IN THE INDUSTRY

from Sign Builder April 2020

SHOP TALK

IN THE INDUSTRY TURNS 100! YESCO

The Reef in downtown Los Angeles.

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH — YESCO, a renowned company that represents the world’s largest maker of iconic signs, is celebrating one hundred years in business this year. Today YESCO represents one of North America’s largest and mostrecognized sign companies thanks to its historic roster of iconic signs.

The family-owned and operated company began in 1920 in Ogden, Utah when founder Thomas Young borrowed $300 from his father to begin the business. It started out specializing in wallpainted advertisements, gold-leaf window lettering, and coffin plates. Today, headquartered in Salt Lake City and helmed by second-, third-, and fourthgeneration members of the Young family, YESCO designs and creates the world’s most spectacular signs—incorporating dazzling color, LED displays, motion, and digital animation and video.

With three state-of-the-art manufacturing plants featuring automated and custom equipment, as well as sales and service offices located around the country, the company continues to grow. YESCO also operates a franchise signand-lighting service business throughout the United States and Canada.

“This year marks an extraordinary

milestone for our family’s business,” says Jeff Young, vice president and chief marketing officer, YESCO. “Thanks to my grandfather’s vision and ingenuity during the pioneering days of sign design, along with the hard work of nearly 1,100 employees today, our company is—literally—looking ahead to a bright future.”

A pivotal moment in the history of YESCO was its entry into the burgeoning Las Vegas market in 1932, with the iconic Boulder Club sign, which depicted a stein of flowing beer. With this sign and others, YESCO became a pioneer in incorporating neon into storefront advertising and acquired national recognition

for its creativity. In 1945, the company opened a branch in Las Vegas, which today represents its largest facility.

In 1958, YESCO designed and built the Silver Slipper and Golden Nugget neon spectaculars in Las Vegas. The massive Stardust sign and fascia covered the entire front of the building with flashing light bulbs, neon tubing, and simulated stars and planets against a painted lunar background.

One year later, the company designed, manufactured, and installed a massive sign for The Mint Hotel and Casino. Acknowledged as the “electrical engineering classic sign of its time,” the majestic

signs’ curved and arched form towered ninety-six feet above “Glitter Gulch” (now known as Fremont Street).

In 1982, YESCO created the sign package for the then-new EPCOT Center in Orlando, Florida. Other recognizable examples of YESCO’s work illuminating the United States and Canada include the El Capitan Theatre LED high-resolution marquee display in Hollywood, California; Safari Inn in Burbank, California; The Forum in Inglewood, California; Snelgrove Ice Cream (featuring a giant, rotating ice cream cone) in Salt Lake City; the iconic Olympic rings illuminating the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in

Salt Lake City; the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and the Reno Arch in Reno, Nevada.

This year, the company installed its largest sign ever (38,500 square feet) atop The Reef building in downtown Los Angeles. YESCO will also be implementing the signage for the Las Vegas Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium opening later this year.

To celebrate the milestone anniversary, YESCO recently hosted one hundred-year anniversary events that took place in Salt Lake City, Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Reno, Las Vegas, and Boise, Idaho.

IT’S TIME FOR “THE TIMEPIECE”

ATLANTA, GEORGIA — “The Timepiece” is an LED display piece suspended from a twostory ceiling above a central vertex within the heart of Karrinyup Shopping Centre, an upscale retail venue located just outside of Perth, Australia. This recent installation, completed by award-winning LED visualization solutions provider NanoLumens, consists of a four-sided clock sphere and a rotating double-sided pendant.

The clock sphere contains four displays, each with a 2.5mm pixel pitch. The faces of the clock sphere are used to display a classic white watch face with black hands and numerals. The pendant, which hangs beneath the clock sphere, contains an LED display on each of its two sides, They both employ a 4.7mm pixel pitch and feature a 9:16 aspect ratio that makes it easy to format content.

Though the faces of the clock sphere always show the clock image, the displays of the pendant are used to show paid advertising content, branding material for the mall itself, and seasonal or local content that changes throughout the year. Identical content can be played on each pendant display simultaneously, or separate content can be played on each as needed.

The shopping center is managed on behalf of UniSuper by AMP Capital, an international real estate conglomerate. Recent years have seen AMP Capital intensify their effort to innovate within many of their retail properties with striking digital display installations, each of which begins with the goal of creating something unique that enhances an environment’s sense of place. These efforts have been largely led by AMP Capital’s Place Team.

The digital installation was developed by Digital Place Solutions (DPS), an Australia-based digital place consultancy with past ties to NanoLumens. Dynapac, another firm with prior experience working alongside NanoLumens, provided the rotator systems, while Vision Sign created the sleek fiberglass enclosures for the clock sphere and the pendant. The inclusion of the rotator was important for satisfying lines-of-sight requirements for the retail facades in the mall, which include highprofile brands like H&M, Swarovski, and MECCA. The rotation of the pendant also allows the feature to deliver a more dynamic experience to shoppers.

ISA INT’L. SIGN EXPO MOVES TO NEW DATE

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA—The I n t e r n a t i o n a l S i g n Association’s Board of Directors recently convened and decided that, due to the latest developments associated with the COVID-19 virus, the organization will be rescheduling its ISA International Sign Expo, which was originally scheduled to take place April 1-4 in Orlando, Florida. The new dates selected are August 22-25, 2020. The event will remain at the previously scheduled Orange County Convention Center.

Pre-conference sessions are now scheduled to occur on Saturday, August 22, while the ISA Sign Expo 2020 will now be starting on Sunday, August 23 and running to Tuesday, August 25.

T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l S i g n Association is currently working through the logistical aspects that rescheduling the show will bring but does thank you for your support and looks forward to seeing everyone at this year’s rescheduled show.

For up-to-date, breaking information related to this year’s show, be sure to visit SignExpo.org/ Expo2020.