ARCHIVE: Category Archive for: Customer Spotlight

Fun with LED Neon

For more than 100 years, neon signs have blazed brightly, humming faintly as their curved and bent tubes illuminate the night. From New York’s Times Square and Miami’s Ocean Drive, to Las Vegas’s strip and Tokyo’s Shinjuku, neon light signs advertise products, companies, and so much more. An Evolution in Technology Neon’s lo-fi tech made it attractive to even smaller businesses. Barber shops and restaurants, bars and local entertainment venues hung signs to attract attention. These bright, colorful signs shine even through dense fog and rain. But they’re still more expensive than LED neon signage. In fact, the very first neon signs cost up to $12,000. While prices have dropped considerably, they still represent a significant investment of marketing dollars.

Believe it or not, when it comes to choosing where to live, attractive branding can make the difference between signing a tenant and having vacancies. Think about other brands with logos that trigger instant recognition: Coca~Cola’s white lettering on a red can; the Nike swoosh; Adidas’ black and white trefoil. Looking to fill a brand new apartment building? Start by establishing brand recognition within the community. Want to keep residents from leaving? Associate that brand with trust, reliability, and value. Still not sure if an apartment community really needs its own brand identity? Check out these statistics: 66% of consumers indicate that shared values influence the brands they choose 75+% of consumers make purchases based on brand/company name 90% of

Signage plays a pretty important role in Museums. Bright bold colors, interesting graphics, and eye-catching fonts help command visitor attention. But museums offer additional challenges with architectural signage, which must align with their high aesthetics and design standards. Strong, effective signs should reinforce the buildings’ styles and standards, too, while also conveying easily-read messages. Since cultural attractions like museums, science centers, and aquariums exist to entertain and inform, every part of their planning—including signage—factors in how they can enhance visitor experiences. Details Make the Design While function remains the first goal of creating museum signage, exceptional designers think about the “fun” in function, too. Signage that reflects an exhibit’s theme brings the museum brand personality to life. Whether it’s a

How retail brands like Lenovo and Soletrader are doing digital signage screens throughout stores, in-store promotions, pop-up events and virtual showrooms.

A Year in Review: Some of Our Favorite 2020 Projects

Now that it’s behind us, we can look back on 2020 and say, with no irony, that it was certainly a different kind of year. The COVID-19 pandemic brought much of the country to a screeching halt for a time, and many companies had to pause, reset, and rethink their processes. Like many businesses, the pandemic affected our work, too. But clients still needed signs. Companies continued to rebrand. And through it all, we continued to reach out, build relationships with new clients, and create and install signage that we — and our customers — take great pride in. Here are a few of our favorite projects. Cadence Design Systems of Burlington We collaborated with Haynes Group to design several

Whenever a client requests a sign that’s a little different from the norm, the Metro Sign team gets excited. We love a good challenge! Workers Credit Union, in Littleton, MA, needed interior and exterior signs for its new headquarters and office. We partnered with general contractor Nauset Construction Corporation to create the signage package, which included a unique canopy sign. The first challenge: The canopy sign had to sit on top of a custom steel and glass canopy, which certainly limited how we could safely attach it. The second challenge: It had to look great not just from the front, but from the back, too, because it was clearly visible from a second floor conference room whose windows overlooked the

Lights! Camera! Action! In 2019, the family-owned and operated Majestic Cinemas began a major build-out at the Arsenal Yards shopping center. It included an exciting signage package to draw the attention of prospective visitors to the new movie theater. The signs complement this eclectic collection of retail, restaurant, and entertainment spaces in Watertown, MA’s historic Arsenal Yards. Metro incorporated color-changing LEDs into the canopy and blade signs. This approach allows the theater to adjust the colors to highlight seasons, events, holidays, and featured new releases. Edits on the Cutting Room Floor The space that houses the theater was once an old tank armory and factory. Boylston Properties and The Wilder Companies collaborated to convert this old brick building into an upscale

The most effective outdoor signage does more than point out the entrance to your business’s parking lot. Well-designed outdoor signs communicate your company’s brand and image. Monument signs, like the one created for J. Borstell Realty, can also help to cement a business’s presence in the area. When Jeffrey and Kelsey Borstell assumed leadership of the family-owned and operated real estate company, they wanted to update the business image. Established in 1981, the Borstells were ready to evolve and rebrand the business to take it to the next level. They partnered with Metro Sign for the project. The Metro team’s designer, Jamie Potvin, collaborated with designer and brand strategist Jaime Chemaly, of FoxShop, to bring the new design to life.

Worcester’s Cultural Coalition Popup’s mission is simple: to support active creative engagement and foster a strong cultural identity for Greater Worcester. The Jean McDonough Arts Center offers space for local and visiting artists, organizations, and creatives to produce art shows, open mics, classes, and much more. In 2019, philanthropist Jean McDonough donated $2 million to support the completion of the BrickBox Theater, one of the Worcester Cultural Coalition programs. To honor her gift, the Coalition teamed with a local graphic designer, Travis Duda of Hunchback Graphics, to create a new logo. Incorporating the colors of the “Worcester Cube,” the JMAC sign embraces bright neon and pop art aesthetics to welcome everyone who visits the permanent popup, part of a public-private

No one likes to get lost! And one of the best ways an institution can help people find their way or get important information quickly and clearly is to employ signage. In fact, signage offers a good tool for higher education settings. Freestanding signs with electronic message center displays (EMC) distribute daily and emergency information efficiently, and wayfinding signs help people navigate campus more easily. Interior signs can reinforce learning by supporting multimedia for lectures or enhance the interdepartmental recognition of student accomplishments by enabling departments to promote their students’ successes. And consistent signage supports both an institution’s branding and elevates its school spirit. Metro Sign has worked with a variety of colleges and universities right here in the heart