Signs of the Times - April 2020 - 46
STRICTLY ELECTRIC
A BEACON OF SIGN KNOWLEDGE
LESSONS FROM ARTFX'S 40 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE ARE
REFLECTED IN THIS ILLUMINATED MONUMENT SIGN.
BY LAWRIN ROSEN
PRESIDENT, ARTFX
BLOOMFIELD, CT
ULE No. 1 when
lighting a sign:
Make certain
the sign is worth
lighting. A bad
concept or poor
fabrication
cannot be rectified with light.
With that off my chest, I focus on
a double-sided, illuminated monument sign that my company, ARTfx
(Bloomfield, CT), recently designed,
fabricated and installed for Lighthouse Surgery Center in nearby
Hartford. We started with a logo I
co-designed with long-time ARTfx
veteran, Paula Hansen. Submission
No. 1 immediately gained client
approval, which led to the sign design,
a composition based around the logo
and the building architecture. Again,
the initial submission received an
instant thumbs-up from our client
and, more notably, from their rather
discerning architectural firm. When
I started in the sign business 43 years
ago, back-to-back "slam dunk"
R
46
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
APRIL 2020
ARTfx (Bloomfield, CT) designed and fabricated this sign using techniques
to maximize its brightness, while still maintaining a warm and natural
quality to the light.
design approvals would have been less
likely than my making a hole-in-one
while blindfolded in a blizzard.
ROUGH IT UP
The sign for Lighthouse Surgery Center
was fabricated of .125-in. aluminum
plate, but finished to match the building
using ARTfx proprietary techniques,
which approximate variegated limestone and stained-teak hardwood.
The lighting and lettering style, commonly known in the trade as "stencil
cut/push through," simply describes
metal signfaces cut through to allow
for translucent acrylic letters to be
inserted. In this case, the logo and
letter fronts are opaque, so light
emits solely from their sides.
When deciding on the type of
acrylic for smaller letters or interior
displays, we typically use ½-in.-thick
7328 white if letter faces are translucent,
or ½-in.-thick 2447 milk white if faces
are opaque. For larger letters or much
of our exterior work, we use ¾-in.-thick
clear acrylic in conjunction with a
3M 70% white vinyl diffuser on the
back sides (it allows 70% light transmission) and a translucent or opaque
white vinyl appliqué on the faces
(depending on whether the faces are
lit or opaque).
As a note, the sides of the acrylic
Signs of the Times - April 2020
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signs of the Times - April 2020
Contents
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - Intro
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - BB1
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - BB2
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - Cover1
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - Cover1a
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - Cover1b
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - Cover2
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - 1
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - Contents
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - 3
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - 4
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - 5
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - 6
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - 7
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - 8
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - 9
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - 10
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - 11
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Signs of the Times - April 2020 - Cover3
Signs of the Times - April 2020 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/STMG/sott_202010
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/STMG/sott_201412
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/STMG/sott_bg2014
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/STMG/sott_201302
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/STMG/sott_201301
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/STMG/sott_201212
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/STMG/sott_201211
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/STMG/sott_201209
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