ARCHIVE: Category Archive for: Metro Sign & Awning

Signs of Success: A Year in Review with MSA

What a year! As we begin 2024, we want to extend our heartfelt gratitude. Your support and collaboration have made the past year our most successful yet! Looking back on 2023 fills us with gratitude. We’ve had the honor of completing a wide range of signage projects—from city landmarks to local businesses. Each sign represents our dedication to quality and client happiness. We’re incredibly thankful for the chance to have worked on such varied projects, knowing they’ve left a meaningful mark wherever they stand. Let’s take a step back and look at some of the projects from 2023 that caught our eye… A 360 Package: Tree House Brewing Company Working with Tree House Brewing Company in Tewksbury, MA

Here at Metro, we’ve developed a reputation for overcoming challenges. In 2020, the pandemic required us to rethink our approach to projects and conduct much of our collaboration in a remote environment. Government buildings closed for weeks, which presented another challenge for obtaining signage permits and staying on deadline with project installations. Clients saw initial project budgets shrink, so our team worked with them to devise alternative signage options—in design, materials, or both. At Metro, we love a good challenge. Challenges make us better because they require us to grow and innovate—and that benefits our clients and our partners, especially when we’re faced with a new “problem” we’ve not encountered before. And let’s face it. It isn’t just us signage

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

One of the colleges with whom Metro Sign has worked is Fitchburg State — a client for over three years. Some of the college’s first projects included adding need-based interior photopolymer Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) signs. This initial opportunity led to additional signage projects including wayfinding, monument signs, directories, building identification, and award displays. One important job included the addition of flashing pedestrian signs at crosswalks. College administrators worried that vehicles failed to slow down when students and faculty entered the crosswalks, which could cause a hazardous situation. To keep both vehicle and foot traffic safe, Metro Sign installed environmentally-friendly new pedestrian signs with flashers activated by the press of a button. These solar-powered lights flash visibly to vehicles

While Fitchburg State needed updated signs that complied with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations and a visually appealing way to celebrate its 125th anniversary, the University of Massachusetts Boston needed interior signage and more as part of its Renovations to Existing Academic Buildings (REAB) project. This monumental project included construction in McCormack and Wheatley Halls, Healey Library, and Quinn. Much of the renovation involved adapting vacant spaces to accommodate programs from the Science Center. Metro Sign’s contribution to the project included providing wayfinding, directories, and ADA compliant signs. UMass Boston initially provided specifications for a higher-end fabrication. When it was determined that the initial sign design would exceed the funds allotted Metro stepped in to help. Understanding the

Suffolk University might also share UMass Boston’s philosophy: Go big, or go home. Although Suffolk wasn’t working on a Renovations to Existing Academic Buildings (REAB) project when they called Metro Sign, they did have an unusual project in mind. Among its requirements for new architectural signage, the university wanted to add a 21 panel, 20-foot high wall mural. This high-pressure laminate (HDP) exterior wall mural required considerable engineering expertise and clear communication and coordination to ensure the seal on the curtain wall and panels would fit into the Z-Clip system. Have you ever arrived at a new location and you’re not quite sure where to go? Or you look at the map — often a freestanding sign — and it

Some partnerships are made to last — and such is the case with the relationship between Metro and Salem State University, a client since 2003. Over the years, we’ve updated or added just about all the college’s campus and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) signage. From monument signs and flag banners to wayfinding signs, building identification, directory signs, and pretty much everything in between, we’ve made sure that everything we create fits Salem’s brand. Working in tandem with Salem’s marketing and facilities people on a series of projects over the past 17 years has allowed us to develop the partnership. It’s Metro Sign’s responsiveness and the quality of signs we make that make us the go-to choice for the university.

When clients or investors walk into your corporate office space, are they getting the right first impression? Researchers have found that an office’s interior environment can create lasting beliefs about a company’s culture, including how considerate the staff is and how much control the leaders have over what happens at the office. That’s why we’ve cultivated expertise in a wide range of higher-end interior environmental graphics packages. Here are a few examples from our portfolio. Floating Illuminated Logos Hudl is a tech company that provides tools for professional athletes and coaches to review and analyze footage of their games. They wanted the interior of their office to be exciting, fresh, and distinctive. We provided an interior signage package for them

Have you ever walked into a space and been surrounded by bold, larger-than-life graphics on the walls, floors, ceilings, and even columns? For example, you might have seen a restaurant’s tantalizing morsels emblazoned on the wall, making you even hungrier before you’ve ordered. Alternatively, perhaps you’ve seen a colorful, digitally printed mural that made you pause and take in the sights while walking through a retail store, office, or transit space. You’ve probably also seen a floor-to-ceiling sign that made it effortless for you to navigate an unfamiliar building. In all these cases, what you were experiencing is called “environmental graphic design.” It’s a growing trend in corporate spaces as well as entertainment, hospitality, education, and transit buildings. These graphics

We’re excited to share that we won both the silver and bronze medals in the 2019 Best Original Design and Fabrication, Non-Illuminated competition adjudicated by the high-profile industry publication Signs Of The Times. Here are the visuals for our two winning projects, plus a look behind the curtain at how they came to be. Second-Place Award: Interior Graphics for Dynatrace, Inc. Dynatrace is a global software company that celebrated its IPO in 2019. At their corporate headquarters in Waltham, MA, the team is known for having a love of sports. So, at the start of a new phase of their growth as a company, Dynatrace decided to jazz up their headquarters with sports-themed decor that the team would enjoy seeing