ARCHIVE: Category Archive for: Exterior Signage

Signs of Good Things To Come: In Brockton

Brockton Enterprise Center: A Plan Comes Together Creating a mixed-use development with residential units, interconnected streets, and dozens of retail businesses requires tremendous cooperation among city agencies, business owners, and developers. It also requires many different types of interior and exterior signage, all of which must work together to serve the development’s many users. Metro Sign & Awning began working with property owners at Trinity Financial to begin creating signage for the $100 million Enterprise Center project more than a year before Enterprise Center, Phase I, opened to the public in November 2015. City officials and business leaders expect that the project at the corner of Main and Centre Streets will serve as a beacon and an anchor for continued

Most communication is simple, with a single layer of meaning. But once you get into the world of graphics – where the best signage lives and thrives – you begin to find opportunities to communicate more than one message at a time. Here are a few examples of public, possibly familiar graphics that exemplify the potential for signage to be a powerful tool of communication. Wendy’s has a new logo, but it contains a hidden message that’s very old. Can you spot it? … It’s the word “mom” woven into the red-headed girl’s collar. I guess the idea is to evoke home-cooked foods, family dinners, and perhaps even a dose of unconditional love. None of that is guaranteed when you’re

Signs are a fundamental mechanism for announcing your business to the world, attracting new customers, and setting expectations about your brand, your products, and your service. Over the years, businesses just like yours have tried and tested a variety of signage strategies and tactics, and have generally settled on those that work best. This Infographic details some of the most effective ways that business owners use and improve their signage to help their businesses grow. (Click Infographic to see full image) Although signs are shown to be effective at generating new business, the majority of companies have only one or two signs. Larger companies, however, are likely to have three or more signs. Perhaps this is one of they

Business signage plays an important role in the life of any city, not only because it supports commerce and the livelihood of individual businesses, but also because the overall appearance of a city’s signage helps communicate and even define its character. Think about the differences in signage between Boston and Las Vegas, for example, and what that signage says about each of those cities. Generally, governments do not heavily regulate the content of any signs (although the Americans with Disabilities Act does set forth some standards for signage content). Rather, each city government tends to develop its own set of signage regulations, in an effort to control the appearance of the city’s built infrastructure and also to tame the impulses

The United States Sign Council Foundation, as a part of its on-going effort to provide verifiable information about the optimal usage of signage, has issued a new report titled: “The Economics of On-Premise Signs.” The report makes fascinating reading. It covers everything from the various rationales for local signage regulation to the impact of signage on communities, customers, and businesses. But even more interesting are the discussions of potential signage benefits (which we’ve previously touched on, here). Understandability For example, the report details how a sign that is easier to understand “imposes fewer cognitive demands on the viewer.” Ultimately, more understandable signs allow customers and prospects to learn more about what a business offers. What enhances this kind of signage

When the Boston Public Library wanted dramatic new exterior environmental graphics – including interpretive panels and engraved pavers – at its newest branch, in East Boston, they turned to the noted architectural firm, William Rawn Associates. Rawn, in turn, asked for consultative help from Arrowstreet. And when the time came to fabricate the designs, Rawn and Arrowstreet came to us. The East Boston Library is the newest branch library in the Boston Public Library system. Located in the middle of Bremen Street Park, the building features three entirely glass walls and soaring roof that allows in filtered light, helping to connect the new Library’s indoor resources with the Park’s natural outdoor elements. A new series of interpretive panels are located

The Boston City Council has a Special Committee on “Small Business, Entrepreneurship & Innovation.” This Committee is going to take testimony and deliberate about regulations concerning free-standing sidewalk signs in our fair city. The date: July 23, 2015. The time: 2:00 pm. The location: City Council Chambers. One reason for the hearing is the profusion of new, old, and conflicting regulations that can be applied to these free-standing sidewalk signs. The current City of Boston zoning codes have different standards for different neighborhoods, as well as for various business districts and even for some of the sub-districts within those areas. Once your business gets a ticket for having an “illegal” sidewalk sign, you tend to get interested in the topic.

There’s a lot of talk about “green” these days because many firms are jockeying to position themselves as environmentally conscious and more “green” than their competitors. The signage industry can be a major partner in this effort. To help bring you up to speed, here are 5 things you probably don’t know about “green” signage: 1. Signage can help a facility gain LEED (the US Green Building Council’s “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design”) certification. For example, interior signs crafted from certain materials can provide credits toward LEED certification. 2. Upgrades to signage can provide big environmental benefits at major savings, compared with total replacement. Refurbishing old signage saves money and eliminates the use of new material (that doesn’t have

The Supreme Court has been much in the news recently, but hardly any of the media noticed or reported on one if its decisions that could have profound impacts on the signage industry. Specifically, in the case: Reed v. Town of Gilbert (Ariz.), the Court ruled that limiting temporary directional signage more than other types of temporary signage is a violation of the First Amendment. The ruling was unanimous, but several of the Justices issued their own opinions regarding the meaning and extent of the ruling. As a result, it will probably take years for the legal community to sort out what the practical impact of this new ruling on the signage industry will be. Limitations on Temporary Directional Signage

Make Bold Statements With Dimensional Signage Dimensional (also called “3-D”) signs are another powerful tool in our “signage expert” portfolio. Whether built for indoor or outdoor installation, these vivid, tactile signs can be custom fabricated in almost any shape, color, and size to help realize almost any design intention. Dimensional signage readily stands out from the visual background and has been shown to work very well for such signage applications as: Company Logos and Logotypes Building Identification and Numbering Directional and Wayfinding Signs Office and Lobby Branding While dimensional signs were once a relatively difficult and complex option, today, with our expert technicians overseeing our state-of-the-art, computer-controlled cutting equipment, we can quickly and accurately translate almost any design into dimensional