Sign Builder Illustrated - October 2008 - (Page 68)

channel letters, but then eight months later, a new regime took over and wanted something more creative. “They worked with a local graphic artist who came up with their basic logo,” says Vitous, “but admittedly he wasn’t a sign guy, so we had to ‘sign-ulate’ it. We all sat down in front of the computer and found a way to strike a balance between keeping the flavor of the logo and making it readable from the road.” The agreed-upon concept is actually a very interesting sign design—a dinerstyle font for the “Brattleboro” text and an old school-style Ford logo with Ford lettering and a grill from a ’52 Ford Fairlane as the back piece. Custom Designs hand-fabricated and engineered the backlit grill. The “Brattleboro” and “Ford” text is illuminated by SloanLED LED modules, while the grill section backlighting is achieved through fluorescent tubes. “We physically attached the grill and the ‘Brattleboro’ text at our shop,” explains Vitous, “while we attached the ‘Ford’ text partly to the building and partly to the sign when we installed it on-site.” Custom Designs used stand-offs for the sign mounting (in this case, a piece of threaded rod that goes through the building). “The ‘Brattleboro’ is actually all one can hand-bend using a channel letter brake and a little tool that’s a giant plate 3/4-inch-thick with two rods sticking up out of it,” says Vitous. “Kris notched it and hand-bent it all by hand. He also cut the face by hand.” Vitous notes that he’s using LEDs for more and more projects these days and highly recommends them to his sign customers. “We find they’re easier to install and so much quicker to attach inside all our channel letters,” he explains. Donor Signage. One of the sign types that Vitous and Arnold like to work on are donor signage for nearby Brooke’s School (a private school in Andover, Massachusetts). “During my first year, we inherited an $80,000 job for them,” Vitous says. “They then asked if we’d like to work on donor signage for them. It’s real highend work (using materials such as carved cherry and maple and raised letters).” When the principal of nearby Exter High School saw the sign work that had been performed, he asked his friend at Brooke’s School if Custom Designs would be interested in completing an interior plaque for 68 Sign Builder Illustrated October 2008

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

Sign Builder Illustrated - October 2008 Contents SBI Agenda Quotes & Comments Contributors Revving Up for WrapQuest Dispatches Sign Show Sandblasted and Dimensional Sign Rescue, Part Three UV Ink and Printer Update, Part One Black is Black! Makin' Money With Molded Letters Making a Monster A Custom Built Sign Shop The Evolution of Architectural and ADA�Signage Finishing That Makes the Cut Maximizing In-store Signage and P-O-P Displays Wide Format Opportunities Panel Saws: A Precise Cut SBI Marketplace Q&A

Sign Builder Illustrated - October 2008

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