business’ profits.
Right to be wrongAuthor Bryan Lawson, in his book, How Designers Think, described
creatives as people who “must become fascinated by previously unknown problems.” Meaning, they must process inventive thoughts to completion.
Lawson also said design is often a matter of compromise decisions because designers, unlike scientists, don’t seem to have the right to be wrong. He said, “While we accept that a disproved theory may have helped science to advance, we rarely acknowledge the similar contribution made by mistaken designs.”
crossover-utility vehicle, alongside other recognized, car-world disasters – the Pontiac Aztec, for example. Christie Schweinsberg, the Autoworld reviewer, said “Only a chief designer could love the Juke’s bug-eye face.”
What was that Beatles song? “…Hey Juke, don’t make it bad?”
Emulate notCopying design work can lead to litigation, but it’s acceptable to become inspired by another’s work. However, to imitate another, even in style, is disreputable. Moreover, a copied style stultifies an audience.
Truth is, a truly creative person never enters the copycat realm. n
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
14 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
What to Do With Low-Res Jpeg Logo Files By Theresa Jackson
You probably encounter this problem every week, if not every day – your client presents a low-resolution, JPEG logo and asks you to lay out and print a large banner. The obvious solution is to redraw the logo with a vector application, such as Adobe Illustrator™, but redrawing can be time consuming and costly. Here are five options that may preclude a redraw – or save time if a redraw is the only alternative.
1) Educate your client – Teach your clients about bitmap files and pixels. Explain why a low-resolution, JPEG logo won’t scale to a large size. Show them printed samples of raster–edged, bitmap logos as compared to clean-edged, vector logos. Or, scale the provided JPEG logo to the requested print size, and then show your client a screen-captured portion of it.
Ask your client for an EPS or PDF version of the file. Most often (but not always), these files are created as vectors and can be opened and edited in Adobe Illustrator.
Such information exchanges build a trusting relation-ship with your client. They see and respect your know-ledge – and your desire to prevent unnecessary artwork charges. And, occasionally, a knowledgeable client will find and forward the correct logo file for their project.
2) Brands of the World – Create a free account at www.brandsoftheworld.com. It’s a fantastic logo resource for virtually all corporate – and sometimes obscure – logos. All Brands of The World Logos are vector format, which makes them editable with Adobe Illustrator.
3) Websites and PDF files – Search websites for PDF files that may contain branding elements with your client’s logo. PDFs are goldmines for graphic content, especially logos.
Once found, download the PDF file and open it in Illustrator. If it’s a multi-page PDF document, toggle through the pages with Illustrator’s Open Dialog box to see a small preview of each page. Find a page containing the logo and open it in Illustrator. With any luck, you’ll find an original, vector-version logo.
A Google image search won’t unearth PDF docu-ments. Google locates non-scalable JPEG, GIF and PNG (bitmap) images. Instead, search for websites that contain branding or press releases for the logo-owning company, and then use that website’s search tool to hunt for PDF files.
4) Find the correct font – If your logo search comes up zero, you may need to redraw it as a vector. Try Illustrator’s Live Trace tool. It will covert bitmap images to vector art, but it’s rarely adequate for logos. Also, most logos contain some text, and Live Trace isn’t precise enough to vector outline letters.
Drawing text is difficult. Finding the correct font to reset the text may be equally challenging.
5) What the font – WhatTheFont, by myFonts.com, is an online tool that can read a JPEG file and tell you what font will recreate it. This free service will analyze your file and suggest font options. For use directions, go to http://new.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/.
If you don’t have the needed font, MyFonts sells them for a nominal fee. If you don’t find the exact one, choose the most similar and convert it to artwork in Illustrator, and then make minimal edits to recreate the logo font.
Theresa Jackson, who operates Orchard View Color (Escondido, CA),has more than 20 years’ experience in prepress, graphic design, color management and photography. Email her at [email protected]
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Creative Color was founded in 1978 in Salt Lake City as a photo-graphic-imaging provider. The current leadership team assumed control of the company in 1987, and the company gradually entered the wide- and grand-format imaging markets as printing technology and media capabilities improved.
In 2001, the company purchased Sacramento-based Ferrari Color, and subsequently assumed the acquired company’s name two years later. Today, the shop maintains three facil-ities – in Salt Lake City, Sacramento and Emeryville, CA – and operates a host of production equipment, which includes:• A Canon ImagePress, which is used
to laser-print decals and tabletop signs on various paperstock types;
• Five Dursts: a Lambda RGB, single-
Prints with DriveA diverse gallery of Ferrari Color applications
“From banners to channel letters to monument signs, vinyl prevails as a sign-decoration staple due to its versatility and durability.”VINYL APPS
By Steve Aust
16 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
beam laser printer; a Rho 160R roll-to-roll, UV-cure printer; a 351R, roll-to-roll UV printer that prints on coated or uncoated media up to 139 in. wide; a Rho 800 UV-cure-ink, flatbed machine, which prints at 600 dpi on substrates up to 1.58 in. thick; and a Pictor, a flatbed, UV-cure-ink printer with white-ink capabilities.
• An HP Scitex XL 1500 eight-color, 16-ft.-wide printer that decorates banners and mesh material;
• A Roland DGA SJ-740 dye-subli-mation fabric printer with 1,400 x 1,400-dpi resolution;
• A Summa S160 vinyl-cutting plotter;• And, a 10-ft.-wide Mimaki JV5-320S
dye-sublimation printer for behe-moth, fabric-printing applications.
Ferrari’s portfolio includes numerous projects that have earned awards
in ST competitions, such as its 175 x 65-ft. building wrap for Maloof Sports & Entertainment that promoted the Sacramento Kings, which Maloof owns, on that city’s CalSTRS building (see ST, April 2011, page 74), and its inspiring banner installation for the U.S. Ski & Snowboarding Assn.’s Park City, UT headquarters (see ST, April 2010, page 86).
However, vinyl applications comprise numerous shapes and sizes. Just because a client isn’t bankrolling a gargantuan vinyl wrap that will cover dozens of floors on a high-rise doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve exacting attention to detail. Ferrari Color provided information about various applica-tions that emphasize the materials and methods that help vinyl provide branding that resonates.
Arden(t) BrandingFerrari Color’s Sacramento facility produced a pair of projects for that city’s Macerich Arden Fair Mall. To help identify the facility’s family play area, Ferrari produced two sponsored column wraps for The Glass Agency, a Sacramento ad firm. After having painted, washed and dried the columns, the shop fabricated the 51 x 85-in. wraps using FLEXcon’s BUSmark® 5800 white, opaque, removable vinyl on the Durst Rho 160.
Ferrari also decorated the mall’s exterior doors and windows with a graphic that promoted a Susan G. Komen Foundation event and its ongoing mission to fight breast cancer. Because the installation called for a solid-color graphic, Ferrari eschewed inkjet printing and cut the job with Avery deep-magenta and cotton-candy-colored vinyl on its Summa S160 plotter.
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The Sweet SpotIn 1869, German immigrant Gustav Goelitz founded the Goelitz Candy Co. in Bellevile, IL, and the company thrived for nearly a century by producing jelly beans, candy corn and other sweets. However, the company reached iconic status when its “Jelly Belly” jelly beans, which were made with natural flavors to produce such varieties as root beer and cream soda, were made famous by Ronald Reagan during his stint as California governor (they remained a sweet staple during his presidency). The company subsequently changed its name to Jelly Belly, and ultimately relocated to Fairfield, CA.
Today, the company, regarded as the world’s premier jelly-bean producer, has entrusted Ferrari Color with producing various promotional graphics. In-store graphics strategi-cally create a fun, whimsical envi-ronment that invites the all-impor-tant impulse buy. Prior to decorating the walls of the visitors’ center at
Jelly Belly’s headquarters, installers painted them with semi-gloss paint, washed them with an alcohol and water mixture, and allowed them to dry for five days.
Ferrari Color created the graphics using 3M’s Controltac media, which it decorated on its Durst Rho 160
printer. The store graphics entailed a 70 x 3.5 ft. ceiling graphic and four wall prints that span 104 ft. x 27 ft. 2 in. The company also decorated the smoking lounge at the company’s headquarters with five panels – four 3 x 7 ft. and one 3 ft. 8 in. x 6 ft. – printed on the Rho with 3M material.
Banking with StyleFerrari Color worked directly for Tri Counties Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of TriCo Bancshares with 61 Northern and Central California
branches. The job entailed creating 14 ft. 9 in. x 9 ft. 6.5-in. graphics that decorate the glass walls of a confer-ence room at the Marysville branch and a wall wrap for the South Chico
location. Ferrari designed the wraps to be somewhat transparent, while depicting blossoming flowers, and specified 3M’s Scotchcal 3650-114 clear media for the projects. To prep the walls for the application, installers washed the windows with trisodium phosphate and water.
Ferrari Color produced the panels – two wall-wrap panels that measure 9 ft. by 1 ft. 1.5 in., one 9.5 x 22.75 ft., and a 14 ft. 9 in. x 9 ft. 6.5-in. wrap for the conference room – on its Durst Rho 160 in the four-color setting. To facilitate installation, fabricators applied 3M’s SCPM-3 premask to the prints’ surface. To be rendered effectively on glass, Ferrari reverse printed the graphics on the material, and set each print to bleed to allow a seam-less fit when producing the Adobe Illustrator®-generated design.
Arranging the prints to flow continuously across the conference-room enclosure’s six vertical panels required meticulously tiling the images, both with the software and its Caldera GrandRIP+ RIP.
Royal-worthyPerhaps you heard about the April 29 wedding that betrothed England’s Prince William to Kate Middleton, which seemingly received more press coverage than a Presidential inauguration (it was the first royal wedding in approximately 30 years, and the goings-on of Kate’s sister, Pippa, provided an even more enter-taining sideshow than President Carter’s wayward brother, Billy).
To help cable network TLC (formerly The Learning Channel) promote itself at the gala event, the network’s PR and marketing firm enlisted Ferrari Color to produce a series of stage skirts, promotional banners and backdrop graphics for a special edition of its wedding-dress-centered reality show, Say Yes to the Dress, to support its weeklong wedding coverage from on location in London. Ferrari began its work by executing all prepress refinement of the client’s original files using
Adobe®’s Creative Suite 3. To create the soft-sided signage,
the shop used 13-oz. banner material (Ferrari’s choice for such jobs), which it decorated on its Durst Rho 351R, the company’s designated printer for its banners produced with UV-cure inks, on a four-color setting. To create hard-backed graphics, Ferrari decorated 3M’s 54-in.-wide IJ3650-114 clear media on the Rho 160
printer, which the shop allocates for adhesive-vinyl printing.
Phil Newman, Ferrari Color’s account manager for the job, said positioning the graphics around the backdrop, which served as the staging area for TLC’s reports of the wedding’s proceedings, proved challenging because of the exact positioning of the viewing screen to make sure it surrounded, but didn’t cover, it.
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The Sign Factory (TSF) was awarded the bid for five, solar-powered monu-ment signs at Eastern Washington University (EWU). The jobs included working at a remote site approxi-mately 300 miles from Seattle with weather extremes – a challenge for solar-powered signage. Also, such projects require sophisticated energy consumption and storage compo-nents to operate in darkness. And, among other things, the job required extensive excavation and precast-concrete forming and installation.
The beginningFounded in 1882 as Eastern Wash-ington State College, EWU offers the state’s best public-education value. It’s now Washington’s fastest-growing public institution, with more than 10,000 students, and EWU’s College of Business and Public Administration ranked in the 2011 edition of The Princeton Review’s annual guidebook, The Best 300 Business Schools. The 300-acre, park-like campus is just 17 miles from Washington’s second largest city, Spokane.
The university’s Board of Trustees
included the completion and imple-mentation of the Campus Sustainability Master Plan in its goals for the 2010-2011 academic year. The plan specified five, solar-powered, monument signs. Jacobs Engineering’s Environmental
Graphic Design Group (EGDG) worked with the facility’s management team on the pioneering green project. George Lim, EGDG’s national creative director, said an LED-lit sign program would consume no power and require less maintenance than traditional signs running on a power grid.
The completed signs were expected to be “carbon neutral” – 100% solar powered and avoiding typical energy consumption. Using Jacobs’ concept designs, TSF engi-neered, fabricated and installed the sign system. TSF President Jim Risher said experience keyed successful project execution.
Energy savingsThe five signs varied in size from 4 x 8 ft. to 22 x 8 ft. TSF value-added the concept design by adding reverse-channel, LED halo lighting to increase the signs’ impact and readability.
Equally important, all of the LED lights are powered by 12VDC. The two sign types that comprise
Carbon Neutral Solar-powered signage requires planning and perseverance.
Ken Naasz is the Sign Factory’s (Kirkland, WA) design and development VPSTRICTLY ELECTRIC
By Ken Naasz
22 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
The Sign Factory (TSF) Kirkland, WA, fabricated a five-sign program for Eastern Washington Univ. (EWU). The LED-lit signs were unique because they’re entirely solar-powered – no small feat given Washington State’s changeable climate.
This schematic outlines the signs’ numerous interconnected parts – and the complexity of constructing monument signs.
CI_Anything_Ad_r_ST:Layout 1 2/27/09 11:14 AM Page 1
granite towers (erected in tandem with cast, concrete monuments) require just a 3A current, and the complementary, horizontal monu-ment signs draw only 2A of current.
DC voltage from the sun. For accenting lighting in the concrete-tower monument signs, which were identified in the project as “G1” and “G2,” lamps were recessed into the integral concrete structure. For the other monument signs, referenced as “ID1”, “ID2” and “ID3”, we ground-mounted lamps for uplighting.
We designed the signfaces using Delcam’s Artcam 2009 Express and Gerber Scientific Products’ Composer 3.6 software, and fed the design into AXYZ Toolpath for Windows, our AXYZ 5010 6 x 10-ft., CNC flatbed router’s onboard program. We routed the aluminum background panels and created second-surface channel letters with stainless-steel returns internally lit with white LEDs. We welded the signface’s metal compo-nents together with a Millermatic 175 220V, wire-feed welder.
Rock starsTSF replaced the columns’ original, cultured-stone design with tons of granite to honor the history and granite-stone architecture of the Normal School, an original campus building that had burned down. The site’s original, granite stones now serve as a monument to the Pillars of Hercules in front of Showalter Hall, at the campus’ traditional entryway.
The TSF team partnered with precast companies and masons to construct the huge signs, steps and footings onsite. We secured all the signs above 3 ft. 6 in. deep, concrete
All told, the signs required approxi-mately 400 linear ft. of LEDs.
This unique, proprietary design eliminated the need for conversion to alternating current to gather and store
STRICTLY ELECTRIC
24 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
Equipment and MaterialsCoatings: Grip-Gard®, two-part, self-etching primer, from Akzo Nobel Coatings (Norcross, GA), (770) 662-8464 or www.signfinishes.com; satin-finish, acrylic-polyurethane paint, from Matthews Intl. (Delaware, OH), (800) 323-6593 or https:\\corporateportal.ppg.com/na/refinish/matthewsConcrete and Granite: Structural concrete masonry units; natural, stone-cut granite; and precast concrete monoliths, caps and veneers, from Olympian Precast (Redmond, WA), (425) 868-1922 or www.olyprecast.comCranes: Dyna-Lift 80-ft. crane, from Dyna-Lift Inc. (Clearwater, FL), (800) 200-0898 or www.dyna-lift.com; Genie 125-ft. lift, from Genie Industries (Redmond, WA), (800) 536-1800 or www.genielift.com; 38-ton crane, from Coast Crane (Spokane, WA), (509) 535-4226 or www.coastcrane.comLEDs/Lighting: Lumascape LS411LED Omnio Mini and LS793 LED lamps, from Pacific Lamp and Supply (Seattle), (206) 767-5334 or www.pacificlamp.com; Photovoltaic solar electrical components, from Rain City Solar (Arlington, WA), (206) 954-0380 or www.raincitysolar-power.com; red and white, V Series LED modules, from SloanLED (Ventura, CA), (888) 747-4533 or www.sloanled.comMetal: Recycled-content aluminum sheet, from Ryerson Aluminum (Chicago), (773) 762-2121 or www.ryerson.com; red, 4mm Alucobond® composite material, from 3A Composites (Mooresville, NC), (704) 658-3500 or www.alucobondusa.com; one-in.-thick, waterjet-cut aluminum letters, from Steel Art (Boston), (617) 566-4049 or www.steelartco.comRouter: Dual-head, 6 x 10-ft., flatbed CNC router, from AXYZ Automation Inc. (Burlington, ON, Canada) (800) 361-3408 or www.axyz.comSoftware: AXYZ Toolpath for Windows, from AXYZ Automation Inc.; ArtCam Express 2009, from Delcam Inc. (Windsor, ON, Canada), (877) 335-2661 or www.artcam.com; Omega Composer 3.6, from Gerber Scientific Products Inc. (Tolland, CT), (800) 222-7446 or www.gspinc.comWelder: Millermatic 175 220V wire-feed welder, from Miller Weldmaster Corp. (Navarre, OH), (330) 833-6739 or www.weldmaster.com
Fabricating the signs required 100 to 150 tons of precast concrete, including 10-ton monument caps on the larger signs. (Right) The signs’ granite components pay homage to the architecture of the Normal School, a former campus building that had burned down.
pier footings. They needed a solu-tion to provide the signs with solar power during periods of darkness. The solution required a system that used photovoltaic, solar-array panels to gather and store energy.
The company also contracted with solar design and engineering firms to develop the storage mecha-nism and configure each unique sign location to overcome the obsta-cles, such as array-panel placement. One sign site required placing the array panel 150 ft. away from the sign, atop an 18-ft. pole. We did this for aesthetic reasons; we didn’t want the solar array to interfere with the sign’s sightlines.
Because the panel was inaccessible to vehicles, the TSF team attached a three-pane panel the size of a sail to
the crane. It was very windy on instal-lation day, and we had to wait for the gusts of wind to subside in order to prevent the rope-tethered solar arrays from sailing away like kites.
A photo-electric charger, made by Outback Power Technologies,
serves as the signs’ nerve center. Mark Robison, president of Rain City Solar (Arlington, WA) said: “It can sense automatically when to turn lights on and off, and even knows when to charge batteries and when to turn lights off when
STRICTLY ELECTRIC
26 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
TSF installed the signs’ photovoltaic solar collectors away from the signs to prevent obstructing their sightlines. One three-panel array was installed 150 ft. away atop an 18-ft. pole; placed on a windy day, it required a rope tether and a crane.
battery power is low.” TSF attached the solar-array panels
to poles and ran rigid conduit from the solar array down to the electrical-panel box and, subsequently, the signs. Each sign had its own charger.
Onsite constructionThe sites were located in remote campus areas near its current signage. Altogether, the TSF team, along with numerous subcontrac-tors, spent 12 weeks onsite to complete the project. The signs’ new construction required existing signs to be demolished.
The sites ranged in size from 0.25 to 0.67 acres. Each site presented numerous obstacles, such as dirt, tree and shrub removal. Between 100 and 150 tons of precast concrete were delivered and hoisted into place. The project required multiple precast caps, with the largest weighing 10 tons.
The two largest monument signs sit
atop three or four steps, which were designed to accentuate their presence as monuments. The subcontractor made stamp impressions, which were completed using silicone molds, formed with the pattern Jacobs speci-fied, to create a stone-like look. The
TSF team handled the footings and installed four, 8W Lumascape LED lamps in custom housings with tempered-glass caps in each of the G1 and G2 monuments.
TSF contracted with Olympian Precast and Epic Construction
STRICTLY ELECTRIC
28 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
To provide added appeal to the monument caps, TSF built red cladding with 3A Composites’ Alucobond® composite material.
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Normal School, 1882, with 1-in.-thick, Steel Art (Boston) aluminum letters. The Alucobond material also provides an accent for the monument and tower capstones.
Risher said serving as a general contractor and supervising numerous sub-contractors on the EWU project proved challenging. “Normally our operations are centralized,” he said. “This project challenged us to turn our procedures upside down while maintaining our standards of excel-lence. It consumed more resources than we estimated. We even had to fire a contractor for poor work.”
Despite the project’s challenges, it was still very worthwhile to help an institution of higher learning fulfill its mission to provide an environmen-tally friendly campus. And, probably most satisfying to all parties involved, we delivered the $429,000 project on time and under budget. n
composite, rectangular wraps, built with 3A Composites’ Alucobond® material, to the face of each column. The “G1” wrap measures 19 ft. tall, and “G2” reaches 15 ft. The large, red wraps provide visual enhancements by covering approximately two-thirds of the column faces to match school colors. On the wraps, we identified the founding year of the original
for precast and masonry services. Olympian provided casting for the components which made up the linear portion of the monument signs and tower caps. Each sign includes five precast elements; Epic constructed the columns.
Once constructed, Epic applied the granite. The TSF team built, assem-bled and installed large aluminum-
30 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
More About The Sign FactoryThe Sign Factory (Kirkland, WA) manufactures, installs and services electric signs. Jim Risher, president, started in the business as a three-year-old who grew up on the floor of his family’s shop, Northwest Neon and Plastic, which was founded in 1964. Over the years, the Risher family purchased several sign companies, including B&B Sign Co. (Missoula, MT).
In the summer of 1988, as Jim drove to Puget Sound from Montana, he envisioned the need for a company that could design and manufacture signs in-house from start to finish. He says the advantage of the turnkey process is brand consistency and compet-itive pricing while working on multiple locations.
The company offers wholesale production and project coordination regionally and nationally, as well as in Canada. Major customers include Macy’s, Safeway, Bank of America, Supercuts, Starbucks and Wells Fargo, as well as local architects, retailers, property managers and commercial developers.
Over the last four years, I’ve written ST columns on LED lamps’ technologies, challenges, safety, trends and markets. In addition to investigations and analysis, I’ve also compared LEDs to other, existing lighting systems, and discussed sign-industry applications. Interestingly, some my analytics may have been ahead of their time and, conse-quently, perceived as pessimistic by some readers.
However, because the science of light has been my interest and a branch of my profession for more than 25 years, I’ve periodically presented my scientific findings – some of which are still ongoing – to the various, related industries and, also, emphasized better ways to bring LED lighting into our lives.
Particularly, I’ve discussed and analyzed such LED-technology challenges as electrical require-ments, omni-directionality, yield and thermal or lifespan complexi-ties. These issues, today, more ubiquitously discussed, are familiar topics – or, in some instances, applied to real and pertinent applications.
Because of the industry’s current acknowledgment of existing (and past) complexities, I envision the solid-state-lighting (SSL) manufac-turing field will move faster to resolve its challenges. The resulting advance-ments will cause LED lighting markets to substantially escalate over the next several years.
But what can we expect, say, beyond 2014? What does LED light-ing’s long-term future look like?
As recently as the 2007 Lightfair tradeshow, many lighting compa-nies, especially those lacking LED technology R&D programs, didn’t foresee LEDs as solutions for next-generation lighting.
At this year’s show, the same lighting companies proudly
displayed LED-lamp prototypes – linear, tubular and compact – designed for various commercial and residential applications. Further, and accompanied by positive proc-lamations of LEDs’ future, these companies now tout new lamp configurations that, they say, illumi-nate living spaces in novel ways. Predictably, their marketing text claims LED technology offers greater advantages over incandescent and fluorescent lights.
Interestingly, such companies as Osram Sylvania, Philips and GE Lighting Solutions have, for some time, confidently developed LED technologies.
On the flip side, however, measurement results and analyses from the Dept. of Energy’s (DOE) recent, Round 11 CALiPER program tell a different story – at least for now. The Round 11 team used lamp samples available in August 2010, and their published reports (February and April 2011) indicate that fluorescent and incandescent lights still outperform LED equiva-lents, on average.
Further, although LED lamps and luminaires have higher efficacies than their incandescent counter-parts, they still underperform in light output and other metrics. (You
can review Round 11 details and other reports at www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/ssl/reports.html.)
DOE findingsLamp manufacturers who believe their T8-replacement LED products may outperform the DOE samples should recognize that, although LED counterparts may look brighter, the illusion stems from directly viewing the light source. LED lamp light generally seeds from a small (and often directional) source, but source brightness doesn’t translate to higher ambient light output, especially when compared to general light sources.
Further, higher efficacy measures don’t always translate to higher overall lamp efficiencies, because testers should only compare effi-ciencies when both lamp types’ light present equivalent output. And, even when equivalent, total-light output occurs for both LEDs and other lamps, their light distribu-tion may be dissimilar. Thus, for particular applications, users and specifiers, including signmakers, might prefer (or need) one type of distribution over the others.
Although new DOE findings show notable improvements in LED lamps, similar conclusions for the LED T8’s were found in last year’s
As president of LED Lighting Technologies, Dr. Nisa Khan educates the lighting industry and consumers about LED lighting. She has a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics, and master’s and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering. Email her at [email protected] UPDATE
By Dr. Nisa Khan
What lies beyond the current LED race?Higher efficacy measures don’t always translate to overall lamp efficiencies.
R&D Funding In recent times, the U.S. govern-ment and venture-capitalist funding for SSL development has increased. However, it’s insignificant compared to the funding supplied by Chinese, Japanese and South Korean govern-ments and industry.
Note, also, that such companies as Mitsubishi, Panasonic and Toshiba are returning to the semi-conductor-optoelectronics industry – the heart of laser and LED indus-tries. These companies led the high-performance laser industry in the 90’s – but, and perhaps due to the ’90s tech-bubble burst – pulled out of the optoelectronics industry.
Now, with the promise of gains from commercial, residential and digital-gadget LED applications, these companies have re-entered the field with enormous capital and resource commitments.
Korean Samsung’s increasing domi-nance in electronics and optoelec-tronics products – especially LED
lighting functions with the highest efficiency at the lowest cost.
The DOE’s CALiPER staff didn’t analyze LED replacement lamps that specifically featured the tech-nology’s best strengths.
At Lightfair, I learned that several manufacturing labs have various sophisticated and integrated LED luminaires under R&D that closely approximate fluorescent-T8 perfor-mance levels in light output, effi-cacy, distribution and color. I antici-pate that selected versions will soon exceed both the current T5 and T8 performances.
However, such high-performance LED lamp technology only becomes a reality if significant capital, resources and commitments are directed toward it. First, investors and manufacturers must develop an understandings of the challenges, and, finally, decide whether it makes sense to pursue LED solutions for all lighting applications – and if not, which applications specifically.
round-analysis (see ST, August 2010 LED Update, page 20). Regardless of the dynamics, the DOE tests and conclusions provide valuable infor-mation for retailers, manufacturers and buyers of LEDs for replacement lamps. However, due to today’s development speeds, many compa-nies may now offer better products than those tested in Round 11.
Further, and despite the DOE’s findings (that LED replacement lamps currently underperform the incumbents), one shouldn’t assume their capabilities are under par when compared to tubular-fluorescent and compact, household-incandescent and fluorescent lamps.
Why? Market-available, LED-replacement lamps still use the fixtures and electrical-input config-urations of incumbent lamps, and this prohibits LED engineers from utilizing their best light-source designs. In a perfect world, LED engineers would build components that provide the most desirable
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technologies – is indeed remarkable.China demonstrated its LED enthu-
siasm at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. Its government provides the world’s highest support for LED technology, product development and domestic adoption. Chinese manufacturers regularly produce inexpensive lamps for toys, indicators and night lights; they also make high-power lamps for
36 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
LED UPDATE
general lighting via partnerships with foreign LED companies. In both cases, China customarily uses chips from foreign suppliers – although the government has plans to expand its in-country SSL development centers.
According to the June issue of Compound Semiconductors maga-zine, the Chinese government subsi-dizes up to 75% of new epitaxial reactor (MOCVD) costs. (MOCVD
stands for Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition, a technique for depositing thin layers of atoms onto a semiconductor wafer.)
China also provides low-interest loans, tax breaks and free, funda-mental real estate for LED manufac-turers. Additionally, it recognizes that manufacturing LED chips is a economic source, and its import dependency cuts into profits and also provides other country’s with tools and resource controls that could become more costly in the future.
The magazine says high growth and incentives have already drawn nearly 60 Chinese LED manufac-turers into LED chip production; some have joint-venture agree-ments with foreign chipmakers. In contrast, the U.S. has only a few commercial LED chipmakers, and many of these already have estab-lished packaging/manufacturing facilities in China.
Future market dynamicsLED market dynamics may change over the next five years due to slowing LCD-screen backlight demand and increasing needs in other sectors, such as street- and general-purpose lamps for commer-cial and residential usage. Such action will surely increase the overall LED market into 10’s of billions. Still, LEDs will unlikely replace many other lighting technologies, including fluorescent, incandescent and others, because the lighting industry is too big and diverse to truly be affected.
Although street lights, signs and screen backlights all benefit from LEDs’ directional, flat and discrete scaling features, general-purpose lighting demands additional perfor-mances that LED manufacturers are challenged to produce, such as broader and more uniform light distribution and color quality. The SSL industry race must soon turn toward higher and more sophisti-cated technologies to solve these challenges – but will first need to churn low-cost solutions. n
To read related articles on this subject, visit www.signweb.com/EDS and www.signweb.com/lighting.
As a leading converter in thesign making industry we offer theright products at the right price.Choose from our vast array of:
Fujifilm’s Acuity and UVISTAR Printers, plus ColorGATE SoftwareUV-curable printing – from end to end
Chris and Kathi Morrison own and operate The Image Specialists, a full-service graphics company based in Clements,
CA. Chris is also a Microsoft-certified systems engineer.
TECHNOLOGY REVIEWBy Chris and Kathi Morrison
FUJIFILM North America Corp.Graphic Systems Div.850 Central Ave.Hanover Park, IL 60133(800) 621-1049 / (630) 259-7200www.fujifilmusa.com/graphics
Company Profile: FUJIFILM North America Corp., a marketing subsidiary of FUJIFILM Corp. (Tokyo), provides equipment, consumables and technical support to the graphic-arts industry; digital-photo processing equipment, technical support and fulfill-ment services for commercial and consumer customers; consumer digital cameras and motion-picture films.
Fujifilm, an early innovator in the consumer, compact-camera market (it introduced the DS-1P digital camera in 1988), is a major player in the digital-photography field. Fujifilm’s large-format, print engineers have carried this tradition to its digital-print lines.
At a glance: The Acuity, UV-curable printer line features five printers that ship in two sizes: the Acuity Advance series, which features a 4 x 8-ft. bed, and the larger, Acuity Advance X2 printer that will process two, 4 x 8-ft. sheets simultaneously. Additionally, the Acuity line includes the Acuity Advance X2 and Advance HS X2, and both can handle 98.4 x 120-in. media and print two, 8 x 10-ft. boards simultaneously.
Fujifilm also offers two grand-format, UVISTAR UV-curable, roll-to-roll printers that feature an optional rigid-media table. The two UVISTAR models – the 3532 and 5032 – will concurrently handle up to three media rolls. The 3532 accepts 138-in.-wide media and the 5032 accepts 197-in .-wide media.
Fujifilm also offers Colorgate, a full-production RIP that will manage more than 750 different devices.
Contact: Terry Mitchell, director of [email protected](913) 573-3586
Key Information
the standard-sized print bed measures 49.6 x 98.8 in., and its print area spans 49.2 x 98.4 in., which allows full-bleed printing on 4 x 8-ft. media up to 1.89 in. thick.
The CMYK Advance LT features a single, variable-dot (6 to 30 pl), printhead per color that produces high-quality prints. Its fastest print mode is 132 sq. ft./hr. (which equals four 4 x 8-ft. boards per hour); its fine-art speed is 69 sq. ft./hr.
You can upgrade the Advance LT to the Advance, and you can add the white ink or roll-to-roll mecha-nism option at any time.
The Acuity Advance features two printheads per color and offers significantly higher print speeds with
Acuity HS X2
At some point, most of us think about how great it would be to add a new revenue source – a flatbed, UV-curable printer, for example. Suppose you already have a digital printer for vehicle graphics, and perhaps an aqueous printer for posters and indoor graphics; so, ideally, with a UV- curable printer, you could further offer customers graphics on just about any media – vinyl, paper, Coroplast® corrugated plastic, aluminum – and even wood.
It sounds like a great idea, but printing the same image on various media is intimidating – even worse, if you have different RIP software for any dissimilar print devices.
Fortunately, Fujifilm offers numerous, innovative solutions – the Acuity printer family, UVISTAR grand-format printers and ColorGATE printer workflow and color-management software – to ease such stress.
The Acuity family of UV-curable printersThe Acuity, UV-curable printer line features five, CMYK printers with optional white ink, but Fujifilm divides the line into two sizes: the standard size, which features a 4 x 8-ft. bed, and the larger, X2 size that will process two, 4 x 8-ft. sheets simultaneously. Speed, white ink and roll-media options differentiate the models.
Fujifilm offers field upgrades, so you can start with a basic printer and, over time, add features. For example, you can add the white ink or a roll-to-roll option, or both (Fig. 1).
The roll-media device accepts up to 9.45-in.-diam-eter media that ranges up to 86.6 in. wide; the maximum roll weight is 110 lbs. A zoned, vacuum table holds rigid media firmly in place (Fig. 2).
The printers feature a quick-change, two-liter (per color), ink-bag system (Fig. 3).
The Acuity 4 x 8-ft., CMYK printers If 4 x 8-ft. printing meets your needs, your three choices include the entry-level Acuity Advance LT, the Acuity Advance (to gain more print speed), or the Acuity Advance HS (for production-class print speeds).
Although it’s designed to handle 4 x 8-ft. rigid media,
the same specifications as the Advance LT. Its produc-tion mode reaches 233 sq. ft./hr. (seven, 4 x 8-ft. boards); the fine-art mode covers 135 sq. ft./hr.
The Acuity Advance HS is similarly sized and oper-ates at significantly higher speeds – 433 sq. ft./hr. in its production mode and 245 sq. ft./hr. in the high-quality mode. For fast, distantly viewed graphics, the HS’s Express mode images at 657 sq. ft./hr. (more than 20, 4 x 8-ft. boards per hour). Options include white ink and the roll media.
Dual 4 x 8-ft. printingThe remaining two Acuity family members are the Advance X2 and Advance HS X2, and the difference from the previously described models is table size. The X2 printers can handle 98.4 x 120-in. media; so you can print two, 8 x 10-ft. boards simultaneously.
Both Colorgate and Onyx ProductionHouse software support the Acuity printers.
The Advance X2 production mode images 239 sq. ft./hr., while the HS X2 can reach 462 sq. ft./hr., and a remarkable 709 sq. ft./hr. in Express mode.
Still not fast enough?If the Acuity line isn’t fast enough, examine Fujifilm’s grand-format, UVISTAR printer – a UV-curable, roll-to-roll printer that features an optional rigid-media table. Fujifilm offers two models – the 3532 and 5032 – and both will handle up to three media rolls simultane-ously (Fig. 4). The 3532 accepts 138-in.-wide media, and the 5032 accepts 197-in.-wide media.
The Uvistars feature a true 600-dpi resolution and score an apparent 1200 dpi. The 3532, in its three-pass production mode, images at 936 sq. ft./hr. The 5032 model ups that speed to 1,184 sq. ft./hr. For super speed, choose the one-pass mode at which the 3532 images at 2,991 sq. ft./hr. and the 5032 at 3,798 sq. ft./hr., respectively.
The company also offers its UV-curable, high-volume, Inca Onset Series of flatbed inkjet printers. The Onset S40 will process 94, full-bed, 63 x 123.6-in. sheets an hour onto substrates up to 2-in. thick.
ColorGATE softwareFujifilm also offers ColorGATE, a full-production server RIP that will manage more than 750 different devices to provide one, job-flow controller for all your shop’s print devices – UV-curable, solvent- and aqueous-ink
printers. For example, if you have an Acuity Advance printer and an i-cut-equipped cutter, Colorgate sends files to both the printer and cutter.
It also allows you to process files for different media – vinyl to foam board, for example – and it integrates the G7 alignment processes. The software’s ink-optimi-zation module savings can range from 16 to 50%.
ConclusionFujifilm offers several excellent products. Its finely engi-neered flatbed printers deliver beautiful images with cost-saving, CMYK ink sets and the company offers an excellent upgrade path. The Colorgate software can link an entire operation together with its intelligent work-flow, color synchronization and ink optimization.
Additionally, Fujifilm supplies UV-cure and solvent-ink media that comprises products from such industry suppliers as Ultraflex, Avery, GBC, Intelicoat. The company also offers unique products for specialty applications. n
SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011 39
Fig. 2: The zoned, vacuum table holds small or irregularly shaped pieces securely in place.
Fig. 3: Fujifilm’s Uvijet inks for Acuity printers – two-liter bags that are easy to access and replace
Fig. 4: Fujifilm’s Uvistar printers can manage up to three media rolls; here you see two rolls in action.
Fig. 1: You can field upgrade to the optional white ink or roll-to-roll media mechanism (shown here) at any time.
About a year ago, I got a call from Bill Blohm, owner of Signs by Blohm (New Milford, NJ). I’d never met Bill, but I certainly knew the shop name from the numerous Signs of the Times articles written by George Nappi, Signs by Blohm’s art director. Bill told me he had some items the museum might be interested in. I told him I’d be up that way in May.
Signs by Blohm remains to this day a true, commercial signshop that serves the diverse needs of its local community. On any given week, this could include truck-lettering jobs, banners, onsite window lettering or dimensional-letter installation – even painting a logo for a high-school gym’s floor. Consequently, I looked forward to my visit and the wealth of stories of unusual jobs Bill could recount from his nearly 60 years in the trade. I wasn’t disappointed.
As I walked in, I met Bill, and his son, Wayne, who’s been running the business since his father’s “retire-ment” nearly a decade ago. What I wasn’t expecting was the honor
of meeting George Nappi, whose column I had edited 25 years earlier. He’s still in his element, presiding over the shop’s design from his studio space that overlooks the production floor below.
The items Bill donated to the museum were as rich as Signs by Blohm’s tradition. One of the first items Bill presented was the wooden easel his father, Frederick, had made to paint signs in his living room. Fred Blohm studied embroidery design at Cooper Union, but wandered into signpainting in the early 1930s.
Several other items had been passed on to Bill by the widow of Matt Senn, a well-known signpainter from Tenafly, NJ. They included three brush extenders, which could be attached to fitches for wall jobs. He also presented a box of black-outlined, goldleaf letter sheets, which could be cemented onto the reverse sides of windows. Atlas Sign Works (Chicago) sold this circa-1930s kit.
Bill donated two, 10 x 20-in. design sketches created for entry monuments
built for a Dover, NJ housing develop-ment during the 1960s building boom. He also offered an Adjusta-Stool, a signpainter’s seat used in the shop or on the job that could be adjusted to the surface to be lettered. And, Bill also gave a pair of temporary vehicle signs (pre-magnetic) that could be lettered and hung on a vehicle door via flexible brackets that slid in between the door panel and window glass. Bill remembered purchasing these in the early 1960s from Dick Blick Art Supply. Stenciled copy inside the “signs” reads “Pat. Nov. 6, 1923 – Mar. 26, 19__.”
Finally, he donated a metal, projecting sign custom-engraved with the dentist or doctor’s name, edgelit by a fluorescent lamp and mounted above the engraved panel. Bill recounts how local regulations prohibited professionals such as doctors and dentists from identifying their offices with letters larger than 2 in. high. As good as the “old days” were, sign codes have always presented an obstacle. ■
Tools of the TradeThe museum revisits Signs by Blohm’s traditional work.
Tod Swormstedt is the president/founder of the American Sign Museum (Cincinnati).SIGN MUSEUM NEWS
By Tod Swormstedt
40 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
vmsd.com | DECEMBER 2008 55
How much can this arrow help you?Discover new solutions, ideas, trends and products
NEW PRODUCTSSend information about new products to: [email protected].
Product Showcase: Routers
42 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
By Rob in Donovan
Computerized Cutters Accu-Cut KRThree models comprise the Computerized Cutters (Plano, TX) Accu-Cut KR Series: Models 44, 48 and 510. Each has a 6-in. gantry clearance; cutting areas range from 49 x 49 in. to 61 x 122 in. Accu-Cut KR-series routers have welded steel frames, 3.25-HP spindles and 6-in. Z-axis clearance with 600-ipm cutting speeds. T-slot and optional vacuum hold-down systems are available.
Optional add-ons include CAD or CAM software, a dual-head misting system, an automatic tool changer, an engraving head and dust collection, among many choices. Spindles can be upgraded to a 5-HP Perske spindle or 5-HP Colombo automatic tool changer with six tools. Other spindles are available upon request, as are various vacuum heads, software programs, bit kits and assemblies.
(800) 310-2887; www.computerizedcutters.com
Thermwood Sign Router 43 The heavy-duty, SR43 CNC router from Thermwood (Dale, IN) is designed for the sign industry with a 61 x 121-in. table and a 12-HP HSD spindle. The router can machine flat and 3D signage from wood, composite, chip core, rigid foam, plastic and aluminum, among other materials.
The company says the router communicates with most design software programs at the job level. The SR43 comes with an optional i-cut Vision camera and software system which trims printed signs after compensating for distortion or rotation in the printed image.
The SR45 provides additional functionality. Compared to the SR43, which has 4 in. of gantry clearance and up to 11 tools, SR45s have more than 25 tools, aggregates and special hold-down tables, as well as up to 16 in. of gantry clearance. The machines come in five accent colors.
(800) 533-6901; www.thermwood.com
AXYZ Camtech Z7 RouterAlong with its popular AXYZ-brand routers, AXYZ (Burlington, ON, Canada) is offering the lower-cost Camtech line. The Camtech Z7 is an entry-level CNC router that cuts plastics, woods, foams and non-ferrous metals in 2D and 3D. The machine has a 54 x 104-in. process area and 48 x 96-in. vacuum grid with a 700-ipm maximum positioning speed.
The company says that the Camtech Z7 is less costly than the AXYZ line, and still offers a welded-steel frame, profile linear-bearing rails, and a multi-purpose aluminum vacuum and clamping bed. An Elite 5 HP spindle (6,000 to 24,000 RPM), a side subconsole for operations, 6-in. Z-axis clearance, linear profile bearings and a ballscrew Z axis are additional standard features.
Optional add-ons include a misting system; vacuum hold-down pumps and blowers; ArtCAM Insignia, Express or Pro; a heavy-duty drag knife and a vinyl knife/pen-plotter attachment.
(800) 361-3408; www.axyz.com
request, as are various vacuum heads, software programs, bit kits and assemblies.
spindles and 6-in. Z-axis clearance with 600-ipm cutting speeds.
Optional add-ons include CAD or CAM software, a dual-head misting system, an automatic tool changer, an engraving head and dust collection, among many choices. Spindles can be upgraded to a 5-HP Perske spindle or 5-HP Colombo automatic tool changer with six tools. Other spindles are available upon request, as are various vacuum heads, software programs, bit kits and assemblies.
spindles and 6-in. Z-axis clearance with 600-ipm cutting speeds.
Optional add-ons include CAD or CAM software, a dual-head misting system, an automatic tool changer, an engraving head and dust collection, among many choices. Spindles can be upgraded to a 5-HP Perske spindle or 5-HP Colombo automatic tool changer with six tools. Other spindles are available upon request, as are various vacuum heads, software programs, bit kits and assemblies.
Anderson America Owen S510 Anderson America Corp. (Pineville, NC) is offering an entry-level, industrial CNC router, the Owen S510. The router is designed for nest-based machining, wood, plastic, composite and foam-core applications, and has a 63 x 122-in. table. A heavy-gauge steel base, AC servo motors, automatic tool-changing, a 10-HP vacuum pump and a 7.5-HP spindle come with each router. Maximum spindle speed is 18,000 rpm. An extra tool holder, touch-off device, light barriers and a drill block are available on request, as are additional vacuum pumps and software upgrades.
(704) 522-1823; www.andersonamerica.com
MultiCam Classic CNC Routers MultiCam (Dallas) is introducing the entry-level Classic CNC router for machining plastics, non-ferrous metals, composite materials and wood. The machine has an extruded-aluminum frame; a 3-HP, 24,000-rpm spindle; and 600-ipm cutting speed. Four models in the series offer working areas from 50 x 50 in. to 84 x 120 in. The router’s T-slot vacuum table has optional, phenolic grid tops that are available with or without vacuum zoning. Classic-series models are compatible with MultiVision, a digital camera and software that compensates for skew, distortion and image drift.
(972) 929-4070; www.multicam.com
Techno HD Series CNC RoutersTechno Inc. (New Hyde Park, NY) designed a series of routers that can be manufactured abroad, thereby lowering list prices. The heavy-duty HD series features a steel base frame and gantry with THK bearings and rails on three axes. HD-series routers come with 5-HP HSD spindles and a multi-zoned, vacuum plenum table. The company says HD features, such as automatic tool calibration, a handheld DSP controller and a vacuum pump rated for quiet operation, mean the router can be used immedi-ately after set-up.
(800) 819-3366; www.technocnc.com
SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011 43
tops that are available with or without vacuum zoning. Classic-series models are compatible with MultiVision, a digital camera and software that tops that are available with or without vacuum zoning. Classic-series models are compatible with MultiVision, a digital camera and software that
(972) 929-4070; www.multicam.com
LexJet Fabric Substrate for Aqueous Inkjet PrintersThree new, polyester substrates are available from LexJet (Sarasota, FL). The Select-line fabrics are available in light, medium and heavy weights and 7.5-, 12- and 13mm thicknesses. The Select medium comes in 36 in. x 150-ft. rolls; the light and heavy rolls can be purchased in 24-, 36-, 42-, 50- and 60-in. widths.
The company says the product is a response to improvements in aqueous inkjet printers, such as those made by Canon, Epson and HP, which produce more durable prints in a wider range of colors. After a sign is printed on the polyester fabric, it can be folded, stored and reused.
(800) 453-9538; www.lexjet.com
44 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
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MultiCam Graph-X-CutterMulticam Inc.’s (Dallas) Graph-X-Cutter cuts at a maximum speed of 1,000 in. per minute with a 2,100 IPM maximum rapid traverse. The cutter performs high-speed routing, as well as heavy-duty, tangential knife cutting. The cutter comes with a 1-in. phenolic vacuum table with the option for MultiVision digital registration to correct image skew and drift. Four models are available with 50 x 50-in. to 80 x 120-in. working areas.
The company is also offering the high-speed Digital Express, a digital-finishing system with a wide-format, sheet-fed, convey-orized cutting platform with a 2-in. cut capacity. Multicam says the machine operates at speeds up to 7,000 in. per minute.
(972) 929-4070; www.multicam.com
ImageOne Impact Mounting BracketImageOne Impact (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) is offering signAbracket, a recyclable, mounting bracket for corru-gated, plastic substrates from 3 to 6 mil. The company says its product can be secured to poles, posts and walls using screws, bolts and/or straps. A flexible hinge allows for bracketing to various surfaces.
Wide Compatibility Range: Superior adhesion performance on a variety of polypropylene substrate materials without pre-treating
Clean & Easy Finishing: Excellent flexibility and re-sistance to edge chipping on styrene and other polypropylene materials when used with a knife or router cutter
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Arlon Woven-Texture Fabric Arlon (Santa Ana, CA) is announc-ing DPF 206, a 6-mil, lightweight, polycoated, woven-texture, matte film. Its clear, removable, pressure-sensitive adhesive is designed to bond to interior, smooth surfaces, such as painted, non-vinyl walls. According to the company, the material is intended for wall deco-rations that require removability and easy application, and DPF 206’s lay-flat liner is intended for various solvent-ink or UV-cure, inkjet inks, as well as UV-cure-ink screenprinting.
The fabric offers 100 lb./in. of tensile strength, and maintains an application-temperature range of 50 to 90° F, and a service-temper-ature range of -40 to 176° F.
(800) 232-7161; www.arlon.com
Vista System Roadside Flag SignVista System Intl. (Sarasota, FL) is introducing a doubled-sided, roadside, flag sign made with modular, curved-frame technology. The company intends this unusual sign shape, which is designed to be more visible to passing motorists, to bridge a gap between modular and custom-made signs. Signs of varying sizes, up to 2.5 x 1.2m, are available.
46 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011 46 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
NEW PRODUCTSSend information about new products to: [email protected].
SloanLED V180 Lighting SystemSloanLED (Ventura, CA) is announcing the V180, a low-profile lighting system. Three diodes form an LED array that provides a 180° viewing angle. The V180’s LED array emits 33 lumens per module and has 2.5 modules per foot. The company says the product is able to power up to 60 ft. on a single 60W, 12 VDC power supply; the product is designed for low-profile, face-lit channel letters and cabinets.
SignBOX Light, another new product, provides LED lighting for standard to deep-profile (8 in. or deeper) cabinets. Like the V180, it has a 180° viewing angle, with three LEDs per module and two modules per foot. Additional applications include monument signs, pylons, wall-mounted cabinets and cloud signs.
(888) 747-4533; www.sloanled.com
Polytype Virtu Quantum PrintersPolytype (Fribourg, Switzerland) is launching Virtu Quantum, a line of wide- and superwide-format, UV printers with 10-pl printheads. These printers are designed to allow strict control of droplet sizes. The company says this ensures clarity in graduations and small text sizes while avoiding oversaturation of solid color areas when printing materials from leather to glass to Dibond composite material.
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StarTech.com Multi-monitor AdapterStarTech.com (Groveport, OH) a connectivity and technology-parts manufacturer, is releasing the SP123DP2DVI triple-head DisplayPort to DVI multi-monitor adapter. This graphics expansion module can be used to span a DisplayPort image output across three monitors. A primary output image can also be cloned onto the displays for applica-tions such as digital signage video walls or other limited-system, elec-tronic, digital signage.
Roland Eco-UV S InkRoland DGA Corp. (Irvine, CA) is introducing Eco-UV S, an addition to the company’s existing Eco-UV ink line. The inks, available in CMYK and white, are designed for Roland VersaUV UV-LED inkjet printers, including the LEJ-640, LEC-540, LEC-330 and LEC-300A.
The company says the inks can be used for packaging prototypes and shrink films. The inks allow substrates to be stretched around uneven surfaces or curves and expand up to approximately twice their original size. Other potential applications include PET bottles and plastic cups.
(800) 542-2307; www.rolanddga.com
GMG and Four Pees Bundled SoftwareGMG (Tuebingen, Germany) has partnered with Four Pees, the exclusive, worldwide distributor of PrintFactory software, to launch the PrintFactory GMG Edition. The software package bundles the PrintFactory suite for banner, sign and superwide format printing with the GMG ColorServer and SmartProfiler, two color-manage-ment programs from GMG. The companies say the software package offers consistent colors and high production reliability.
48 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011 48 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
NEW PRODUCTSSend information about new products to: [email protected].
Fisher Textiles Glossy CanvasFisher Textiles (Indian Trail, NC) is adding GF 901 glossy canvas to its line of grand-format fabrics for latex, solvent and UV printing. The canvas is a polyester-cotton blend with two acrylic, latex, primer basecoats and a glossy, solvent, inkjet-receptive topcoat. Potential applications include fine-art repro-ductions, wall murals and retail signage. The glossy canvas is 11.25 oz. per sq. yd. and 104 in. wide.
(800) 554-8886; www.fishertextiles.com
FDC Ice Look FilmFDC (South Bend, IN), Aslan’s exclusive North American distrib-utor, is offering 3508-series Ice Look Dryapply film. The calen-dered, adhesive vinyl doesn’t require wet application. Its matte, non-glare surface is designed for glass applications. FDC will slit standard-size rolls to shorter lengths and widths on request.
(800) 634-7523; www.fdcfilms.com
MACtac® Permacolor® Overlaminate LineMACtac® (Stow, OH) is adding PermaGard® PG7285XL to its Permacolor® line of wide lami-nates. The ultra-wide, 79 in. x 164-ft., matte overlaminate can be used for interior or exterior projects, including murals, POP displays or signage that requires UV or weather resistance.
PG7285XL replaces the company’s current, matte, ultra-wide, Permacolor overlaminate, IP7286. It joins the company’s existing glossy, matte, ultra-wide and intermediate vinyl overlaminates. (866) 262-2822; www.mactac.com
DuraBlack Laser-Markable AluminumHorizons Inc. (Cleveland) is introducing DuraBlack, a laser-markable aluminum designed for outdoor, marine, abrasive, industrial-fluid and high-temp-erature environments. The material comprises a perfor-mance adhesive, an anodized aluminum base layer and a multi-level DuraBlack coating. The product is available in 0.0005- and 0.020-in. thick-nesses; it can be scanned with any CO2 laser marker. The company says the product is useful for outdoor signage, among its various applications, and doesn’t require a protec-tive topcoat.
Foster Keencut Vertical CutterFoster Keencut (Warminster, PA) is announcing the Verdi Twin Vertical Cutter, which comprises a power saw and a pneumatic utility blade cutter, and doesn’t require cutting-head changes between materials. The cutter has a 7⁄8-in. cutting depth and can cut 5- or 10-ft. sheets.
50 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011 50 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
NEW PRODUCTS
Neolt Industrial Inkjet ModuleNeolt (Bergamo, Italy) is launching the Neolt Industrial Inkjet Module, an inkjet print engine designed for heavy-duty industrial printing. The print engine comes with Xaar 1001 printheads, though the number and type of printheads is adjust-able. The company says the NIIM is designed for fixed-array, single-pass printing environments.
www.neoltdigital.com
LexJet 10-mil Laminate LexJet (Sarasota, FL) is adding a 10-mil Performance Textured polypropylene to its line of Performance laminates. The material doesn’t contain PVC resins, which protects against yellowing and promotes clarity, according to the company. The laminate is available in five roll sizes: 38 in. x 20 ft., 75 ft., and 150 ft.; and 51 in. x 75 ft. and 150 ft.
(800) 453-9538; www.lexjet.com
Nixalite 2011 Wildlife-Control Product CatalogNixalite (East Moline, IL) is releasing a 40-page catalog for its pest-bird and wildlife-control products. Products featured in the publication include barrier spikes, E-Spikes, K-net and PollyNet bird netting and more. In addition, the company offers installation tools that match its deterrent products. The company says its products are both humane and effective.
Bird-B-Gone CatalogBird-B-Gone Inc. (Mission Viejo, CA) has announced a 2011 catalog of its products, including bird-exclusion netting; bird spikes; low-profile, electric-track systems; bird repellents; visual bird deterrents and other products. The catalog is available at (800) 392-6915 or by emailing [email protected]. The company also offers advice on pest-bird problems.
Colorific Pro-Series InkColorific Ink (Zimmerbach, France) is offering a line of non-OEM inks in mix-and-match, bio, eco- and full-solvent derivatives. The latest is a Pro-Series line of inks designed for use in large-format, solvent printers without flushing or conver-sion. These inks can be used alongside OEM products, the company says, and have equivalent particle size, viscosity, surface tension, durability, drying time, substrate compatibility, color gamut and UV durability.
Products are available directly from Colorific or from an approved reseller.
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This month, at the August 14 MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 race at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, you may see something no one has ever seen. On the side pod of rookie driver Charlie Kimbel’s IndyCar, you might see what appears to be a 3D diabetes injection pen in clear view of the ABC television in-car camera. Kimbel, one of four Chip Ganassi entries in the race, is diabetic, and his car’s sponsor is Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical company that makes the pen.
“I’m 99.9% sure it will happen,” projected Ron Sanders, CEO of expertly named The NextStep M3dia (Scottsdale, AZ), whose company has the exclusive U.S./Canada license to distribute the faux-3D graphics patented by Hamburg, Germany-based Shapeshifter Advanced Media. NextStep has been working to create an apparent 3D IndyCar image for five months, with prototypes having been created for the Indy 500 and the subsequent IZOD IndyCar race in
Milwaukee. Viewing angle is critical to make these 2D graphics appear 3D, so thousands of calculations and measurements must be taken.
This high-profile utilization probably won’t have quite as many viewers as did a two-week, three-billboard, “singular”, 7th Ave., Times Square ad for a new video game. On March 22, EA Sports released its Crysis 2 game, with marketing that encourages would-be purchasers to “be the weapon.” The game resolves catastrophe in the Big Apple, so what better place to unleash an irresistible marketing weapon? As the photo shows (and, of course, the viewing angle must be correct), this amazing graphic melds the three boards into one.
These represent higher-profile applications for this technology, but, in keeping with the New York theme, a more bread-and-butter application at the Javits Center utilized Yankees’ captain Derek Jeter (who will probably have reached the coveted 3000-hit level by the time
you read this, assuming he’s come off the disabled list) in a Nike ad that coincided with a tradeshow (with installation having been completed by a 3M certified installer). And finally, grocery shoppers unloading their carts at checkout might do a double-take (or buy a Spiderman video) after having seen a webbed hand trying to steal their cereal. The 3DebutJosef Hinterkeuser describes himself as self-taught, pre-Internet pro-grammer. The German native first began working with 3D graphics in 1998 by developing website content for a Cologne company. Two years later, he began focusing on stair graphics and, in 2004, he founded Shapeshifter Media. The company’s “product” is the software that enables 2D printed material to seemingly add a dimension.
Shapeshifter (www.shapeshifter-media.com) now licenses compa-nies on five continents to produce images using its software. A dealer
B y W a d e S w o r m s t e d t
56 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
Signs that Make You Stop and StairA German patent brings a new dimension to U.S. signage.
SPECIALTY SIGNS
would simply send Shapeshifter an image, and the German firm would convert it to a virtual-3D format. No special digital-printing equip-ment is required, but images were being produced by Roland and Mutoh at the Intl. Sign Assn. (ISA) Sign Expo in April in Las Vegas.
Last year, Sanders had an adver-tising problem. The former Sprint PCS USA president (he left in 2000), who now describes himself as an entrepreneur, needed something better for a client. As the head of Sanders Sports Marketing Co., he and his son, Doug, formed Stair Graphics as a subsidiary in 2009, only to discover an existing North Carolina patent for StairGraphics, which proved to be a barrier to entry. After numerous attempts to get licensing, they were only able to obtain limited access to such rights.
But when Ron discovered Shapeshifter’s patented approach to stair graphics, he considered it supe-rior in both quality and range of applications. Through his connec-tions, Ron enlisted an MBA class to research, and ultimately determine, no other competing technologies existed. He then contacted Josef and reached an exclusivity agreement a
year ago in July. His investigations at the ISA and Specialty Graphics Imaging Assn. (SGIA) shows haven’t unearthed any subsequent competition.
Ron already had connections with two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk from his Sprint days, and the retired driver is now an instructor for the Ganassi group. (Ron and Arie are also neighbors.) Now connected with Ganassi, Ron
has been able to pursue his vision for the 3D racecar graphics, which he envisions as being just one piece in an overall media blitz.
The National Hockey League (NHL) is high on Ron’s list of future applica-tions, and a St. Louis Blues project is underway for the 2011-12 Opening. Although the R&D isn’t quite finished, under-ice graphics are in process. He envisions a 3D Lord Stanley’s Cup at center ice next spring.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011 57
This 5 x 11-in. Coca-Cola prototype at the Indianapolis 500 helped NextStep determine viewing angles, even though the car never saw the track. The owner of the car, Sam Schmidt, a former Rookie of the Year driver, can be seen in the wheelchair in the upper left-hand corner. After a 2000 crash left him a quadriplegic, he founded Sam Schmidt Motorsports and the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation.
Applications for the 3D-imaging technology range from checkout lines to the floors of retail stores.
The howAs with many scientific entities, this technology echoes Thomas Edison’s decree that inventing is 2% inspiration and 98% perspira-tion. For the Crysis 2 billboard trilogy, Doug Sanders (company president and Ron’s son) said more than a million views were captured, and approximately 500 were combined to create the final image. The applicable viewing angle ranges between 30º and 45°. The “view” is that of someone 5 ft. 5 in. tall. (For floor graphics, the viewing distance is assumed to range from 2-4 ft.)
Even though the Indianapolis 500 car’s 3D graphics were only a proto-type, and never even ran a practice lap to see how well it worked, hundreds of views were needed as well, to capture the viewing angle of the potential in-car camera. And, of course, the 5-in.-wide x 11-in.-tall graphics couldn’t impact the driver’s vision one iota.
After the May 29 Indianapolis 500, the next test phase occurred at the June 19 Milwaukee 225 race. Again, no actual lap time occurred, but NextStep M3dia was able to work with the ABC television crew
capabilities. The Indianapolis 500 prototype was printed by a company called Shadow on Oracal’s Orajet calendered media.
Jared Smith, the president of bluemedia (Tempe, AZ), is duly impressed. Although his company has only printed test samples thus far, he sees it as a “big differenti-ator. “We attempted in Photoshop with our ‘mathletes’ and 20-year photography masters to create this effect,” he said. “I can officially say it’s not possible. Whatever kind of proprietary software they have, our experts couldn’t come close to creating this realism.”
NextStep has a 14-page brochure that outlines its National Dealer Program. To inquire, go to www.nextstepm3dia.com. ■
to further test the viewing angles. Here, the graphics were reversed, 11 in. wide and 5 in. tall.
Fortunately, because all Indy cars are essentially the same, all of the calculations and measurements would remain valid for any future races, Doug said. Additionally, IndyCar officials confirmed the graphics presented no safety hazards.
The whoIn the past year, NextStep M3dia has cultivated a printer-partner network of approximately 25 companies, of which 7-10 are particularly active. Producers and installers are needed; NextStep doesn’t print or install. Clear Channel handled everything for the Crysis 2 project. The Ganassi empire has inhouse, digital-printing
58 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
SPECIALTY SIGNS
This three-billboard campaign (right) ran on Seventh Ave. in Times Square for two weeks after St. Patrick’s Day. The “before” picture of a previous campaign is shown above. Fittingly, the video game concerns dire circumstances in the Big Apple. Clear Channel handled all produc-tion and installation.
Approximately a decade ago, ST added the Unique Signs category to its International Sign Contest because some projects, frankly, defied easy assignment. Featuring characteristics of say, an electric building sign or a mural, they also provided some elements that pushed them beyond textbook applications.
This project trio highlights diverse types of solutions designers and fabri-cators can provide – even if they tran-scend the definition of signage.
McLintock!Opened in 1974, F. McLintock’s Saloon and Dining House in Pismo Beach, CA, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean above Highway 101, has gained a reputation for its oak-pit-barbecued steaks, ribs and seafood. It’s named for an owner’s friend, not John Wayne’s title character from the famous 1963 Western, George Washington McLintock. But, it abounds with frontier flavor, thanks to the 22-ft.-tall, carved cowboy statue that resides onsite. In 1983, Burlwood Inc.’s Eusebio Dalay, George Buck and Joe Vallaire fashioned Clint the Cowboy, based on a lamp depic-tion in the restaurant’s lobby.
However, after a quarter-century of helping hordes hungry for beef find the restaurant, the iconic McLintock’s cowboy began to show signs of wear. Damage from dryrot and a bark-beetle infestation forced Clint’s super-sized Stetson to be removed, and also ravaged an arm, leg and pistol.
The proprietor enlisted Mark
Blackford and his shop, Signcraft (Santa Maria, CA), to restore Clint to his former glory. Rather than fabri-cating Clint’s new parts from wood, he opted for Coastal Enterprises (Orange, CA) 12- to 18-lb. Precision-Board® high-density urethane (HDU).
“Clint’s proximity to the beach required a more durable, stable mate-rial that’s easier to use,” Blackford said. “We were replacing the hat due to dryrot and insect damage, so we wanted to avoid those same prob-lems in the future.”
Signcraft used 18-lb. material for the hat’s brim to provide more
support, and cut lower-density HDU for the other parts. Fabricators lami-nated 1⁄2- to 6-in.-thick, HDU pieces together, which were joined with screws and Coastal’s PB Bond epoxy. The shop carved the components traditionally with handsaws, angle grinders, chisels, rasps and files.
After having fumigated the entire structure, Signcraft sanded it to remove loose material before sealing it with West Systems’ two-part, epoxy clearcoat. Stainless-steel rod fortified the leg’s replacement section, and similar rods were also drilled and epoxied into Clint’s head
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SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011 59
These sign projects go way outside the box.
60 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
to secure the hat. Countersunk fender washers and nuts help retain it in place. Blending in the new parts with the existing statue required PB Bond and Coastal’s FSC-WB88 water-based primer/filler, as well as Bondo body filler.
To create the cowboy’s color, Signcraft applied an array of lettering-enamel hues – dark blue, ivory, chamois, white, medium- and dark-brown, gold, silver and black – with foam brushes for broad areas and detail brushes for narrow contours. To create an aged appearance, Signcraft thinned dark-brown enamel for a final sculpture coat.
“We were able to construct Clint’s new parts from scrap pieces in the shop,” Blackford said. “But, it was a challenge to blend the new parts to the original sculpture’s chainsaw effect, beveled shapes and cut marks.”
To complete fabrication of all of Clint’s upgrades except the hat, Signcraft used a Ford chassis-mounted, Altec 54-ft. boom truck.
The Belle on the WallFounded in 1935, Kilgore College, located in the namesake East Texas city, serves as a junior college, voca-tion-training center and continuing- and adult-education facility. Befitting a Lone Star State institution, its foot-ball team has won more games than
any U.S. junior college.However, the school’s most signifi-
cant cultural icon implements a drill-team formation, not the “I.” In 1939, to help attract more coeds to the school, and provide halftime enter-tainment, the school’s dean brought in Miss Gussie Neil Davis to create the Rangerettes, reportedly the first drill and dance troupe to perform at athletic events. In addition to enhancing the atmosphere at Rangers’ football games, the Rangerettes have performed at worldwide events, Presidential inaugurations and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parades.
Approximately 20 years ago, Dallas-based Museum Arts Inc. created a wall-mounted architectural graphic to commemorate the Rangerettes’ legacy. However, the original, 22-ft.-tall piece, which comprised handpainted plywood, had begun to fade. The school enlisted Museum Arts to restore the blonde, long-legged lass to her former glory.
Darryl Bihm, Museum Arts’ vice president, said the company’s update would better withstand searing Texas summers. The company selected iZone (Temple, TX) digitally imaged, high-pressure-laminate (DHPL) appli-cations. The material contains paper impregnated with phenolic-resin and a UV-resistant laminate, and the layers are joined through high pressure and heat. iZone cut the super-sized Rangerette into seven, ¾-in.-thick, DHPL pieces on a MultiCam 3000 CNC router. Museum Arts assembled the piece onsite.
Museum Arts, which Bihm said devotes approximately 20% of its work to signage, developed the orig-inal “K Girl”’s standoff brackets, and refurbished the hardware to accom-modate the new piece. Installers threaded inserts into the DHPL and attached the pieces from behind to make the surface appear seamless.
“It was a very exciting installation process,” Bihm said. “A crowd of
SPECIALTY SIGNS
students, faculty, and newspaper and camera crews congregated around the site. It’s gratifying to be involved in such a high-profile project.”
Looking on the Bright SideFounded in 1996, Sign Effectz Inc. (Milwaukee) fabricates electric signage and architectural lighting. Adam Brown, the company’s president said, “Our forte is completely custom work, with materials and methods not normally seen in the sign industry.”
The shop’s unique focus has garnered it national (and, Brown said, beginning last year, international) projects, such as the Greenhaven (CA) Public Library near Sacramento. Deborah Ascheim, a sculptural-lighting artist, designed the project, which entails 250 linear ft. that branch up the library’s exterior walls. Although fiberoptic lighting was considered early in the project, the shop chose LEDs because of their functionality, low power consump-tion and color changeability.
Sign Effectz incorporated JS LED’s
The project’s animation comprises a subtle color fade from teal to green that brings the branches “to life,” Brown said.
“The branches also appear to change shape, almost as if they’re breathing,” he added. “The proj-ect’s most interesting aspect was developing the project from the artists’ concept into the existing model, which required extensive testing and prototyping.”
The greatest challenge? “Arranging the safe transportation of a very custom piece with the logistics companies required a lot of follow-up. We monitored the delivery process very closely to mitigate potential risks. Everything else involved what we enjoy about the development of one-of-a-kind projects.” n
Power Inc. JE-006M LED strips, which it powered with Meanwell power supplies and brought to life with LED Light Solutions’ Eco Light controller. Brown says the strips’ beam angle and size were influ-encing factors.
The project incorporates a unique hardware package, which comprises a composite of carbon-steel rod and fiberglass, which is fastened over an aluminum backer. The shop hand-formed the 0.125-in.-diameter, carbon-steel rod; secured it with fiberglass and polyester resin; and vacuum-bagged the surface to help secure the components until the resin adhesive cured, to also provide structural stability and protection from the elements.
For added color and appearance of depth, Sign Effectz backsprayed the apparatus with Spraylat’s 400 Series plastic paint. Fabricating the intricate array of wire connections for the sculpture required Sign Effectz to develop an elaborate wiring schematic.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011 61
In developing the equation E = mc², Albert Einstein hypothesized that energy equals mass times the velocity of light, squared. Simply put, any object contains a certain amount of energy, and, as the object remains stationary, it emits energy in different directions.
In addition to conveniently matching electronic message centers’ (EMC) initials, the equation’s components also represent an EMC’s ideal qualities. They’re often quite sizable, which provides the mass a store or institution needs to be visible in a marketplace saturated with competing messages. The capability of dynamic messaging with more than one billion colors manifests tremendous energy, and, when draconian sign codes don’t present a hurdle, frequent updates – velocity – help end users develop an array of messages aimed at diverse demographics.
Whether designed for an auto dealership, a church, a lifestyle center or a theatrical backdrop, electronic displays emerge as invaluable tools to connect end users with their intended audience -- and earn return on their investment.
Energy, Mass and Velocity of LightB y S t e v e A u s t
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Einstein’s equation proves fitting for electronic displays
A Barrel of Fun (and Profit) Columbus, OH-based Orange Barrel Media (OBM) has made its name with distinctive building graphics in Ohio’s capital city. Its portfolio includes numerous building wraps for the city’s Arena District and Easton Town Center (most famously for Nationwide, the Columbus-based insurance company), as well as over-the-top, digital-graphics instal-lations in numerous other markets nationwide.
As demand for electronic displays grows, they represent a
growing portion of the company’s work. OBM erected eight hori-zontal, scrolling displays at Broad and High Sts., one of Columbus’ busiest intersections. Pete Scant-land, OBM president, said the displays enjoy a daily effective circulation (the number of people who view the boards within a 24-hour period) of 94,000.
The displays, which measure from 13.86 x 66.77 ft. for the “Sweet Spot” corner display to a 2.5 x 121-ft. monochrome ticker, are rented to such companies as Nationwide,
Kroger, AT&T and the Ohio St. Univ. Medical Center. Scantland notes that the boards, which incor-porate Daktronics 12 to 16mm-pixel displays, were fabricated to comple-ment the architecture and follow its radius corners.
“Site surveys are vital to under-standing a building’s orientation, and then configuring a display to maximize exposure to pedestrian and vehicular traffic,” he said.
The content, either client- or OBM-generated, involves full-motion video and ticker feeds supplied by an RSS news aggregator. Because the horizontal set-up varied from typical billboards or signs, the job required close collaborations with advertisers and their agencies to deliver legible, effective messages.
Because the Broad and High Sts. intersection had long been home to prominent signage – neon spectac-ulars and large, static billboards had previously roosted there – he said it wasn’t very difficult to convince Columbus city officials to greenlight the displays.
“Our local officials have been very helpful,” Scantland said. “They want to create energy in our downtown area, and under-stand how distinctive signage can
Energy, Mass and Velocity of Light
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Getting People Under the SteepleThankfully, many churches have evolved beyond the outdated, changeable-letter boards with such hackneyed messages as “Eternity: Smoking or Non-Smoking?” or “Seven Days Without Jesus Makes One Weak.” As younger generations seek spiritual homes in megachurches with elaborate, contemporary services and far-reaching ministries, it’s only fitting that leaders at such churches would seek high-tech signage to grow their congregations.
Joel Gunn, business manager of San Antonio’s 1,600-member Christian Family Church, enlisted San Antonio-based Aetna Sign Group to build a compelling EMC. Although the church’s sanctuary is hidden from traffic, the property faces San Antonio’s 1604 Loop, where 200,000 motorists drive by daily. Enter the message center.
Jeanette Mangus, Aetna’s sales manager, said elec-tronic displays represent approximately 15% of the 82-year-old, third-generation company’s business. She estimated a dozen of its EMC projects have been built for churches.
“The messages a church conveys might differ from promotional messages at an auto dealership, but the purpose is the same,” she said. “A [EMC] unit is the most cost-effective, beneficial marketing medium avail-able because of its vibrant content capabilities.”
The 60-ft.-tall sign incorporates an 8 ft. 9 in. x 28-ft. Daktronics GalaxyPro® Revolution full-color, 23mm, two-sided display with Daktronics’ Venus® 1500 controlling software. Mangus said EMCs are much more viable for smaller end users because the LEDs offer 80% less power consumption than prior-genera-tion, high-output-bulb displays.
To create the sign that envelops the display, Aetna used a waterjet cutter to create the first surface, and second-surface channel letters with aluminum returns, backed with Sabic Polymershapes’ Lexan®
polycarbonate. High-output, T12 fluorescent lamps illuminate the cabinet.
According to Mangus, San Antonio is relatively permissive with its EMC regulations: “They have no dwell-time requirements, but they don’t allow live video, or strobing or blinking messages, and there are nighttime brightness restrictions. But, compared to other cities that impose more restrictions or ban them altogether, we’re pretty fortunate.”
help that goal.”OBM also developed an EMC
installation for Gallery Place, a lifestyle center situated on prime Washington, D.C. real estate at 7th and H Sts. It includes the highest-grossing AT&T retail store in the U.S., and is next door to the Verizon Center, home of the NBA’s Wizards and NHL’s Capitals. D3 LED built the 8 x 15-ft. boards, and OBM created the content. Because the boards were installed in a pedestrian-heavy area, high-definition 8mm boards were selected. OBM scheduled the full-motion-video advertisements and developed the content.
The boards required approxi-mately a week to install, and, because road closures weren’t feasible, much of this work had to be completed at night.
see how the 25-screen display broadened their capabilities,” Pappenfus said.
Because the displays had to be constructed to very tight tolerances, Fluid Sound said making the display align plumb to the wall required developing a custom framing system that provided a mounting surface. Because Markowitz wanted the display to run as brilliantly and crisply as possible, most produc-
tions feature maximum brightness and 1080i resolution.
Bob Feudi, the Follies’ technical director, said the new display has helped set the tone for its performances.
“It’s nice to be able to change the mood in the middle of a perfor-mance without having to clandes-tinely remove static sets,” he said. “I’d say our content divides evenly between static and motion, so it provides good versatility.”
To create most of the sets’ content, Feudi’s team develops original designs using Adobe Creative Suite, although public-domain photos and film reels have helped create context for certain period pieces. He noted the easy transition of loading the content onto its Barco Axon media server, which it was previously using to manage lighting and special effects, to manipulate hue, color saturation and video downloads.
Feudi conceded another reason why the screens routinely run at maximum brightness: “The average age of our patrons is 58, with those into their 80s and 90s being fairly common. With all of the moving lights and background illumination, we want to make sure the imagery is readily visible.”
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A Folly of Display For 20 years, the Palm Springs (CA) Follies have reprised vaude-ville, burlesque and other variety shows, with veteran Tinseltown, Broadway or Las Vegas performers as headliners.
For their prior production seasons, which run from November to May in a converted moviehouse, the Follies used fabric backdrops that it would remove between sets, as well as a movie screen to display static projections.
Riff Markowitz, the show’s producer and host, inspired by Las Vegas stage shows, decided to update his ensemble’s production capabilities by incorporating a bank of LCD screens to develop its stage set for its last production cycles. He contacted NEC Display Solutions, which contacted Fluid Sound (San Diego), an AV integration company.
Dennis Pappenfus, one of Fluid Sound’s managing partners, said an LED display’s price point was prohib-itive for the Follies’ budget, so LCDs were the logical choice. The screen, which measures approximately 160 sq. ft., deviated from Fluid Sound’s normal repertoire of retail, hotel or restaurant video displays.
“The environment wasn’t well suited to all the backdrop changes they had to do, so it was exciting to
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Houston, We Have A SolutionNational Signs (Houston) celebrated its 20th anniversary earlier this year, and EMCs have comprised a significant portion of its business throughout the duration. Al Ross, the company’s founder and CEO, said electronic displays currently represent 45% of the company’s signage reper-toire. He said much of the company’s success in this market stems from following the “blue ocean” postulate: go where your competition isn’t.
“A lot of sign companies go after the high-profile job, such as a big stadium or shopping-center display board,” Ross said. “Although we can handle that type of project, it isn’t our focus. We prefer to have our sales team call on smaller businesses and show them how messageboards are a very cost-effective way to promote their business.”
He said effective design is paramount to developing an effective message-center sign. “Too many shops are concerned about how big of a box they can install on a monument or pylon sign. A good EMC has to balance the size and color of static and dynamic messages, as well as good color contrast, brightness, legible typography and a strong, structural foundation. Most customers live within 20 miles of a business location, so a sign does a much better sales job than a TV or newspaper ad.”
As an example, he cited a 10 x 20-ft. electronic display National Signs fabricated for a Houston Toyota dealership. The city recently trimmed the allowable square footage for freestanding signs on certain types of roads from 300 to 225, and the messageboard itself may only occupy 100 sq. ft. To enhance the marketing effectiveness, the National Signs design team devel-oped an additional cantilevered “arm” that’s not part of
the signs’ square-footage limit. Also, the display was installed at a subtle, 10° angle towards oncoming traffic to aid visibility; the sign’s components were engineered to accommodate the curvature.
The shop builds its EMC signage exclusively with Time-O-Matic’s Watchfire® displays, primarily 19mm-pixel configurations. Ross said, “The vast majority of our customers are having their displays seen by motor-ists driving at a high speed on a highway or major roadway. For these applications, this is more than suffi-cient. We’ve had a few owners of tech-oriented compa-nies insist on 12mm-pixel displays, because they want to invest in newer technology, but that’s not the norm. As long as smaller-pixel technology remains 30 to 40% more expensive, I think 19mm displays will remain the industry norm for several more years to come. And, I think monochrome displays will be obsolete within two years because prices have dropped on full-color, LED displays.”
In addition to reducing permitted EMC square footage, Ross said Houston also enacted a somewhat draconian five-minute requirement before an image can be changed. However, he takes an optimistic view: “I was part of a sign-code committee the mayor assem-bled, and I had to work hard to convince the committee not to expand it to 15 minutes. And, that still provides an opportunity for 12 different messages per hour, which is sufficient for most enterprises.”
Overall, Ross sees EMC-sign use growing rapidly in the near future: “As business owners get more tech-savvy and more zeroed in on advertising cost-effective-ness, on-premise LED message centers will become a more important part of their marketing programs.”
Glenn Moyer has been ignoring the dilapidated “diving girl” hotel sign outside the Piccarreta Davis law firm for at least a couple years. The newly legal sign, perched on the firm’s corner lot for 65 years, beckons visitors. Moyer, who is both Tucson’s planning and sign-code administrator, allowed the illegal sign to remain under the city’s now-defunct sign ordinance.
The firm’s lawyers kept the sign at the expense of advertising their practice; the diving girl occupied all allotted space for signage on their property. They told
a reporter from the Arizona Daily Star that they still get calls about possible vacancies, despite having occupied the lot for decades.
According to Moyer, a change-of-copy request for the sign helped spark the recently passed Historic Landmark Sign ordinance amendment; because the sign was illegal, the request was withdrawn. Instead, it remained rusted and marred by graffiti, with most of its neon broken.
Painstaking progressIn 2009, the city’s longstanding Citizen Sign Code Committee (CSCC) formed an ad-hoc committee to suggest a sign-code amendment sympathetic to historic signs like the diving girl.
The group spent 13 months considering similar efforts in Portland, OR; Orlando and Flagstaff, AZ, and debating the balance of saving old signs and preventing blight. Carlos Lozano, who runs the historically minded website, VanishingTucson.com, helped craft the ordinance revision: “We looked at it from every possible angle, basi-cally considering worst-case scenarios for each part of the amendment,” he said. “The hardest part was defining what is historic. You can’t just go by date or materials.”
Tucsonians have been informally – and selectively – saving old neon signs for years, but many local icons have been lost over the years as properties changed hands and signs were taken down.
Debra Jane Seltzer has driven cross-country multiple times, documenting signage by state for her comprehensive website, RoadsideArchitecture.com. She considers vintage neon signs an integral part of Tucson’s history. These signs “reflect a time in America when Mom and Pops ruled. Businesses had their own unique identities, reflected in their one-of-a-kind signs,” she wrote in an email.
Demion Clinco, president of the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation, also sat on the ad-hoc committee. He and Lozano surveyed the city in a preliminary study that identified 100 potentially salvageable, historic signs.
On June 28, the city finally approved a sign-code revision that seeks to formalize these efforts and prevent further attrition. This is welcome news to Clinco, who has already saved four signs as they were taken down. Other signs have been salvaged through online auctions and sales to sign museums.
After a series of committee approvals, public hear-ings and revisions, the code amendments were approved by the Tucson City Council.
Bending the RulesB y R o b i n D o n o v a n
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Saving iconic neon in Tucson
Built by Acme Neon in the 1950s, this sign sits at the corner lot of a law firm. The diving girl was added years after the sign’s construction to advertise a swimming pool.
The code isn’t perfect and, in its forced compromises, has something for everyone to dislike. The week before the amendment passed, grassroots opposition forced an already weary legion of sign-code supporters to keep aggressively lobbying for it. Clinco said these extensive efforts were required by a last-minute flood of complaints, many stemming from misinformation about how the ordi-nance would work.
Opponents worry the revised code will open the door to preserve oversized signage. On the other hand, even some supporters worry the ordinance requires too much of business owners, who must go through a lengthy process to save historic signage.
Jonathan Mabry, Tucson’s historic-preservation officer, helped draft the new ordinance. Like many involved, he was elated, but not surprised, when the measure passed. Two years was a long time.
Mark Mayer, who has spent countless hours arguing against billboard proliferation, visibly opposed the ordi-nance. He spoke against the revised sign ordinance in Tucson in public hearings, seeking limitations to historic-sign designations in number and construction-date range. Mayer declined to comment for this article.
A “regressive, aggressive sign code”Tucson, whose Speedway Blvd. was dubbed “America’s ugliest street” by the city’s mayor (Life magazine, July 24, 1970), is notorious for tough sign regulations. Clinco believes the previous, “regressive, aggressive sign code” stemmed from citizen concerns raised by the Life article. Not everyone, he cautioned, shared those concerns.
That article suggests an anti-sign witchhunt to Tucsonians like Lozano, who said the publication’s photographers used “an extreme telephoto lens” to create the infamous Speedway image. The opening para-graph, if nothing else, paints a dim view of signage:
It is now entirely within the realm of possibility for the American motorist to drive from the Atlantic Coast to the shore of the Pacific without encountering a single traffic light. But the only conceivable way he could avoid the junkyards and the jangling litany of the bill-
SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011 67
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The 1940s “Monterey Motel” sign along Tucson’s Miracle Mile was repaired by Jude Cook of Cook & Co. Signmakers as the ordinance was being amended. The building was repurposed for artists’ studios.
This Tucson Inn sign dates from the early 1960s. Six paddles each hold a letter of the city’s name, and an arrow is illumi-nated with chasing, incandescent bulbs.
boards and sno-cone school of sculpture is to head for an airport and fly.
Under Tucson’s old ordinance, any non-compliant sign taken down for repairs had to be brought into compliance before being replaced. If a building’s use changed, an existing neon sign could rarely be repurposed.
Today, a glance around Tucson reveals many heavily worn, broken and rusted neon signs kept by sympa-thizers. Thoughts of organized sign-code revision lay dormant for decades, despite a gradual erosion of signs.
“Neon signs were removed and not replaced, one by one, and the nostalgia of a few individuals here and there hasn’t been enough to save the lot,” Clinco explained.
Shana and Richard Oseran own Tucson’s Hotel Congress and its roof-mounted, eponymous neon sign. In an editorial published by the Arizona Daily Star, they said, “The sign has transcended mere advertising to become a cherished element of Tucson’s identity: an indelible icon of the city. The sign survives only because the building has never changed. Had it become offices, regressive regulations would have forced its demolition.”
Moyer noted, despite these restrictions, the city has been operating under a system of uniformly applied leniency; signs that became illegal through changes of use were not cited until people complained about them. No one complained about the diving girl, though Moyer said he received several questions about the sign.
Historic neon reproductions and repairsToday, signage sentiments in Tucson have changed, as memorable city icons have disappeared. In an email, Seltzer wrote, “An increasing number of people consider these signs as works of art. They are vital, bright showpieces in an increasingly monotonous urban environment.”
Amendments to the ordinance will affect post-WWII-era signs and those built through 1974. Signs must be
68 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
(Top) Located along South 6th Ave. at the intersection of US 80 and 89, this Southwest Art-Deco sign, which originally read “Arizona Tourist Court,” features flat-block, double-tube letters and a radiating sunburst at its upper edge.
(Above) The Indian Hoop Dancer dazzles with five layers of neon, animated hoops and axial rotation. Constructed in 1958 by Zeon Electrical Products Co., it was rescued during building renovations in 1986 and kept in storage for 25 years.
evaluated and deemed historic after having met certain criteria. Then, they can be kept “as is,” adaptively reused, repaired and reconstructed, or relocated to areas with a concentration of historic signs (defined as three or more in a ½-mile radius).
This poses challenges for sign owners. First, signs must be deemed historic by the city after meeting tech-nical and design criteria. Signs that are repaired must be restored to a “documented appearance,” such as that from an old postcard or photograph. Adaptively reused signs can have text changes, but only if the text matches the material, font, size and color of previous lettering.
Even after revisions are approved, restoring and repairing old neon requires extra time and care. Jude Cook, who served on the CSCC and owns Cook & Co. Signmakers, has done some restoration work already. He said it’s difficult to calculate how much time these jobs will take.
Cook sometimes performs restoration and repair work onsite with a bucket truck, due to the difficulty of pulling down old signs. First, he determines which images and neon are from the original sign. While in a basket, he sands, primes and paints each sign, handlettering it to preserve historical accuracy. He prefers not to use any vinyl: “Even good vinyl fails over time.”
For the Monterey Court sign (pictured), Cook spent eight hours on handlettering alone. In addition, he points out that some electrical housing holes on such old signs must be relocated, which requires more logistics on-site.
Asked if the ordinance will be a boon to neon
shops, Cook hesitated. “It’s not going to be a major groundswell of activity,” he predicted. “It will take some time for people to become aware this is out there.” Still, salvaging the city’s neon, even before the ordinance revisions passed, “brought us work in a down economy,” he said. Cook estimates area neon shops will see just 2-3 additional jobs per year from the ordinance. Serving on the CSCC, he said, was hardly a move to drive business to his shop.
Mike Addis of Addisigns Inc. served alongside Cook on the CSCC. He agreed that the new code was hardly lucrative for signshops. Neon comprises only about 5% of his business. He expects a couple jobs a year and is one of the new ordinance’s reluctant supporters. “I support the revisions, but I think they’re narrow in their approach,” he said.
And so the mood in Tucson gives way from tiredness to last-minute lobbying to wondering how the new ordi-nance will play out. Whether signs are saved may largely be up to individual sign owners. Some have already said they’re willing to do whatever it takes to save their signs; for others, a framework is in now in place. n
SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011 69
(Left) The Lucky Wishbone opened in 1953 as Tucson’s first fast-food restaurant. The sign’s flashing, radiating neon, an emblem of the local chain, was built by Arizona Neon.
(Above) Famous for chili dogs and fries, Pat’s Drive-In has moved from E. Speedway Blvd., but this sign, constructed in 1962 by the ABCO Sign Co., hasn’t changed. The red-Plexiglas® acrylic lettering is encircled by four neon bands and housed in a metal raceway.
Most of the initial comments about the CAS/commercial (non-electric) portion of the on-premise sign industry echo last month’s observations about the electric-sign sector. However, we see a third consecutive year of declining sales;
this time by 4%, from $4.75 billion to $4.6 billion. But if you’ve survived this long, you’ll probably be OK. Things aren’t improving too much, but at least the freefall has ended.
As with last month’s Electric SOI, we are publishing a slightly
abridged edition here. The full report is available at www.signweb.com/CASsoi.
As we report data, remember that “this year” means 2010, and “last year” means 2009. Here’s some of the more pertinent data:
70 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
Sales Volume Number of Shops Percentage of Total Shops Total Sales Percentage of Sales Average Sales per Respondent
$500,000 or more 102 25.5% $201454,000 80.0% $1,975,039
Less than $50,000 52 13.0% $ 1,158,000 0.5% $22,269
Totals 400 100.0% $ 251,970,000 100.0% $629,925
Sales Volume 2008 2009 2010 Change 2008-2010
$500,000 or more $1,585,300 $1,239,400 $1,975,039 24.6%
$100,000-$499,999 $223,200 $219,500 $232,206 4.0%
Less than $100,000 $48,100 $47,900 $43,505 -9.6%
Mean Average $649,000 $437,355 $629,925 -2.9%
Median Average $250,000 $200,000 $200,000 -20.0%
Table 1: Distribution of Respondents by Sales-Volume Classifi cation
Table 2: Three-year Comparison of Sales per Company
2011 CAS/Commercial State of the Industry Report
The industry continued to shrink, but at a slower pace.
B y W a d e S w o r m s t e d t
• Respondents whose sales declined in 2010 (39.9%) barely outpaced those whose sales increased (37.7%), which means sales barely declined (by 0.6%) for the average respondent (Table 3).
• Companies anticipate their sales volume will increase by an average of 7.9% in 2011 (Table 4).
• Although average sales per employee ($104,944) declined for the second consecutive year, it’s still only the third time in more than 15 years it’s been six figures (Table 8).
• Profit margin rebounded from last year’s dismal 7.6%, but it’s still the second-lowest figure (10.8%) ever (Table 10).
• Average sales per respondent rebounded from last year’s shel-lacking to post its second-highest figure ever, $629,925 (Table 1).
• Among the $500,000+ respon-dents, the average sales volume of $1,975,039 is the highest ever (Table 2).
• Banners continue to be the leading source of income, at nearly 20%, but electric signs (8.3%) show their highest percentage since 2003 (Table 5).
• Usage of various decoration methods declined in every cate-gory, except digital imaging (Table 6).
• The average number of employees per company, 6.0, ties for the second-highest figure ever (Table 7).
• Payroll as a percentage of sales (32.5%) essentially matches last year’s all-time high (32.7%), and franchise royalty fees topped 1% for the first time ever (Table 9).
Respondents’ salesThe number of respondents always hovers around 400. Whereas the Electric SOI (published last month) passively relies on sign companies to send in their responses, this CAS/Commercial SOI receives its data when Smyth Marketing Resources proactively calls companies who have been sent preparatory letters. Smyth keeps making calls until it gets the requisite responses. This
certainly makes comparisons easier and more valid.
As stated above, average sales per respondent are the second-highest ever, $629,925 (Table 1). We’d loved to be able to trumpet this as a huge positive, but,
because the average respondent also suffered a tiny decline in sales from 2009 to 2010 (Table 3), the only thing this really says is that much larger companies responded this year. In the Electric SOI last month, we could be reasonably
SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011 71
2011 CAS/Commercial State of the Industry Report
2007 to 2008 2008 to 2009 2009 to 2010Change
2007-2010
Decrease 31.3% 58.4% 39.9% 8.6%
0% (no change) 20.7% 16.8% 22.1% 1.4%
Increase 38.5% 24.0% 37.7% -0.8%
Don’t know 9.6% 0.8% 0.3% -9.3%
Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Mean Change 1.0% -9.5% -0.6% -1.6%
Median Change 0.0% -10.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Table 3: Three-year Comparison of Annual Change in Sales Volume
Table 4: Estimated Changes in Sales for 2010 to 2011
Years in Business
Total 1-5 Years 6-10 Years More than 10 Years
Decrease 13.3% 5.0% 17.7% 13.4%
0% (no change) 28.8% 7.5% 30.6% 31.2%
Increase 58.0% 87.5% 51.6% 55.4%
Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Mean Change 7.9% 22.8% 4.5% 6.6%
Median Change 5.0% 15.0% 3.0% 5.0%
72 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
certain that similar circumstances occurred because of mergers/acquisitions, but it’s unclear here.
Average sales per respondent in each of the five sales-volume cate-gories were relatively stable, except at the top, where the $500,000+ companies averaged $1,975,039 in sales, versus only $1,239,400 last
2011 CAS/Commercial State of the Industry Report
year (Table 2). This top category, which had virtually the same number of respondents each of the past two years, accounted for 80% of all sales this year, versus only 72% last year. Also, because the median for the past two years didn’t change, clearly some huge compa-nies changed the average.
The percentage of companies that suffered a sales decline in 2010 (39.9%) barely outnumbered those who enjoyed increased sales (37.7%), but the net result is still a disap-pointing 0.6% average decline in sales (Table 3). We also wryly note that virtually everyone knows how sales compared to the prior year each of the past two years whereas, remarkably, nearly 10% didn’t know in the survey from two years ago.
On a positive note, as respondents received phone calls after the first quarter had passed, they anticipate increasing their sales by an average of nearly 8% this year (Table 4). The percentage of companies that antici-pate a sales increase (58%) outpaces those who expect a decline (13%) by more than a 4:1 margin.
This is slightly better than last year’s prognostications of an average overall 6.1% sales increase, and those who anticipated a sales increase (50%) outnumbering those who anticipated declines (17.5%) by slightly less than 3:1. Of course, this also means (and history incessantly confirms) that the recorded opti-mism never translates into reality. Based on this alone, we can’t antici-pate more than a nominal 2011 increase in sales, with flat sales more likely. Types of signsThe way vehicle-wrap demos saturate the tradeshows and industry calendars, one might assume that vehicle graphics are the bread and butter of commer-cial sign companies. But banners challenge that idea, as well as command the top spot in Table 5, which lists the percentage of overall sales that each type of sign can claim. Banners stayed the same at 19.9%, but vehicle graphics have actually declined each of the past two years, from 21.1% to 18.5%, which is still a very strong #2.
However, the 18.5% is also vehicle graphics’ third-worst showing since this study debuted in 1996, and its
Table 5: Comparison of Distribution of Business: Sales-Volume Percentage
Type of Signs 2008 2009 2010Change
2008-2010
Banners 17.8% 19.9% 19.9% 2.1%
Vehicle Graphics 21.1% 19.7% 18.5% -2.6%
Rigid Plastic 14.4% 14.7% 14.7% 0.3%
Metal 13.0% 12.5% 11.9% -1.1%
Wood or Synthetic Wood 12.4% 11.5% 10.7% -1.7%
Electric Signs 5.3% 5.1% 8.3% 3.0%
Window Lettering 6.0% 5.9% 4.9% -1.1%
Magnetic Signs 4.7% 4.5% 4.0% -0.7%
Displays 3.1% 3.8% 3.6% 0.5%
Other Types ofCommercial Signs
2.2% 2.4% 3.6% 1.4%
Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Decoration Methods
Sales Volume
All ShopsLess than $100,000
$100,000 to $499,999
$500,000or more
Vinyl 93.3% 89.9% 95.5% 92.2%
Digital Imaging 75.3% 44.4% 84.9% 86.3%
Paint 43.3% 39.4% 40.7% 52.0%
Routing/Engraving 40.5% 17.2% 42.7% 58.8%
Screenprinting 33.3% 24.2% 34.7% 39.2%
Sandblasting 25.0% 14.1% 29.1% 27.5%
Other 6w.0% 8.1% 3.0% 9.8%
Table 6: Companies Using Decoration Methods
SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011 73
lowest percentage since 1997. In contrast, banners’ 19.9% each of the past two years is its highest ever. Are end users choosing them more often as more economical alternatives to rigid-material signage?
Scary perhaps to AHJs, OSHA and the overall sign industry is the jump from 5.1% to 8.3% for electric signs. It’s the highest since the 9.2% figure from 2003. Ideally, commer-cial sign companies are subbing out electric signs to competent whole-salers, rather than moving into uncharted territory without proper credentials.
Table 6 showcases the return of the overall “decoration” question we hadn’t specifically asked the past two years. For the past two years, we only asked about digital imaging, not other forms of sign decoration.
Since our last look three years ago, only the use of digital imaging has increased – from 70% to 75.3%. Meanwhile, use of the other four listed methods has declined: paint, from 49% to 43%; routing/engraving, from 45.7% to 40.5%; screenprinting, from 40.9% to 33.3%; and sand-blasting, from 33.3% to 25%. The best guess is that sign companies may be reverting to just their core competencies, and/or the ones which provide the greatest ROI.
In virtually every instance, the bigger the sign company, the more likely it is to utilize any of these decoration methods. Huge distinc-tions separate the smallest sign companies from the $100,000-499,999 companies. The percentage that uses digital imaging leaps from 44.4% to 84.9%; the percentage that routs/engraves more than doubles from 17.2% to 42.7%. Only in the use of vinyl are all sign companies within the same range, roughly 90% to 95%.
The employeesAs noted in Table 1, the sales volume of the average respon-dent this year, $629,925, is the second-highest ever. So it comes
2011 CAS/Commercial State of the Industry Report
Full-Time
Sales Volume
All ShopsLess than $100,000
$100,000 to $499,999
$500,000or more
0 1.3% 3.0% 1.0% 0.0%
1 23.0% 53.5% 19.1% 1.0%
2 22.8% 29.3% 30.7% 1.0%
3-9 42.0% 12.1% 47.4% 59.8%
10+ 11.0% 2.0% 1.5% 38.2%
Full-time Total 100.1% 99.9% 99.7% 100.0%
Mean Average of Full-time Employees
6.0 2.1 3.0 15.8
Part-Time
0 60.5% 67.7% 57.8% 58.8%
1-2 33.4% 28.3% 37.7% 30.4%
3+ 6.1% 4.0% 4.5% 10.8%
Part-time Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Mean Average of Part-time Employees
0.8 0.5% 0.7 1.4%
Table 7: Average Number of Employees on Payroll
2008 2009 2010 Change 2008-2010
$500,000 or more $175,100 $138,300 $125,204 -28.5%
$100,000-$499,999 $84,800 $84,600 $78,453 -7.5%
Less than $100,000 $32,000 $33,800 $21,217 -33.7%
Average per Respondent $134,500 $111,300 $104,944 -22.0%
Table 8: Comparison of Average Dollar Sales per Full-time Employee
as no surprise that the average number of full-time employees, 6, ties for the second highest ever (Table 7). Quite simply, all it means is that larger companies responded this year, but not that
the industry has grown. Yet there is a leaning toward
growth in the sense that the average number of employees grew for all three sales-volume categories. By far, it’s the most pronounced for the
2007 2009 2010Change
2007-2010
Sign Payroll, All Employees 28.9% 32.7% 32.5% 3.6%
Employee Fringe-Benefi t Costs 5.1% 5.5% 6.7% 1.6%
Sign Materials 36.0% 31.4% 30.1% -5.9%
Franchise Royalty Fees 0.5% 0.7% 1.2% 0.7%
Advertising Expense 3.9% 6.9% 6.2% 2.3%
All Other Sign Costs 12.0% 15.3% 12.4% 0.4%
Net Profi t 13.5% 7.6% 10.8% -2.7%
Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
2008 N/A
Table 9: Comparison of Composite-Income Statements
2007 2009 2010Change
2007-2010
More than $500,000 16.7% 5.9% 10.8% -5.9%
$100,000 to $499,999 13.2% 11.9% 10.6% -2.6%
Less than $100,000 13.5% 12.5% 13.6% 0.1%
Average Per Respondent 13.5% 7.6% 10.8% -2.7%
2008 N/A
Table 10: Comparison of Net-Profi t Margin
biggest companies, where the average number of full-time employees skyrocketed by two-thirds from 9 to 15. Even the smallest companies, by increasing their average full-time people from 1.4 to 2.1, experienced a 50% jump. The middle companies’ average also rose, from 2.6 to 3.0.
Last year, 7.2% of the respon-dents had more than 10 employees. More than a 50% increase occurred as this percentage climbed to 11%. Companies with 3-9 employees also
2011 CAS/Commercial State of the Industry Report
74 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
increased slightly, from 39% to 42%. But the best barometer is effi-
ciency, as measured by sales per employee. Although Table 8 suggests bad news, with a two-year decline of 22%, the $104,944 is still only the third time it’s been six figures over a 15-year period.
Also, although the table shows sharp declines over the past two years for all three sales-volume cate-gories (and more so for the smallest sign companies), the news isn’t bad
for companies with more than $100,000 in sales. As with the overall averages, the $125,000 average for the biggest companies, and the $78,000 for the middle companies, are the third-best ever for both.
Unfortunately, the smallest sign companies were hit the hardest. In fact, their $21,217 average is so low, it defies explanation. The lowest figure previously was $27,500.
Finances Opinion may vary as to whether sales per employee or profit margin is this study’s most impor-tant number. By itself, Table 8 appeared to have terrible news, but in the context of this study’s 15 years, the results are quite hopeful.
Table 9 looks to be the oppo-site, with 2010’s results having been much better than 2009’s dismal performance. Trouble is, 2010’s 10.8% is still the second-worst profit-margin figure this study has seen.
Last year’s payroll average, at 32.7% of sales, was the highest this study has ever seen, and it was essentially replicated at 32.5% this year. Employee fringe benefits, at 6.7%, are the highest since the 6.9% in 2004. Sign materials, at 30.1%, are the lowest since 29.9% in 2005. Franchise royalty fees surpassed 1% for the first time.
Tradition states that company size and profit margin are inversely proportionate: The bigger the company, the smaller its profit margin. Last year, this maxim held true, after having been completely reversed in 2007. Consequently, over the past two years, the bigger the company, the more it saw its profit margin plummet (Table 10).
This was especially bad news for the biggest sign companies, who saw their profit margin shrink by more than one-third. More bearable was the 10% drop in profit margin experienced by the medium-sized companies. And the smallest sign companies have been able to main-tain quite nicely. ■
Noteworthy
INDUSTRY NEWS
Cree Hosts President ObamaPresident Obama visited Cree (Durham, NC) in North Carolina’s Research Triangle on June 21 to meet with the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. He also toured Cree’s LED manufacturing lines and addressed company employees.
The council was formed to advise the president on economic improve-ment, job creation and competition in the global business marketplace. During the meeting, Obama received recommendations to increase the number of U.S. engineering gradu-ates, speed tourist visas, and stream-line construction-permit processes, the News & Observer reported.
Obama visited Cree once before, during a 2008 campaign stop.
Lightfair International Honors Philips Lumiled, McGraw-EdisonPhilips Lumiled (San Jose, CA) and McGraw-Edison, Cooper Industries (Houston) were among award winners at this year’s Lightfair International. The contest received
239 submissions for 14 categories. Philips Lumiled’s Luxeon A LEDs,
which incorporate freedom from binning and hot testing, were given the Technical Innovation Award for advancement in lighting technology. Freedom from binning eliminates color bins, the company says, which yields improved color consistency among units, which are specified at a junction temperature of 85° C.
McGraw-Edison’s sign light is a marquee LED that reduces mainte-nance costs and energy consump-tion. According to the company, the LED saves 52% on energy consump-tion, compared to traditional light sources. The product is UL certified for wet locations and can be used in uplight and downlight applications.
Rapid City Committee Recom-mends Six-second IntervalsIn a unanimous decision, the Rapid City (SD) council voted to approve a sign code for the city, the Rapid City Journal reported. Sign-industry representatives on the city’s task force for the issue said they did not agree with every provision, but did vote to approve the code as a whole. The city council must still vote to approve the recommendation.
The committee proposed banning digital billboards and full animation, but allowing advertising messages to change once every six seconds. One highly contentious aspect of the revisions would require non-compliant signs to be brought into compliance within 10 years. The task force settled on this rule with an exception for signs in downtown Rapid City.
Agfa Names Account ManagerAgfa Graphics (Ridgefield Park, NJ) has announced Lesley Hepditch as the company’s newest account manager in Canada. Hepditch joined Agfa in 1998 and has served as product marketing manager, North American marketing manager for workflow, and digital solutions specialist. n
SEGD Names Selbert, Perkins FellowsAt its annual conference, which took place June 1-4 in Montreal, the Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) named Clifford Selbert and Robin Perkins, founding partners of Selbert Perkins Design, 2011 SEGD Fellows -- the EGD field’s highest professional honor. They opened their Playa del Rey, CA-based EGD firm, which also has offices in Boston, Chicago and Dubai, in 1986.
At the conference, SEGD also bestowed its Arrow Award to vinyl producer Arlon Graphics LLC (Santa Ana, CA) “for advancing technolo-gies and manufacturing in the field, and for its long-term support of SEGD chapters, events and educational programs.”
SEGD also honored Tom Esch with its Distinguished Member Award. A senior civil engineer at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport, he developed SEGD’s Airport and Transportation Workshop, which encourages collaboration among EGD firms, fabricators, manufacturers and airport executives. He also organized the Airport Sign Managers Network to promote best practices in airport-wayfinding systems.
Third-generation Signman Suffers Fatal Worksite InjuryMelvin Cardonick of Atlas Signs (Philadelphia) died in mid-June following an electric shock he sustained while installing a sign at the East Windsor (NJ) shopping plaza. After being shocked, Cardonick fell 30 ft.
Cardonick, a third-generation signmaker, burned his hands and suffered internal burns that weren’t discovered until days after the accident, as he was recovering from surgery. His wife told a reporter for the East Windsor Patch that she was surprised to learn her husband was working with circuit breakers turned on; she stated she knew he always shut them off before beginning a job.
OSHA opened an investigation into this incident on June 7, two days after the accident. Cardonick, 63, is survived by his wife, brother, two children and four grandchildren.
76 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
ALASKAANCHORAGE
Neon of Alaska, P.O. Box 242062, Anchorage, AL (99524). 907-248-0185. E-mail: [email protected]. 1-2-3.
ARIZONAMESA
Graham's Neon. 456 N. Country Club (85201). 480-962-NEON (6366). Fax: 480-962-6300. 1-2-3.
PHOENIX
Neon Nightscapes Inc., 2008 N. 25th Dr. (85009). 602-470-0201. 800-788-6366. Fax: 602-470-0824. Website: www.neonnow.com. 1-2-3.
MICHIGANDETROIT
Spectrum Neon Co., 3750 E. Outer Dr., Detroit, MI (48234). 313-366-7333. Fax: 313-366-8328. Website: spectrumneon.com. 1-2-3.
NEBRASKAOMAHA
Midwest Sign Crafters & Electric Co., 6969 S. 107th St., Lavista, NE (68128). 402-345-7868. Fax: 402-345-6140. E-mail: [email protected]. 1-2-3.
LISTINGS/ADVERTISEMENTS — to appear for one year, Payable in advance. The deadline is the 25th of the month, 2 months prior to mailing date. (Example: Jan. 25th is the deadline for the March issue.)
LISTINGS/ADVERTISEMENTS — to appear for one year, Payable in advance. The deadline is the 20th of the month, 2 months prior to mailing date. (Example: Jan. 20th is the deadline for the March issue.) 1” and 2” ads require digital art.
The code number at the end of each listing indicate the type of materials, equipment & supplies these firms are in position to furnish.
N. Glantz & Son, 11408 East 19th Street. (74128). 918-438-7447 or toll-free 866-NGLANTZ. Fax: 918-438-6708. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.nglantz.com. 1-2-4-5-6-7-8.
Reece Supply Company of Oklahoma, 3148 South 108th East Avenue, Suite 130, Tulsa, OK (74146). 918-556-5000. 800-520-2300. Fax: 918-556-5001. Website: www.reecesupply.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8.
Midwest Sign & Screen Printing Supply Co. 16405 W. Lincoln Avenue, New Berlin, WI. (53151-2849). 262-641-8550. 800-242-7430. Fax: 262-641-8555. Fax: 800-242-7439. Email: [email protected]. 1-2-3-4-5-7-8.
The Graphic Installers HandbookRob IversA brand new book of Rob Ivers’ recent “Real World Vinyl” columns from Signs of the Times, compiled, edited and expanded into a complete handbook for installing graphics. The author, respected in the industry for international graphic installation training, takes you through the entire process. Ivers’ expert directions and step-by-step photos will help anyone, from beginner on up, to master the materials and techniques of graphic installation.
Jones Sign Shop, LLC, 1585 Dark Corners Rd., Tallassee, AL (36078). 334-283-2060. Fax: 334-252-0863. E-mail: [email protected]. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
River Sign Systems, 4626 Miller Rd., Unit C, Columbus, GA (31909). 706-507-4488. Fax: 706-568-6459. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: riversignsystems.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.\
Signs Inc., 6100 Coca Cola Blvd., P.O. Box 8609, Columbus GA (31908-8609). 706-569-9952. 888-342-5824. Fax: 706-569-0797. E-mail: [email protected]. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
BIRMINGHAM Commander Board Signs, Inc., 201 50th St., Fairfield, AL
River Signs Systems, 4626 Miller Rd., Unit C, Columbus, GA (31909). 706-507-4488. Fax: 706-568-6459. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: riversignsystems.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Signs, Inc., 6100 Coca Cola Blvd., P.O. Box 8609,. Columbus, GA (31908). 706-569-9952. 888-342-5824. Fax: 706-569-0797. E-mail: [email protected]. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
PRATTVILLE Eagle Sign Studio, 1834 I-65 Service Road, Millbrook, AL
LISTINGS/ADVERTISEMENTS — to appear for one year, Payable in advance. The deadline is the 20th of the month, 2 months prior to mailing date. (Example: Jan. 20th is the deadline for the MARCH issue.) 1" and 2" ads require digital art. List your company in SignWeb’s Professional Services Directory (http://signweb.com/signweb-bin/srch.pl), the sign industry’s #1 web site. Special incentives for SEMD advertisers.
SERVICES DIRECTORYSign Erection and Maintenance
A Service for National Advertisers and Sign Manufacturers1 Firms equipped to secure space for and
place in their city advertising signs furnished by national concerns.
2 Firms equipped to service such signs.3 Firms equipped to secure space for and
place outside their city advertising signs furnished by national concerns.
4 Firms equipped to service such signs.5 Firms interested in orders to erect commercial
and electric signs in their city and territory from concerns outside their city.
6 Firms operating an electric sign maintenance service.
7 Firms operating a neon sign maintenance service.
8 Firms that do sign erecting exclusively.9 Firms carrying Property Damage and Liability
Fluoresco Lighting & Sign Maintenance Corp., 2758 Via Orange Way, Spring Valley, CA (91978). 619-444-9000. Fax: 619-444-9004. Website: www.fluoresco.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
San Diego Electric Sign, Inc. 1920 Cordell Ct, Ste.103. El Cajon, CA (92020). 619-258-1775. 800-518-7337. Fax: 619-258-1805. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.sdelectricsign.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Western Sign Systems, 1020 Linda Vista Drive, San Marcos, CA (92078). 760-736-6070. Fax: 760-736-6073. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www.westrnsign.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
YESCO, 9520 Chesapeake Drive Suite 607, CA (92123). 858-598-6917. Fax: 858-598-6923. Website: www.yesco.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
SAN FRANCISCO Fluoresco Lighting & Sign Maintenance Corp., 8469 Pardee
Dr., Oakland, CA (94621). 510-633-4153. Fax: 510-633-4171. Website: www.fluoresco.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Johnston Sign Company Inc., 3595 Gravenstein Highway South, Sebastopol, CA (95472). 707-829-7332. Fax: 707-829-9059. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
SAN JOSE Gary’s Signs & Screen Printing, 1620 S. Ackerman Dr., Lodi,
CA (95240). 209-369-8592. 800-359-8592. Fax: 209-369-8681. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Northwest Signs, 120 Encinal St., Santa Cruz, CA (95060). 831-469-8208. 888-788-8614. Fax: 831-469-8172. E-mail: [email protected]. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
SANTA CRUZ Northwest Signs, 120 Encinal St., Santa Cruz, CA (95060).
Don Bell Signs, 365 Oak Place, Port Orange, FL (32127). 800-824-0080. Fax: 386-763-4762. E-mail: cward@ donbellsigns.com. Website: www.donbellsigns.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Don Bell Signs, 365 Oak Place, Port Orange, FL (32127). 800-824-0080. Fax: 386-763-4762. E-mail: cward@ donbellsigns.com. Website: www.donbellsigns.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
General Sign Service, 1940 Spearing St. (32206). 904-355-5630. Fax: 904-355-5632. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www.generalsignservice.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
C. Georges & Company Inc. 4907 8th Avenue South, Gulfport, FL (33707). 727-322-2617. 866-422-2617. Fax: 727-322-5617. Email: [email protected]. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Davidson Sign Services Inc.,1201 Cedar St. Unit B. Safety Harbor, FL (34695). 727-726-3555. Fax: 727-726-3556. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www.davidsonsigns.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Image National Signs Inc. 16265 Star Rd. Nampa, ID (83687). 208-345-4020. 800-592-8058. Fax: 208-336-9886. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www.imagenational.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
84 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / AUGUST 2011
Lytle Signs Inc., 2070 E. Commercial St., Meridian, ID (83642). 208-388-1739. E-mail: [email protected]. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9.
Sign Pro Service and Installation. 1792 So. Yellowstone Hwy. Idaho Falls, ID. (83402). 208-523-8540, 800-939-8540. Fax: 208-523-8948. Email [email protected]. Website: wwwgosignpro.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Cook Fabrication Signs Graphics Inc. 1110 County Rd 325 N, Deer Creek, IL (61733). 309-360-3805. Fax: 309-447-6413. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.cookfabsign.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Piros Signs, Inc., 1818 Hwy. M., Barnhart, MO (63012). 636-464-0200. Fax: 636-464-9990. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www.pirossigns.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
BLOOMINGTON All-Brite Sign Co., 908 White Oak Rd. (61701). 309-829-
1551. 888-829-1551. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Cook Fabrication Signs Graphics Inc. 1110 County Rd 325 N, Deer Creek, IL (61733). 309-360-3805. Fax: 309-447-6413. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.cookfabsign.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Batten Bros Inc. 893 Main St. Wakefield, MA (01880). 781-245-4800. Fax: 781-246-4798. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.battensign.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Divine Signs Inc. 6 Norman Street, Everett, MA (02149). 617-387-2100. Fax: 617-387-3334. TF 1-888-4SIGNSNOW. Email: [email protected]. 5-6-7-9.
Love Signs of Grand Island, LLC, 3030 W. Old Hwy. 30, P.O. Box 5791, Grand Island, NE (68802-5791). 308-381-5525. 877-381-5530. Fax: 308-381-5528. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www. lovesignco .com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Mayhew Signs, Inc., 4413 East Hwy. 30, P.O. Box 729, Grand Island, NE (68802). 308-382-7230. 800-726-4092. Fax: 308-382-7100. E-mail: sales@mayhewsigns .com. Website: www.JUNEhewsigns.com. 2-4-6-8.
Tri City Sign Co., 363 North Elm St., (68801). 308-384-6335. Fax: 308-384-0483. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www.tricitysign.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
KEARNEY A1 M&J Signs, 140 McComb St., Elm Creek, NE (68836).
Roberts and Sons Signs, Inc. 3915 Savannah Hwy., Johns Island, SC. (29455). 843-571-3500, 1-800-571-3500. Fax: 843-571-3509. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.robsignco.com.
COLUMBIA Carolina Custom Signs, 500 Greenwood Rd., 500 Greenwood
Rd., W. Columbia, SC (29171) 803-791-7504. 800-368-9909. Fax: 803-739-2344. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Western Neon, 2700 First Ave. S. (98134). 206-682-7738. Fax: 206-682-8159. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www.westernneon.com. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
SPoKANE A-1 Illuminated Sign Co., Inc., 511 N. Ella Rd., Spokane
Valley, WA (99212). 509-534-6134. Fax: 509-534-6013. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
Arctic Lighting and Electric LLC., 2307 N. Woodruff Rd., Spokane Valley. WA (99206). 509-533-9350. Fax: 509-533-9353. Website: [email protected]. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-9.
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This past weekend, I put on my Signage Foundation (SFI) hat and drove north to Lake Erie and the Midwest Sign Assn.’s (MSA) summer meeting. Two decades ago, I went to all the MSA meetings, usually four times a year, and I really learned about the industry by hanging out with some wonderful sign people.
To my most pleasant surprise, many of the retired gentlemen from that era attended. At the banquet, Carl Wagner, Wagner Sign Co. (Elyria, OH), accompanied by numerous grandchildren and a great grandchild, was honored with MSA’s Distinguished Service Award. All of the former award winners were present as well: Herb Scott, Tubelite (Columbus, OH), the inaugural 2000 recipient (who was mentioned last month in the Columbus Sign Co. centennial article); Cal Lutz (2002), DaNite Sign Co. (Columbus); and Dan Kasper (2006), Harmon Sign Co. (Toledo, OH). Truly great honors, these awards are only bestowed when deemed worthy, not every year.
Carl served as MSA president from 1991-1993; Cal was his predecessor (1989-1991), and Dan served first (1985-1987). (Carl’s son, Mark, headed up MSA in 2005-2006.) In addition, Dan presided as chairman of the board of the Intl. Sign Assn. (ISA) in 1996, and Cal followed suit in 2000.
Tom Brokaw lauds The Greatest Generation, and these gentlemen are my sign-industry counterpart. Perhaps it’s a Midwest thing, but none of them are big talkers. Relatively soft spoken, they’re people who get things done, sans fanfare, substance over style. When ISA had an unexpected leadership void a few years ago, it summoned Dan to serve as a calming, steady influence.
I’m very proud of my fellow Ohioans and our multi-generational sign companies. This meeting was chaired by MSA president Scott Holthaus, Holthaus/Lackner Signs, here in Cincinnati, whose older brother, Kevin, served as MSA president between Dan and Cal (1987-1989). Two other Holthaus brothers represent a third generation, and three members of a fourth generation are also currently employed.
Several representatives from Brilliant Electric Sign Co. (Cleveland) attended the meeting, and that compa-ny’s founder, Fran Ruppelt, served as ISA’s president (1971) when it was still the National Electric Sign Assn. (NESA) in Chicago, and Fran served as president of MSA’s predecessor, Associated Sign Industries of Ohio (ASIO), from 1966-67. (ASIO was founded in 1960.) Jim Groh, who currently presides over Brilliant, served as MSA president from 1999-2001.
Scott Gardner, Gardner Signs, Toledo, is distinguished as MSA’s first third-generation president (2007-2008),
following in the footsteps of his father, Skip (1977-79) and grandfather, Weston (1962-63), who was ASIO’s second president. Skip (1984) and his brother, Fred (1990) are the only siblings to have chaired ISA’s board.
As much as I admire these Buckeye State people, I don’t believe they’re distinct. I spent some time previ-ously with California and Illinois sign associations, and this attitude of servitude probably remains omnipresent there as well.
As MSA executive director Dee Scott (no relation) explained, Herb Scott served on the MSA board for many years, but, as a supplier, he couldn’t be presi-dent. However, he organized numerous regional trade-shows before NESA’s 1980 regionalization.
So I went to talk about SFI. The sign industry’s #1 problem for the past century has been planners who generally regard on-premise signs as little more than neces-sary evils. The planner who collegiately (or subsequently) was exposed to on-premise signs’ value/purpose is nearly as rare as the Cleveland Browns in a Super Bowl.
I spoke about the 100 or so University of Cincinnati (UC) students (potential planners) who have experi-enced truths about signage at the past two National Signage Research & Education Conferences (coming up October 13-15) and the UC student’s internship at Duane Laska’s North Shore Sign Co. Also, UC graduate students will document case histories about the bene-fits of signage makeovers, while other students studied (and recommended solutions for) the zoning night-mare of Cincinnati’s Beechmont Ave. Most importantly, business, marketing and planning professors have (and will) received first-hand exposure to signs’ true value. And that doesn’t even include the research projects SFI is spearheading with UC and other universities about signs’ place in commerce.
Talk about a potential legacy. Can you imagine? Planners who have earned AICP credits by attending NSREC and now have a working knowledge of signs, beyond Street Graphics ? College professors who routinely address signage when teaching about marketing and business? And, although it’s mind boggling, some day, second generations of both?
Be part of the next Greatest Generation. Come to NSREC and bring your local planner. Encourage any busi-ness/marketing college professor/student to attend as well. It has to start somewhere. NSREC is the best place I know. To learn more, visit: www.thesignagefoundation.org. The slate of presentations is phenomenal. n
Déjà vu PreviewTime for a new Greatest Generation?
“Can you imagine? Planners who have earned AICP credits by attending NSREC and now have a working
knowledge of signs, beyond Street Graphics?”EDITORIALLY SPEAKINGBy Wade Swormstedt
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