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Five Things You Don’t Know About Wayfinding Signs

“Wayfinding” is a fascinating word that conveys its own meaning very clearly – which is precisely what you expect from “wayfinding signs” themselves. But it’s far from easy to create a series of signs that are unified, logical, and authoritative in design, yet variable enough to convey highly specific information clearly and unambiguously to people who are quite often in a hurry, stressed, confused, and possibly lacking in local language skills. So it’s no surprise that, to many designers, wayfinding signage projects are among the most challenging tasks in all of signmaking, and – when satisfactorily accomplished – among the most rewarding. Here are some interesting facts you probably don’t know about wayfinding signage: Wayfinding Signage Should Go Beyond

As Shakespeare wrote (Act II, Scene 2, “Romeo and Juliet”): “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” But Shakespeare never met a modern consumer, beset on all sides by a wide variety of choices and aggressively courted by all manner of tempting offers. In today’s economy, the right name can make all the difference between one type of flower that sits unappreciated on a shelf somewhere and another, very similar, type of flower that shows up in every suitor’s hand as he nervously rings the doorbell of his beloved. While Shakespeare had some reason to believe in those simpler times that names didn’t really matter much, the Bard of

The long-awaited opening of the Waterside Place 20-story luxury mixed-use tower is now history. The gala celebration culminating the massive amount of design and construction work that began in June, 2012, included Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, Massachusetts Port Authority officials, and John Drew, whose Drew Company actually led the building’s development. Waterside Place is the newest of the many residential options now being built in the Boston region. Metro Sign & Awning has been fortunate enough to be asked to play a significant role in these projects. Many developers, architects, designers and business owners choose us to help with signage, awnings and canopies due to our knowledge, expertise, and skill-set, as well as our reputation for getting the job

What a great year! Despite all the turmoil and difficulties for Boston, the northeastern U.S., and the world at large, we at Metro Sign and Awning have enjoyed the opportunity to meet the year’s challenges, to grow, to serve, and to do our bit to make the world a better place. Some of our more exciting and successful 2013 projects include: The Forum Restaurant: After the horrific events of Marathon Monday and the destruction that took place outside one of our valued customers, we did our small part to help them rebuild. Working with Boston Nightlight Ventures and the Back Bay Architectural Commission we put together a plan to reinvigorate the remodeled restaurant that included new awnings and face lit

The Atlantic Ocean has many tributaries in North America, including: Massachusett’s famed Merrimack River, which is fed by The Nashua River, which receives a good deal of its water from The North Nashua River, which includes more than a little flow from The Monoosnoc Brook, some 50 miles inland from Boston. It’s a little stream, to be sure, but the Monoosnoc Brook has played a big part in the founding and subsequent growth of Leominster, MA, and the surrounding areas. More than 275 years ago, for example, the Monoosnoc Brook’s sparkling, tumbling waters were first harnessed to power a variety of paper, grist, oil, and other mills. Nurtured by its plentiful flow, the town grew and prospered for many years.

When Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) determined its ongoing rebranding program – which covers BCH Boston, as well as BCH Martha Eliot in Jamaica Plain, BCH Waltham, and BCH Lexington – required new signage, Metro Sign and Awning was happy to oblige. To begin with, BCH Boston initially contacted its existing sign vendor, Sign Systems Solutions (SSS), for help with this project. However, SSS quickly passed the call along to Metro Sign, asking us to do the actual surveying, fabrication, and installation of the new signs. (A different contractor works with BCH Peabody.) In total, Sign Systems designed and we built ten new signs for the hospital operating company: One sign with dimensional letters set on a curved radius Three new

What do you do when a company wants new signage, but doesn’t have the rights to install it on their location’s exterior? If you’re Bella Sera Bridal Boutique, on Route 114 in Danvers, MA, you “do without” for several years, experiencing quite a bit of difficulty, until a qualified, skilled,and multi-capable sign company finally comes to your rescue. Located above a separately owned and operated male clothing store,and handicapped since it moved to this new location in 2009 by an almost total lack of external points of recognition, Bella Sera Bridal had nevertheless endured. Heidi Nicholson, owner, had been able to keep the lights on by making word-of-mouth and other referral-based growth strategies work for her boutique business. But she

Veterans Administration National Cemetery, Massachusetts

For most people visiting a national cemetery – understandably coping with a powerful mixture of pride, grief and distress – it can be difficult to keep your wits about you. Learn how we pulled out all the stops for this project in terms of design, placement, visibility, clarity, and durability to guide veterans’ loved ones to their destinations.

Wayfinding Signs Key Part of National Cemetery Expansion Project

Metro Sign and Awning is immensely proud and honored that we were selected to partner with general contractor Spanish Springs Construction to provide all the wayfinding signs at the completely refurbished Bourne National Cemetery on Cape Cod. Bourne National Cemetery is one of only 122 official interment sites for our nation’s brave veterans. For most people visiting a national cemetery – understandably coping with a powerful mixture of pride, grief and distress – it can be difficult to keep your wits about you. That’s why the wayfinding signs must be extremely clear, concise, unmistakable, and – when they’re subject to the harsh weather that is so typical in New England – durable. Accordingly, we pulled out all the stops for

At Metro, we consider ourselves lucky to work on a wide variety of different projects. We take pride in selecting the right materials to craft the signs our clients want, need, and have envisioned. Whether the client is a design/build firm, a general contractor, or an individual business owner, whether it’s interior or exterior signage, whether the job site is around the corner or three states away, we truly enjoy the variety we have in our work. While reviewing some of our products and looking through our portfolio offers an overview of what Metro Sign & Awning does, these three downloads provide a little more insight into some of the work that goes on here. Residential Building Signs: Exterior &