Sign Builder Illustrated - May 2008 - (Page 50)

Main: The NDSU complex before its LED makeover. Inset: the original artist rendering. At this fifty-five-acre location, university researchers and private industry combine their talents to create new technologies, methods, and systems for a variety of industries—including computing, electronics, defense, nanotechnology, and much more. It should come as no surprise, then, that, with this background, NDSU officials would elect to turn to LED lighting technology to decorate the Research & Technology Park’s main building with extremely bright illuminating identification signage and accent work. Designed to resemble a computer board, the sign project would highlight the NDSU name using the school’s green and gold colors. The intention here is that the LED lighting would complement the creative work being done at the Park. “Whatever we did, first and foremost, had to give an impression of technology and tie into the Park’s overall mission,” says NDSU Technology Park Director Tony Grindberg. Cook Sign Company drafted ideas and designed the sign under the direction of CEO Matt Brasel, Sales Representative David Selvig, Art Director Greg Nelson, Sales Manager Brett Waldera, and Installation Manager Brad Warkenthien. They, in turn, worked 50 Sign Builder Illustrated May 2008 with AgiLight’s Jeff Barton, who flew up to Fargo to help with the design and installation. Everyone agreed that LED tubing would give the impression of electronic circuit boards and state-ofthe-art research-and-development that the university desired. (And since the complex is located near an airstrip and a freeway, Park officials also wanted a sign that could be seen from the air and ground level.) “After several meetings with NDSU officials, we had a pretty good concept of what we thought we might want to come up with—which was LED lighting,” says Selvig. (Note: Cook Sign Company is no stranger to the aspects of solid-state LED lighting—it’s been working with the technology for almost eight years now and with AgiLight’s products for about two years.) “I didn’t get into the technical aspects of LED,” replies Grindberg, when asked about what factors contributed to the school’s decision to accept the use this solid-state lighting technology. “From my perspective, it was more our longstanding relationship with Cook Sign and what they envisioned in realizing what we were hopefully trying to provide with a unique look.” Working with the university and its various committees, it took Cook Sign Company about eight months before the design was finally approved. This was due in part to the schedule of the campus officials and committees who were reviewing the various options and finally making an ultimate decision. When this enhancement project started late in the year, the main objective among all parties involved was to complete the lighting project before NDSU’s first home fall football game of the season. On the side of the main building is an immense 30-by-100-foot sign comprised of green shutters, which are lighted to represent computer chips. Connecting the “computer chips” is gold LED tube lighting that’s designed to look like computer connectors. The “computer chips” and “computer connectors” are connected to huge, nearly-seven-foot-wide discs that are designed to look like computer discs. Inside each “computer disc” is the school’s lettering—“NDSU.” The discs are illuminated with both facelit and backlit lighting, which give them a glow and show off the green and gold letters. “One unique feature of the building— when it was originally designed—was that the glass shutters were supposed to PHOTOS BY COOK SIGN COMPANY.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sign Builder Illustrated - May 2008

Sign Builder Illustrated - May 2008 Contents SBI Agenda Quotes & Comments Contributors Costly Concerns Dispatches Sign Show Dateline: Time to Find a New Identity Teaching a New Dog Old Tricks Sign Illumination: It’s Time to Pay Attention Restoring Old Photographs for Digital Printing Price Doesn’t Sell the Signs You Want to Make Architects in LED Codes for Electric Signs: Don’t Get Blindsided! Digital Displays at the Pearl Harbor Museum The Art of Wayfinding Signage Grand Format National Following Traffic Sign Regulations Designs on ADA Signage Painting Professionally SBI Marketplace Imagine-It Graphics

Sign Builder Illustrated - May 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.