The How-To Magazine
ANNOUNCING the NEW Accu-Bend FREEDOM See this revolutionary machine in action at the ISA Show - April 24-26, 2019 - BOOTH #4435
ONLY $19,950 (About $13,200 out-of-pocket after Section 179 Tax write-off)
SIGN BUILDER
illustrated
More profit per letter. No need to buy wholesale. No more bending by hand.
INTRODUCING A
R E V O LU T I O N A RY TABLE-TOP CHANNEL LETTER BENDER NOTCHES, FLANGES, AND BENDS
Leading innovator and first to bring the automated channel letter bender to the sign industry, Computerized Cutters, Inc. is proud to present the newest addition to our line-up of channel letter bending machines, The Accu-Bend FREEDOM. This TABLE-
Save shop space.
Space-saving table-top model. For use on a work bench, rolling cart, or shop counter.
Simple to use.
Made in the U.S.A.
Accu-Bend means quality construction that we stand behind. Plus, a one-year warranty.
Quick turn-around.
TOP model can do what full-size machines can but in a compact and portable size. FREEDOM IS FOR EVERYONE! Whether you purchase
Precision.
to add production capacity, or are just entering the channel letter segment, the space-saving Accu-Bend FREEDOM is for you!
2900 GUILDER DRIVE • PLANO, TX 75074
TOLL FREE 800-310-2887
ICONIC cactus SIGN RETURNS
No special skills required. Set up and run letters the day it arrives.
Produce channel letters quickly. Complete production control.
letters from a wholesaler, produce channel letters now and want
LEDs in Bloom:
Consistent and repeatable letters day-in and day-out.
Add production capability.
Already have a channel letter bender? Add the FREEDOM for increased production.
SALES@COMPUTERIZEDCUTTERS.COM WWW.COMPUTERIZEDCUTTERS.COM/FREEDOM
SIGN MAKers ON ICE: hockey team prop
CUSTOM-BUILT WRAP:
WARPLANE TRUCK DESIGN
M a r c h 2019 | signs h o p.co m
THIS IS NOT YOUR
SAME OLD SIGN CRANE
OVER THE TOP. UNDER CDL.
LS60
V I S I T U S AT
Booth C4-C11
SA L E S | S E RV I C E | F I N A N C E | R E N TA L | T RA I N I N G | PA R TS
A LT E C . C O M / L I S I 1 . 8 4 4 . 6 1 1 .1 8 0 0 S A L E S @ A LT E C . C O M
ANNOUNCING the NEW Accu-Bend FREEDOM See this revolutionary machine in action at the ISA Show - April 24-26, 2019 - BOOTH #4435
ONLY $19,950 (About $13,200 out-of-pocket after Section 179 Tax write-off)
More profit per letter. No need to buy wholesale. No more bending by hand.
INTRODUCING A
R E V O LU T I O N A RY TABLE-TOP CHANNEL LETTER BENDER NOTCHES, FLANGES, AND BENDS
Leading innovator and first to bring the automated channel letter bender to the sign industry, Computerized Cutters, Inc. is proud to present the newest addition to our line-up of channel letter bending machines, The Accu-Bend FREEDOM. This TABLETOP model can do what full-size machines can but in a compact and portable size. FREEDOM IS FOR EVERYONE! Whether you purchase letters from a wholesaler, produce channel letters now and want to add production capacity, or are just entering the channel letter segment, the space-saving Accu-Bend FREEDOM is for you!
2900 GUILDER DRIVE • PLANO, TX 75074
TOLL FREE 800-310-2887
Save shop space.
Space-saving table-top model. For use on a work bench, rolling cart, or shop counter.
Simple to use.
No special skills required. Set up and run letters the day it arrives.
Made in the U.S.A.
Accu-Bend means quality construction that we stand behind. Plus, a one-year warranty.
Quick turn-around.
Produce channel letters quickly. Complete production control.
Precision.
Consistent and repeatable letters day-in and day-out.
Add production capability.
Already have a channel letter bender? Add the FREEDOM for increased production.
SALES@COMPUTERIZEDCUTTERS.COM WWW.COMPUTERIZEDCUTTERS.COM/FREEDOM
Contents March 2019
Vol. 33
16
No. 285
How-To Columns
16 21 24
SIGN MAKERS ON ICE
By Michael Quill Creating a giant-sized goalie mask for a hockey team.
A CUSTOM-BUILT WRAP
By Jeff Wooten A new ’40s warplane wrap aims to exceed expectations.
JOB COSTING, PART ONE
By Jim Hingst No one can afford to make pricing mistakes.
departments
6 8 10 42 44
EDITOR’S COLUMN
The ISA and SBi are teaming up for the WLI iniitiative, and Editor Jeff Wooten has details about this.
IN THE INDUSTRY
EFI Connect celebrates twenty years, and a graphics specialist provides color and privacy to office windows.
Sign Show
The newest products and services from sign manufacturers.
SBI Marketplace
Advertisements and announcements from the sign trade.
Shop Talk
Help is on the way! David Hickey discusses the combination of inspiration and information.
Features
34
38 2
Sign Builder Illustrated
March 2019
38
RETURN OF THE CACTUS SIGN
By Jeff Wooten A classic iconic sign is back in action.
BUILDING A BETTER CONTRAPTION
By Mike Antoniak Sign company delivers a “Rube Goldberg Experience” for charity.
ALL ABOUT ADA INSTALLS
By Ashley Bray How to prepare for an ADA install. signshop.com
Cover Photo: Ed Kinney III.
28
WHERE DESIGN MEETS INNOVATION
START MANUFACTURING ADA SIGNAGE IN HOUSE TODAY. INCREASE PROFITABILITY. REDUCE CYCLE TIMES. REALIZE YOUR ROI IN 1500 SIGNS.
Preferred Fabricator: SignScape™ Architectural Signage, A Division of InPro®
2019 SIGN EXPO BOOTH #2317 | LEARN MORE AT NOVAPOLYMERS.COM/ROI
March 2019, Vol. 33, No. 285 Sign Builder Illustrated (ISSN 0895-0555) print, (ISSN 2161-0709) digital is published by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation
Subscriptions: 800-895-4389
executive offices
President and Chairman Arthur J. McGinnis, Jr. Publisher Arthur J. Sutley 55 Broad Street, 26th floor New York, NY 10004 212-620-7247 ; Fax: 212-633-1863
editorial
Editor Jeff Wooten 323 Clifton Street, Suite #7 Greenville, NC 27858 212-620-7244 jwooten@sbpub.com Managing Editor Ashley Bray 55 Broad Street, 26th Floor New York, NY 10004 212-620-7220 abray@sbpub.com Contributing Writers Mike Antoniak, David Hickey, Jim Hingst, Lori Shridhare
art
Art Director Nicole D’Antona Graphic Designer Aleza Leinwand
production
Corporate Production Director Mary Conyers Digital Ad Operations Associate Kevin Fuhrmann kfuhrmann@sbpub.com
circulation
Circulation Director Maureen Cooney mcooney@sbpub.com Circulation Analyst Brandy Wilson bwilson@sbpub.com
advertising sales
Publisher/Mid-West & West Coast Sales Arthur J. Sutley 212-620-7247 asutley@sbpub.com Associate Publisher/East Coast Sales Jeff Sutley 212-620-7233 jsutley@sbpub.com Sign Builder Illustrated is published monthly. All rights reserved. Nothing herein may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher. To purchase PDF files of cover and layouts or hard copy reprints, please call Art Sutley at 212-620-7247 or e-mail asutley@sbpub.com.
4
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March 2019
signshop.com
Editor’s Column
AGENDA
By Jeff Wooten
March 2019 MARCH 26-29:
Digital Signage Expo 2019 uploads at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. (digitalsignageexpo.net)
April 2019 APRIL 23-26:
The annual ISA International Sign Expo 2019 takes place at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. (signexpo.org)
Women Leading the Industry
May 2019
ISA and SBi launch a new female-focused initiative.
Did you know that this month plays host to International Women’s Day (taking place on March 8), a global event that highlights gender equality in everyday life? In the sign industry, women have made significant strides expanding their careers over the years (both on and off the production floor)—ranging from design and fabrication to installation and management. It’s great to see Women Owned Business certifications nowadays becoming more the norm rather than the exception. And you should already know that women are finding success as CEOs and presidents of major associations and corporations. Yet even with these advancements and the decades of “We Can Do It!” and “Girl Power!” reinforcement, it’s still a mistake to think the proverbial glass ceiling has been completely shattered (although stress cracks do appear to be forming in some spots). 6
Sign Builder Illustrated
March 2019
The reason I bring up this subject is that at next month’s ISA International Sign Expo in Las Vegas, Sign Builder Illustrated and the International Sign Association are teaming up to launch a brand-new initiative, Women Leading the Industry (WLI). The inaugural session, “WLI – The Female Leader: Passion, Empowerment, and Confidence,” will take place at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 26. Moderated by SBi Managing Editor Ashley Bray, this conversation will feature a panel of leaders discussing solutions to the issues that challenge women in the industry and help them grow and become leaders on their own and at their companies. This event is open to everyone, regardless of gender, and you can register for it at www.signexpo.org/womenleading. We have also launched a Web site channel that focuses exclusively on news about women in the industry at www. signshop.com/category/wli, so please do check that out as well “[We] are very excited to partner with ISA on this initiative,” says Bray. “With WLI, we look forward to highlighting the achievements of women leaders in our industry while also fostering growth through education and networking opportunities.”
Jeff Wooten Editor, jwooten@sbpub.com
LIGHTFAIR International, the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting tradeshow and conference, sets up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (lightfair.com)
June 2019 JUNE 6-7:
The Midwest Sign Association’s Summer Meeting & Golf event takes place at the Soaring Eagle Casino Resort located in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. (msassn.org)
JUNE 6-8:
Experience the 2019 SEGD Conference, a gathering of the experiential graphic design community, which will be held this year in scenic Austin, Texas. (segd.org)
JUNE 27-30:
Photo: Shutterstock/Dusan Petkovic.
I
n last month’s issue, we published “Sign Makers: The New Crew,” a feature article that profiled five notable younger talents and detailed their experiences in the sign-making industry. Unfortunately, in our print edition, we incorrectly identified Michael Seibert, co-owner of The Sign Brothers, LLC, in Athens, Georgia. We sincerely apologize to Michael for this error. (Note: We do want to let you know that the correct version does appear in our digital edition, as well as on signshop.com.)
MAY 19-23:
The Texas Sign Association’s Sixty-sixth annual Conference occurs at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas. (txsigns.org)
signshop.com
Face the world with confidence.
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In The Industry
EFI Connect Celebrates
Twenty Years
L
as Vegas, Nevada—The twentieth edition of EFI Connect, the annual Electronics For Imaging, Inc., users’ conference, was held January 22-25 at the Wynn Las Vegas. The conference aimed to help hundreds of print and packaging professionals from around the world achieve more with new technical and business management solutions. The extensive range of featured innovations included a new, highly advanced FS350 platform for EFI Fiery® digital front ends; a new Fiery proServer Premium DFE technology offering significantly faster processing on individual jobs for EFI super-wide format printers; EFI’s newest high-speed, premium-quality hy8
Sign Builder Illustrated
March 2019
brid flatbed/roll-to-roll super wide format LED printer, the VUTEk® h5; and the latest-version of EFI MarketDirect integrated customer engagement and revenue enablement platform, offering new social media, 3D visualization, and inventory management capabilities. The new MarketDirect also includes the addition of award-winning EFI Digital StoreFront® web-to-print software, now rebranded as MarketDirect StoreFront. This year’s Connect featured a variety of interesting sessions, including a talk with teen fashion designer Ariel Swedroe, which covered her story and how she works with textiles and apparel, as well as a fashion show featuring her creations. Cirque Du Soleil also made an appear-
ance to discuss their costume workshop and the processes they use in creating apparel and textile creations for their shows. A keynote session by new EFI CEO Bill Muir covered the changing print industry as well as the ways print providers must continually work to meet the needs of customers. Muir emphasized EFI’s commitment to the customer experience and its plan to continue to innovate and execute in the future. Change seemed to be the theme of this year’s Connect as a fireside chat with Joe Popolo, CEO of The Freeman Company, covered tradeshows and the ways in which that business is finding ways to incorporate new factors like digital components and virtual reality. Popolo circled back to signshop.com
Freeman CEO Joe Popolo (left) and EFI CEO Bill Muir during the fireside chat.
EFI CEO Bill Muir delivers his keynote address.
A Window Into Color
R
print shops want to make changes in revenue, margins, high-value applications, channels, and time to market. the importance of people, however, and the need to make an experience personal. Senior Vice President/General Manager of Productivity Software Gaby Matsliach and EFI CFO Marc Olin brought up change again during their State of the Products presentation. They honed in on the factors needed to drive change in print shops: • Clear vision; • Elements of empowerment: take a holistic view of the business to identify opportunities to unlock value, brainstorm new ideas, and define shared goals and measurements of success; • Proactively solicit external inputs and best practices; and • Rollout, including shared team goals signshop.com
and cross-team alignments. EFI reemphasized its commitment to its customers by promising to be a partner in driving change through technology, consulting, and a variety of solutions and tools to help propel businesses forward. Does your shop want to make a change this year? Chances are you’re looking to grow revenue, improve your margins, get involved in more high-value applications, expand into new channels, or improve your time to market. These are all trending areas currently impacting display graphics service providers, according to Ken Hanulec, vice president, marketing, inkjet solutions, EFI. Mark your calendar for next year’s Connect in Las Vegas January 21-24, 2020.
ichfield, Ohio—When National Interstate Insurance renovated its headquarters, the company wanted its new office space to have a welcoming, openconcept design, which it achieved through a combination of interior glass walls and windows. However, National Interstate also wanted its employees to have a sense of privacy, so they reached out to nearby Central Graphics for help. C e n t ra l G ra p h i c s’ i n te r i o r designer devised a plan to create wall and window graphics to apply to the glass offices throughout the building. The graphics featured different gradients of color—with one primary color theme on each of the building’s four floors. Since the interior windows contained doublepaned glass, Central Graphics suggested installing the graphics to the second panel of glass, leaving the first panel exposed so employees could use it as a dryerase board. To complete the job, Central Graphics chose Mactac’s IMAGin® B-free Frosted Window Film, which is known for its ability to apply quickly and easily while eliminating any graphic wrinkling or bubbling. Central Graphics created the finished graphics using an HP Latex printer, followed by a plotter cutter. They applied a pre-mask to mask the graphics for twenty-four hours then installed them to the glass surfaces using a wet application technique.
March 2019
Sign Builder Illustrated
9
Sign Show CHANNEL LETTERS
VINYL/VINYL FILMS/SUPPLIES
Revolutionary New Accu-Bend FREEDOM Channel Letter Bender is for Everyone!
Create White Boards That Easily Erase Thanks to Drytac’s WipeErase White
Computerized Cutters, Inc., is proud to present the newest addition to its line-up of channel letter bending machines— the Accu-Bend FREEDOM. Recognizing the need in the market for a space-saving solution that is built to last, the company designed this new tabletop model for sign shops of all sizes. The end-result is a channel letter bender that can do what full-size machines can in a space-saving design. The American-made Accu-Bend FREEDOM includes a laptop computer, Accu-Bend software, a one-year warranty, plus toll-free customer support. Whether you purchase letters from a wholesaler, produce channel letters now and want to add production capacity, or are just entering the channel letter segment, the Accu-Bend FREEDOM is the bender for you. (800) 310-2887; computerizedcutters.com/freedom
WipeErase® White from Drytac is a 6-mil white dry erase film with a white gloss, hard coat finish with permanent adhesive protected by a PE-coated K ra f t re l e a s e paper siliconized on the release side. WipeErase White is dimensionally stable and easy to handle. This specialty film is intended for indoor use and not printable. It features a tenyear warranty guaranteeing its eraseability properties. WipeErase White has a chemical- and scratch-resistant UV hard coat and a clear gloss surface that safeguards against ghosting or staining from ink. When compared to other highquality dry erase boards, WipeErase White is remarkably easy to erase. Its anti-graffiti properties also allow for easy removal of permanent marker with rubbing alcohol. It is ideal for use in children’s rooms, schools, daycare centers, offices, hospitals, dorms, and grocery stores, as well as on restaurant pub menus. WipeErase White can also be used to refresh dry erase board surfaces. drytac.com
DIGITAL PRINTING EQUIPMENT/SUPPLIES Océ Arizona 1300 Series: Do More. Do It Smarter. Do It Now. Canon U.S.A., Inc., has launched its new Océ Arizona 1300 series of high-productivity, mid-volume UV true flatbed printers. The Océ Arizona 1300 series has productive print modes, optional light and white ink support, optically clear varnish, and enhanced screening to deliver outstanding quality print after print. It allows print providers with photographic or fine art applications to print on a wide range of media, including odd-shaped, heavy, smooth, or pre-cut media and unusual objects such as canvas, glass, or wood. Customers can choose from three GT models (Océ Arizona 1340 GT, 1360 GT, 1380 GT) with a flatbed print area of 49.2-by-98.4 inches or three larger 121.3-by-98.4 inch XT models (Océ Arizona 1340 XT, 1360 XT, 1380 XT). The impressive innovations in the new Océ Arizona 1300 series are the extensive application range, integrated Océ Arizona Xpert self-learning technology, and instant-on capability. The integrated Océ Arizona Xpert technology allows the printer to learn from what the operator does. This makes it easy and extremely productive to help reproduce complex, multi-layered projects. Just design them once with the intuitive user interface and print them. The printer will learn the recipe for the project, including transparencies and multi-sided printing, which can then be used over and over again. usa.canon.com
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signshop.com
Sign Show VINYL/VINYL FILMS/SUPPLIES
LED MODULES/TUBES/STRIPS
FDC Graphic Films Launches Lumina QuickPress
Principal LED Announces New Components and Warranties for 2019
Lumina® QuickPress is an all-new heat transfer vinyl (HTV) from FDC Graphic Films, Inc. The special adhesive activates at 260°F and takes only five seconds to bond, which opens up more fabric possibilities than most other HTV alternatives. The adhesive has a hot or cold separation/peel and is also resistant to washing. Users can immediately peel the carrier away for instant results. Lumina QuickPress is suitable for use on cotton, polyester, mist textiles, “technical textiles,” performance wear, spandex/elastane, and more! Lumina® by FDC is a product line that features heat transfer vinyl, digital media (print media), and sign vinyl solutions to inspire and provide individuals with the ability to create projects. luminabyfdc.com
Principal LED’s LED lighting solutions are now backed by a ten-year limited product warranty. Along with a new warranty, Principal LED has also added new, higher efficiency chips in the following products to make signs look better than ever: Tap Out Stik™, Qwik Mod™ Series in True White, Street Fighter Standard™, Street Fighter Heavyweight™, Street Fighter Middleweight™, and Street Fighter Plus™. These new higher efficacy modules come in lime green packaging, and the new Tap Out Stik will have a lime green sticker to indicate the new chip. These should not be mixed with previous versions. Also check out the company’s brand-new 2019 catalog, which reflects the new extended warranty. P-LED.com
DIGITAL PRINTING EQUIPMENT/SUPPLIES New Products Premier at the EFI Connect Event This Past January in Las Vegas EFI Fiery FS350 Pro will drive new cut-sheet and continuous-feed digital production presses from EFI partners, as well as ultra-high-speed single-pass inkjet presses from EFI. It handles extended-gamut CMYK+ configurations and offers unique tools to save on specialty toners and inks, reducing waste while delivering amazing color results on high-value print products. Using the newest version of EFI Fiery Command WorkStations, customers gain an intuitive and integrated user experience with a single shared interface for Fiery Driven™ digital equipment, including wide and super-wide format inkjet printers and ultra-high-speed inkjet presses. New Fiery integrations with Duplo finishing devices offer automated cutting, slitting, creasing, and spot coating workflows. For super-wide format inkjet production on EFI printers, the newest-version EFI Fiery proServer Premium DFE uses GPU-accelerated FAST DRIVE technology to process individual jobs twice as fast on average, eliminating idle printer time so users can maximize their printer investments. Meanwhile the 126-inch-wide EFI VUTEk h5 hybrid LED printer, developed from the ground up to establish new benchmarks for productivity and profit opportunity, can run up to 109 boards per hour and offers eight-color and optional four-color printing modes plus white, as well as an up-to-nine-layer print capability. efi.com
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signshop.com
EVENT WED.–FRI., APRIL 24–26 PRE-CONFERENCE TUES., APRIL 23
LAS VEGAS
IT’S GO TIME!
Everything you need for your sign, graphics, print and visual communications business is available to see, touch and discuss with the 600+ vendors at ISA International Sign Expo®. Discover ways to increase efficiencies in your company with products and services that’ll not just increase your profit margin, but also allow you to get more done in less time and with less staff.
REGISTER NOW. SIGNEXPO.ORG/SIGNBUILDER Use code SIGNBUILDER for a free tradeshow pass.
Sign Show ROUTERS/ENGRAVERS Roland DGA Introduces New DGSHAPE DE-3 Rotary Engraver The next-generation DGSHAPE DE-3 rotary engraver continues the legacy of Roland engraving. The desktop machine boasts several improvements that increase functionality, accuracy, and ease of use, including ethernet connectivity, updated nosecone technology for higher quality engraving on uneven material, a data buffer for offline engraving, and an included laser pointer for precise material alignment. The DE-3 comes bundled with new user-friendly Dr. Engrave Plus software, which puts helpful features like .EPS and .AI file types support, leveling and drilling functions, and variable data printing at the user’s fingertips. Dr. Engrave Plus also includes independent layer control and template creation tools that make the DE-3 a perfect solution for industrial and manufacturing companies. With its easy setup and one-button operation, even novice users can start engraving with the DE-3 right out of the box. The DE-3’s open architecture system increases the simplicity of using this device by enabling engraving professionals to use design software and tooling that they’re already familiar with. Users can connect the DE-3 via USB or LAN, allowing for increased flexibility in any environment. In addition, the included Dr. Engraving Plus design software lets you create new artwork or output existing files from popular design software packages to the DE-3 for a true out-of-the-box solution. rolanddga.com/de-3
ShopBot. Your path to profitability. ShopBot manufactures CNC tools that inspire people to turn their ideas into something tangible. When we see signmakers put our tools to work in innovative ways, it reaffirms our commitment to the mission of making digital fabrication technology readily accessible and usable for everyone.
Neathawk Designs The Berkshires, MA Firehouse Café & Bistro Dimensions: 2’ x 4’ Materials: PVC and HDU Tool: ShopBot PRSstandard 60” x 120”
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We make the tools for making the future.
signshop.com
Sign Show wide format Supply55 Releases New ReelPRO V2 Universal Take-up System ReelPRO V2 from Supply55 is an affordable, easy-to-install, easyto-use universal take-up system allowing users to improve efficiency and profitability when printing longer jobs, such as vehicle wraps, banners, wallpaper, and signs. ReelPRO V2 is compatible with all wide format printers and laminators, allowing shops to easily incorporate the system into their workflow and use it throughout their shop on multiple devices. This universal take-up system allows the user to operate their printer unattended, resulting in improved profitability. ReelPRO V2 improves quality by eliminating kinking and scratching of prints as they are moved from the printer to work tables or as they hit the floor. The universal take-up system automatically shuts down when running in “manual mode” at the end of the print job. ReelPRO V2 includes a sensor-to-monitor printhead movement when running in “automatic mode” and shuts down when the printhead stops. It delivers true roll-to-roll production capability and supports media rolls weighing up to 110 pounds. (734) 668-0755; supply55.com
A division of World Industrial Equipment Inc “Designer & Manufacturer of Lift Equipment”
With Over 45 years of experience Stamm Manufacturing’s Heavy Duty Aerial Lifts, have been meeting all your tough Aerial lifts needs. A wide variety of optional features gives Stamm Aerial lifts the ability to customize your aerial equipment needs to your specific requirements. Resolve your aerial lift needs today and put Stamm’s muscle to work!!
LT-62 mounted on F-550 or Dodge 5500 Chassis and Special platform for the sign industry. Call for Price. CUSTOM BODY AVAILABLE.
Financing Available
ATR-45 2 man platform boom – Custom built to your specifications. We have trucks and booms in stock. Call for details.
The 43’ bucket truck with 11’ service body and new F-550 cab chassis with V-10 gas engine – the last in captivity Truck, boom and body in stock. HURRY BEFORE IT IS GONE!!!
4850 Orange Avenue • Fort Pierce, Fl 34947 • (772) 461-6056 Main Plant • 1-800-226-5056 in Florida (772) 464-2716 fax • www.stamm-mfg.com • Email: Glenn@stamm-mfg.com
signshop.com
March 2019
Sign Builder Illustrated
15
How To BRANDING
By MICHAEL QUILL
Sign Makers on Ice Creating a giant-sized goalie mask for a hockey team.
A Non-Icy Relationship Brown’s relationship with the Admirals stretches back more than fifteen years, starting from the days when he coached youth hockey. During this time, there were numerous outings with youth teams to see the Admirals play. Along the way, Brown met the team’s front office personnel, including their sales and marketing team, and he has 16
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March 2019
worked with them to accomplish their signage needs for many projects. Recently Brown, the Admirals marketing team, and Team Owner Harris Turer brainstormed ways to engage with the fan base and reinforce the team’s brand. Brown decided that they needed to design and build a giant goalie mask that not only embodied the team’s current brand and color scheme but also paid homage to the city of Milwaukee and previous aspects of the Admirals’ history (such as their past logos). The discovery process involved many steps to help everyone understand the true needs and requirements of making their vision a reality. Brown estimates that it took about one year of back-and-forth discussions—including estimates, 3D printing models, CAD model drawings, and some proofof-concepts. One-off custom-built products such as this over-sized goalie mask
require proofs of concept...or they will just get left behind as “great ideas.” Executing the Game Plan Brown likens the process of building the giant goalie mask to one method of how boats are built. “You’ll see a lot of similarities to conventional fiberglass layup boat building, such as how Boston Whalers are made,” he explains. “They’re foam-filled for strength and buoyancy. They’re built in such a way that you could cut one of their boats in half and it still floats. “This isn’t to say that the mask needed to float, but it certainly needed the ‘strength’ characteristic.” For Sign Effectz, production design all started with 3D CAD modeling. A CAD model was developed to match a Bauer goalie mask and then sliced in a strategic fashion to develop cross section profiles to be machined later on the company’s Gerber Saber 408 router table. signshop.com
All Photos: Sign Effectz.
A
dam Brown, co-owner of Sign Effectz Inc. (a full-service custom sign company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin), is a passionate ice hockey fan, so it was only natural that this sport would recently cross paths with another one of his passions—creativity. The larger-than-life goalie mask that his company built and installed for the Milwaukee Admirals American Hockey League (AHL) team is all the evidence you need.
Finding a Matthews Color Formula is as Easy as 1-2-3 The small, Bluetooth® enabled scanning device can be brought in the field to capture surface color and syncs with an app on your smartphone or tablet to find the closest Matthews Paint color match. To get started, visit MatthewsPaint.com/MeasureColor
VISIT US IN LAS VEGAS! BOOTH 1123
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800.323.6593 • www.matthewspaint.com • mpc MATTHEWS PAINT and Droplet and Rounded Rectangle is a registered trademark of PPG Industries Ohio, Inc.
How To BRANDING
By MICHAEL QUILL
Materials Summary One-half-inch
Plywood
Polyester resin
(five layers)
Spot putty for
voids or air bubbles
Smooth On’s FOAM-iT
expanding urethane
Matthews base coat primer
Matthews
urethane paint
Four- and six-ounce
Fiberglass
Fabric (75 yards)
Three or four layers on the
inside and outside
Talc (very light, inert)
18
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March 2019
The initial step in the fabrication was to create the 1/2-inch plywood substructure. The plywood was machined inhouse and then stapled/screwed together to create a skeleton base structure. The skeleton was then wrapped in polyethylene plastic sheeting and attached to the wood skeleton frame using a staple gun. The polyethylene sheeting material was selected because it serves well in releasing casting resins and foam once cured and is used in many different casting processes. Once wrapped, it was time for Brown to flip the piece over and pour-fill it with FOAM-iT™ expanding urethane foam purchased from Smooth-On. (Note: Brown could have also done this in a spray-on fashion, but doing so would have required an entire additional line of tooling to execute.) “I wanted to add some strength to the piece without adding any weight,” explains Brown. “It was important to me to not totally rely solely on the fiberglass shell for its structural strength. We would have had to add far more fiberglass, and [doing so] would make the helmet heavy, fast.” FOAM-iT is a two-part expanding urethane that’s available in varying den-
sity (from two to twenty pounds). The general rule here: The heavier the density, the stronger it will be, but the less it will expand. Two densities were used: A mid-level eight-pound density for the areas that required structural stability and strength, and a four-pound density for ease of carving and filling in the gaps or voids that might not have been filled completely by the eight-pound. The Sign Effectz crew peeled off the polyethylene once the foam was cured and set and then started hand carving it with hand tools in order to match the plywood skeleton. Doing this allowed for the rough shaping of all the compound curves. Once the rough shape was properly attained, the remainder of the process was similar to laying out any fiberglass layup structure. A polyester resin and combination of both four-ounce and six-ounce fiberglass cloth was laid down. Between each of the three or four layers, Sign Effectz sanded it to get a smooth application surface for the next layer. There were several resins to select from, but Sign Effectz chose a polyester resin, since it is a more versatile and economical option. Other advantages are signshop.com
How To
BRANDING
that it holds good strength characteristics and is readily available. Next multiple layers of polyester resin mixed with various filler materials were used for an additional sculpting base. Fillers were added to not only make it easier to sand but also for application purposes. By itself, the resin is runny like maple syrup. The fillers made it possible to squeegee and spread the resin like cake frosting. The result was a resin that was able to remain in vertical positions. Meanwhile wood and talc powder fillers were applied because they’re inert. They also do not affect the chemical curing process and are relatively easy to sand. Once the shape of the mask was complete, a Matthews urethane basecoat primer was applied to it and spot putty was used to fill in any small voids, imperfections, or bubbles. Once completely wet sanded and super smooth, a grey Matthews urethane top coat was applied to the oversized mask. This served as a base color for the airbrushed artwork. The Sign Effectz team also developed an aluminum supporting sub frame, which Brown refers to as the “mobility frame.” This aluminum tube frame al-
lows the giant mask to be moved easily around the concourse of the arena on removable casters. There is a bin located in the chin area of the mask for storage of the casters when the mask is placed in its location. The frame for it was modeled and designed in CAD to ensure it would fit inside the mask. The mask was then shipped to Wenzel Design in the suburbs of Milwaukee for the airbrush work, which took about two weeks to complete. The designs featured on the mask include the team’s history through nostalgic logos and the Milwaukee skyline. Local artist Chuck Wenzel designed and painted all the artwork here using House of Kolor urethanes and various techniques to achieve the underwater effects, skylines, and logos. When he returned the mask to Sign Effectz’s shop, the sign makers masked off the airbrushed artwork so that they could paint the interior surface. Final painting steps on this oversized piece included four coats of Matthews highgloss clear urethane. Benches were also added to the interior of the mask for fans to sit during photo opportunities. A one-inch-diameter steel tube cage
By MICHAEL QUILL
Equipment List Tube
BENDER
Viking
spray booth
Binks
spray guns
Matthews mixing station
Gerber Saber
408 router
Sanding
tools
Dual-action
sanders
signshop.com
March 2019
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the mask embodies the team’s current brand while paying homage to Milwaukee and the admirals’ history. was roll formed and bent to enclose the front of the mask. This added some well needed detail to the mask and finished it off. Out of the Sign Box The Sign Effectz crew loaded the completed mask on an 8.5-by-20-foot car hauler trailer and shipped it to the UW Milwaukee Panther arena, located in downtown Milwaukee, on December 21 (just in time for Christmas). The helmet wheeled around the arena with ease on the new mobility frame, and when put in its new home, the casters were removed and stored in their bin. According to Turer, the new Admirals goalie mask sculpture is an instant hit. “It allows fans to take pictures and post them to their social media pages for all to see,” he says. “We are excited for everyone who comes to a Milwaukee Admirals game to see the mask and take a picture inside it.” Brown and his family attended an Admirals game the day after Christmas. He reported that the giant mask was well received by fans. “It’s hard not to be impressed with the level of detail, such as the bearded pirate wearing hockey skates. [Wenzel] did an amazing job on the artwork,” says Brown. Sign Effectz takes great pride in achieving the behind-the-scenes engineering and development processes. This was a very challenging project for them from a form and function standpoint. In the end, Brown scored game tickets for all of his employees so they could take their families to the arena and show off their hard work. It ended up being a joyous Christmas for all! 20
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signshop.com
How To
VEHICLE WRAP
By JEFF WOOTEN
A Custom-built Wrap A ’40s warplane wrap aims to exceed expectations.
Photos: Steve Seifried of Seifried Portrait Design.
T
he P-51 Mustang was an American fighter plane that patrolled the skies and fought in aerial combat during the days (and nights) of World War II. This aircraft also served as the inspiration behind a recent custom truck build and accompanying chrome wrap that landed in triumph at last year’s Specialty Equipment Market Show (SEMA) show in Las Vegas. This warplane-on-wheels was displayed in synthetic lubricant manufacturer AMSOIL’s booth at the show. It took some barnstormin’ collaboration between several vehicle professionals for them to take a little bit of history and make their own history here. One of the figures responsible for this wrap is Nate Kraus, owner of IVS Wraps in Holmen, Wisconsin. This custom wrap shop focuses on color-change and custom print wraps. Kraus is also a huge part of the local hot rod and car culture scene. It
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was while displaying his Tribal Chrome F150 wrap at one such car show two years ago that he met Chris Meyer, owner of Legendary Customs in La Crosse, Wisconsin (a customizer and restorer of classic automobiles). “We had a great discussion about how wraps could be prevalent in the classic/hot rod scene,” says Kraus, “and we kept in touch from there. I’d been wanting to do a killer wrap with him for awhile.” This wish became reality when Meyer contacted Kraus in early 2018 with a request to do something special appearance-wise for an only-one-of-its-kind custom-build hybrid truck he was working on for a client. The truck is a combination of 19551958 GMC 3100 pickups. “However the bed and the ’57 cab were grafted together to create a seamless transition, as well as the addition of a fleet side box replacing the step side box,” says Kraus. “And to top off the uniqueness, it boasts
a Dodge Viper V-10 engine!” The custom vehicle was dubbed the “P-57” (the average year of the parts used). The P-57 designation also fit into the theme of a P-51 Mustang, so Meyer’s idea was to have Kraus transform its exterior into a warplane-theme wrap. Although deadlines prevented them from being able to work up this idea in time for the annual Avery Dennison Wrap Like a King contest, Kraus plotted a course of action instead for the wrapped truck to take off at the SEMA show later that year. Kraus is also vice president of the International Brotherhood of Wrappers (IBOW), a training organization in Indiana, so he reached out to IBOW Founder Dan Nava for design help. Nava played a key role installing booth graphics for the AMSOIL booth at SEMA back in 2016 and 2017 and had brought Kraus along with him to help. Armed with Kraus’s idea, Nava worked up an initial concept to present March 2019
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How To VEHICLE WRAP
By jeff wooten
to AMSOIL officials. At this time, the concept for the custom truck was already done. “Fortunately it just happened to fit the narrative of their booth—‘American Made Oil,’” says Kraus. The wrap would transform the custom truck into a ’40s-era P-51 Mustang complete with a shiny metal exterior, vibrant color schemes, a U.S. flag, fauxpilot markings of enemy aircraft “shot down,” rivets, and pinup art on its sides. The initial concept won the acceptance of AMSOIL officials and other SEMA sponsors. “This evolved into a second design that would take ultimately 200 hours of work with final concept, creating a template, and providing final output print files,” says Kraus. “We had to keep it a secret as long as we could, to prevent it from being duplicated by someone else before SEMA.” Nava used Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop programs to work up the wrap design. A majority of the concept is custom-made. The pinup-inspired art is the only piece of the design drafted from Clip Art. “The tears were drawn in Photoshop,” says Kraus. “The flag was drawn in Illustrator and detailed in Photoshop. All the shadows were brushed in instead of standard Photoshop drop shadows. All of the other aspects were custom created.” Legendary Customs fabricated the entire truck in-house starting that fall. The P-57 features an all-metal body (no fiberglass whatsoever). However Kraus and Nava couldn’t be22
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gin templating the truck until Legendary Customs had completed the body fabrication. Even more challenging—the SEMA show was fast approaching. Nava traveled to Wisconsin two weeks before the SEMA show to create a custom template for the truck as it was being assembled. The concept was built off of truck images and manipulated in Photoshop. “Keep in mind that the ’57 Chevy cab was being merged with a GMC Fleetside bed and custom-fabricated with no division between the cab and the bed, so there were no exact measurements available,” says Kraus. “[Nava] and I spent hours measuring the vehicle with a fabric measuring tape. Then he created a custom template in Illustrator at 1/20 scale.” While the design ended up experiencing some final adjustments before being printed, ultimately Kraus and Nava had everything right. “The challenge of the design was mostly due to not having accurate measurements, as the concept was made months before the truck was built,” says Kraus. “[Nava] had to plan ahead with the possibility that things could change or be completely different than we had originally envisioned.” It was only when the truck fabrication was finished and being painted that Kraus was able to template the truck the oldschool way using transfer tape and photos. Bucking the trends of other militarythemed vehicle wraps, the goal for this wrapped truck was to make it look brand new. “I’ve seen several other warplane
themes before, but I don’t ever remember seeing one that looked straight off the assembly line,” says Kraus. “They always look tattered and patina.” Even though the truck was super curvy, Kraus used Avery Dennison Conform Chrome™ film here because of his previous experience printing on it and knowing that it would help him achieve the goal of the off-the-assembly line mirror finish that those warplanes possessed back in the day. “I had built my own print profile for printing on chromes from previous projects and was confident it would get the results I needed,” says Kraus. IVS Wraps printed the graphics directly onto Conform Chrome using their HP 365 Latex printer and laminated them with Avery 1460Z. Since Kraus had done several printed chrome wraps prior to this project, he knew how to dial his printer in without an issue. “[Nava] supplied me with print/swatch sample files, and we had positive results within a matter of a few minutes,” he says. “After that, we never looked back.” The design is featured on both sides of the truck. Kraus also wrapped the top of the hood, the roof, and the insert of the tailgate in Avery Brushed Titanium material. “I really wanted to accent the truck with something to complement the chrome as well as stick to the warplane theme,” says Kraus. “It really broke it up but tied it all together amazingly.” Between test prints to nail colors and printing the actual wrap, Kraus used signshop.com
How To
VEHICLE WRAP
roughly thirty yards of film. As far as separate pieces, there are fifteen printed Conform Chrome pieces as well as three Brushed Titanium pieces. Kraus wanted to make the rivets on the wrap look three-dimensional, so after some investigation, he reached out to a company that did decal doming. Nava used Illustrator to design the 3/8-inch rivets with a circle gradient that Kraus sent them to produce the printed “3D” chrome-domed rivet heads. “I hand-applied 6,000 of them to the truck,” he says. Kraus had to overcome the looming SEMA deadline in order to complete this mission. The truck arrived at Kraus’s shop for wrapping on the Monday before the Sunday move-in for this year’s SEMA show. At the time, it had no interior, so much of the final assembly took place while he was wrapping it. The vehicle had to be finished and loaded onto a trailer by Friday at midnight to head out for a thirty-two-hour ride to Las Vegas. “To say it came down to the wire is an understatement!” says Kraus. Kraus performs all his installs solo on a lift so he can put the vehicle in the air to eliminate static pulling dust off the floor. He also uses Yellotools Wrapbar Pro and MagStrapz Magnets a lot during installation. “With this particular design, the placement of the pinup art was key, so I placed that panel first and then work out from there,” he says. Another challenge was that Legendary Customs had fused the cab to the box, so Kraus had to get really creative with the seams for it to still appear seamless. “I was taking scraps of chrome from the panels getting cut down and doing a few different layouts in those challenging areas to visualize what would look best before the actual install,” says Kraus. “I’m a firm believer that a little bit of pre-planning can save you a ton of headache when it comes to the installation.” In the end, Avery Dennison named this vintage-yet-new wrap as one of its “Top Five Vehicle Wraps of 2018,” and reactions to the P-57 warplane truck have been incredible. “The truck got tons of love from the wrap community signshop.com
and so many guys in the industry I have looked up to, as well as making it on the local news,” says Kraus. “The truck owner saw the finished version for the first time at the SEMA AMSOIL booth, and he was quite overwhelmed.” Current plans are for an aggressive
By JEFF WOOTEN
travel schedule for the warplane truck this coming car show season. “I am 100 percent happy with the outcome,” says Kraus. “Being trusted to pull everything off by the SEMA deadline was overwhelming at times, but I would absolutely sign up to do it all over again.”
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Sign Builder Illustrated
23
How To PRICING
By JIM HINGST
Job Costing, Part One
H
ow many times have you wondered how your competitor could afford to sell a job at a ridiculously low price? In many cases, the other guy actually can’t afford it. While these shops may cover their direct material and labor costs, they may not have allocated a reasonable share of the overhead. Eventually many of these businesses lose enough money that they close their doors. That might sound like good news to you if they’re a competitor; but unfortunately, these businesses are often replaced by shops that also do not know how to estimate and price their work. In many cases, correctly estimating a job is the difference between making the sale and not making it. Ideally you want to price your work so that your business actually covers all of its expenses and makes a reasonable amount of profit. What makes costing so confusing to so many is that there are so many 24
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methods for estimating jobs. What I will explain in this two-part series is the method that I used when I worked as an estimator for a large printer. It is based on allocating overhead to direct labor, which is one of the easiest and most popular ways for a small- or mediumsize shop to cost their jobs. The method involves adding up all of your direct costs for a project and then allocating an appropriate amount of your indirect costs. Direct costs include all of the raw labor, raw material, and other direct costs, which are easily traceable to a particular job. That’s the easy part of estimating. The tricky part is deciding how to apportion a fair amount of the overhead to the job. In the estimating method that I suggest, overhead is allocated to direct labor. To do that, you first need to total all of your shop and administrative costs for the year. These costs include all of
the indirect charges (both fixed and variable), which are impossible or extremely difficult to trace to a particular job. Then you need to determine how many direct labor hours are charged to jobs in that year. With this information, you can calculate your burdened shop rate, which is multiplied by the number of direct labor hours estimated for the job. After burdening your raw material expense, you simply add up all of the burdened labor and material and other direct expenses to arrive at an estimated job cost. To that cost, you apply your profit to arrive at a selling price. That’s the Reader’s Digest version. What follows this month and next month is the detailed explanation of how this estimating system works. Direct costs are comprised of three components: direct labor, direct material, and other direct. In discussions of labor costs, you probably have heard many different signshop.com
Photo: Shutterstock/ ktasimar.
No one can afford to make pricing mistakes.
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ALL THINGS
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How To PRICING
By JIM HINGST
terms used. Sometimes these terms are used incorrectly. To avoid any confusion, let’s start with a few basic financial definitions, which I’ll go over in this issue. Direct Labor. Direct labor refers to the actual wages paid that you pay workers in your shop to complete a particular activity in the production of a job. It typically only applies to line workers and does not include any wages or salaries paid to supervisors or office personnel. Direct labor hours are not considered part of shop overhead. Direct labor usually does not include any benefits (health insurance, dental insurance, payroll taxes etc.), nor does it factor in vacations, holidays, or sick time. Instead these benefits should be categorized as part of the overhead (shop and administrative costs). Direct labor only applies to costs, which are directly traceable to a specific job. This can include the time for machine set up, production time, and clean up. As an example of estimating direct labor costs for a job, you may determine that to plotter cut, weed, premask, and apply a graphic to a sign blank will take 1.25 hours at an average shop rate of $12 per hour for a total of $15 (1.25 hours production time x $12/hour = $15 direct labor cost). Indirect Labor. This refers to the number of labor hours devoted to tasks other than production, such as answering phones, speaking to walk-in customers, performing housekeeping activities, or routine maintenance on shop equipment. Whereas direct labor hours are not part of shop overhead, indirect labor is. In a small shop, where employees wear many different hats, as much as 40 percent of labor hours are indirect labor. Burdened Labor. A fully burdened labor rate would include all of the benefits, payroll taxes, insurance, and any other employment costs that you pay in addition to the employee’s wages to keep them on the job. This burdened rate is not the same as a shop rate, which uses direct labor hours as a cost driver for allocating overhead expenses. Because direct labor is related to every aspect of indirect costs, it is an effective cost driver for allocating overhead to 26
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jobs. However what happens when you are just buying and selling material and services and no direct labor is charged to a job? No overhead is allocated. In addition to allocating a portion of overhead costs to direct labor costs, you
should also apply a burden rate to raw material costs and other direct expenses. A “burden rate” is another term for applying a percentage of indirect costs or overhead to the direct costs of a job. In the case of assigning a burden rate
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to direct material and other direct costs, many shops will apply 10 percent to these costs. For example, if the raw material cost (vinyl film, ink, laminate, and application tape) for a job is $100.00, an additional 10 percent (calculated by di-
viding by .9) would result in a burdened material cost of $111.11. Applying a burden rate to direct material and other direct cost, will apply a rightful amount of overhead to jobs in which you are merely buying material
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(such as striping) or outsourcing a service (such as vinyl application) and reselling these products or services. Overhead Allocated to Direct Labor. For a job shop, such as a sign shop or printer, the simplest way to allocate overhead to your jobs is to divide it evenly across the total number of direct labor hours. By doing this, you will calculate your shop rate. (Note: Determining your shop rate is covered in detail in next month’s article.) Direct Material. Direct material refers to the raw material that is estimated for the production of a job. When I worked for fleet graphics screen printers, these materials included the cost of the vinyl film, ink, clear coat, and premask (application tape). In estimating the materials needed, you should always factor in a percentage for material loss or scrap. For many jobs, an additional 10 percent may cover you. That percentage, however, could be higher depending on the difficulty involved in producing the job. Other Direct Costs. This refers to any additional costs for tooling, materials, or services, which are required to produce a specific job. In sign making, other direct could include any special paint or tools that you would only use on the job it was ordered for. In printing this could entail color separations or design services. It might also include any part of the production costs that you need to farm out to another company. Indirect Costs. These expenditures are not directly traceable to a job and consequently not directly charged to the manufacturing of a project. Nevertheless a fair amount of those indirect costs must be apportioned to the job. Some examples of indirect costs are shop overhead, advertising expense, supervisor salaries, and taxes. Indirect costs can also include direct material expenditures for supplies, which are impractical to trace to specific projects, such as screws, glue, or lettering enamel. In these cases, it makes more sense to treat charges for materials as part of shop overhead. Next month, we will explore how this terminology helps you calculate your shop rate. March 2019
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RESTORATION By JEFF WOOTEN
R et u rn o f th e
Cactus Sign A classic iconic sign is back in action.
F
All Photos: Barlo Signs.
rank Giuffrida’s Hilltop Steak House was once one of the top eating attractions in Saugus, Massachusetts. The establishment added to its recognition thanks to its landmark, sixty-seven-foot-tall, on-premise sign shaped like an illuminated cactus. The two top sign cabinets of this legendary sign resembled bowties (a 36-by10-foot featuring “Hilltop” letters and a 56-by-14-foot with “Steak House” letters) while the 28-by-5-foot bottom panel featured the name “Frank Giuffrida’s.” The base resembled a cactus and its branches sprung upwards to hold the cabinets and panels in place. Sporting over 2,500 feet of green neon tubing and 210 fluorescent lamps of various sizes, this attention-grabbing spectacular stood out along the landscape of Route 1 and wowed everyone in the area for many years. But, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. The Frank Giuffrida’s Hilltop Steak House restaurant shut down in 2013, yet the reality was that its once-iconic sign had already been a victim of disrepair for years. The oversized cactus found itself on the endangered list of extinct historic signage and threatened to take a spot on Memory Lane. Thanks to the recent AvalonBay residential and Crosspoint retail developments, which are taking the dilapidated property and turning it into a mixture of apartments, restaurants, and shops, the giant illuminated cactus has risen again like a prickly phoenix from the past— only now entirely with LEDs. The restored sign is back in action in the same spot, now standing next to the new 110 Grill steakhouse. The cactus still says “Hilltop,” but it also advertises the new Avalon/Crosspoint development. In the end, it took a fifty-year-old sign company to bring this fifty-year-old landmark back to illuminated glory. The Seeds for This Project Back in October of 2017, AvalonBay and Crosspoint Associates reached out to Barlo Signs, a full-service sign company in Hudson, New Hampshire that has been in business since 1968, asking about the opportunity to restore this sign. (Note:
signshop.com
Barlo Signs was recently purchased by Raymond Brayton, Patrick Assioun, and Philippe Dame in July 2018, and Brayton is currently their new president.) Long-time Barlo Signs Sales Representative Terry Wilkins had cultivated a long-standing relationship with Avalon and Crosspoint Associates, which opened the door for this opportunity. They were already on their radar because three years earlier, the company built a large display for one of their residential properties. Wilkins, Brayton, and Director of Project Management Colby Wolff met up with AvalonBay to discuss this project, and they were instantly smitten with the possibilities. “We were very excited to be given the opportunity to bring life back to the iconic New England landmark, as many of us have great memories of the old restaurant,” says Brayton. The entire cactus display measures sixty-seven feet in height and forty-eight feet at its widest width (the second bowtie). The company has done a lot of remodels on typical signs in the U.S., but this was the first time they’d ever gotten involved with a grand-scale sign that’s basically illumination. Brayton says his company approached this project as a straight-up restoration. Their goal was not to have to replace anything if they could get away with it. Barlo Signs worked closely with Ed Kenny III, senior sales specialist at New England Sign Supply, owned by Grimco, to procure materials throughout the
entire project. Fortunately the city of Saugus was supportive to everyone during the entire project. They were very eager to see this landmark sign restored and remain on the property. “They told us to just stay in the box, and we would be fine,” says Brayton. A Little History About a Big Sign The former Hilltop Steak House cactus sign was erected back in 1967. The sign was the creation of Mack Sign, Inc., in Everett, Massachusetts. According to published reports, Mack Sign formed 115 sections of the sign in a variety of shapes and sizes to arrive at the cactus shape, ranging from elbow pieces to the straight piece on top. In order to make the molds, they had to “carefully match the grooves on each of these pieces to keep the diameter accurate to within an usually close tolerance.” Brayton was amazed at the engineering feats the shop performed back in the day. “There were so many brilliant things that we’d be scratching our heads today trying to come up with,” he says. For example, he points toward the small amount of sizes fabricated for the panels. “They didn’t have to have a hundred different molds,” he says. “They just created a dozen or so and laid them out. Basically they would just hand-trim the lengths of some of the panels and massage them to come up against the vertical part of the cactus.” Barlo Signs ended up using many
A combination of white and green LEDs were used to give the sign a jeweled look.
March 2019
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The original on-premise identity sign featured a unique cactus shape that held up bowtie and traditional sign cabinets hosting a variety of dimensional lettering.
modern-day manufacturing techniques to restore this sign, with a little bit of history thrown in. Restoring a Prickly Bloom The body of the cactus is unique. “We had to ask ourselves how would we be able to recreate one or several of these panels, if need be? How would we ever be able to match the same green color?” says Brayton. Barlo Signs located the original plaster molds, which were housed in nearby Lynn, Massachusetts. “Amazingly we were able to clean and touch up the existing nineteen cactus panels with no need to recreate any pieces!” says Brayton. The original cactus was painted light green, then shaded to a dark green and highlighted with yellows and tans. “Because of the fading of the backspray painting over all these years, there was inconsistency in the film,” says Brayton, noting they didn’t want to repaint anything but just restore it. While a lot of rust was visible on many of the internal parts of the cactus, as well as on the backers of the two sign cabinets, Barlo Signs determined this was not structural. Fortunately this meant these repairs would be mostly cosmetic. The backers on the top two sign cabinets are solid steel coated in porcelain. “Though porcelain was a popular material used in signage back in the 1960s, it’s not a material that’s often utilized in the
industry now,” says Brayton. “We decided to first try cleaning the surface using five or six different agents unsuccessfully.” The sign company realized they had to find a way to recolor a large, unfamiliar surface. Some initial ideas included electrostatic painting (typically seen in restoration of porcelain bathtubs), wrapping the sign with vinyl, or fabricating an aluminum overlay. “In the end, our in-house painter was able to find an acrylic-based primer specifically designed to bond to porcelain,” says Brayton. “This allowed us to paint the surface using acrylic latexbased paint.” An Illuminating Experience Thanks to the number of components used, the glow of the original cactus sign generated a massive amount of power, so all parties agreed from the outset to use energy-efficient LEDs instead. The first thing Barlo Signs did was strip down the entire display (which had, by that point, deteriorated pretty badly anyways), leaving only the acrylic panels in place. They removed all the neon and fluorescent tubes from it for recycling. Barlo Signs then used a bucket truck to take down all seventeen, five-foot-tall “Hilltop” and “Steak House” letters and used their cans as a template to create a pattern for a new set of “Hilltop” letters. “We were able to reproduce the original tube look using reverse-cut visignshop.com
The original sign was built with corrugated metal wrapped around a steel pipe.
nyl on the new letter faces and backlit LED,” says Brayton. They opted to leave the open pan bowties and red porcelain alone. “We just cleaned them up and painted them,”
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says Brayton. Barlo Signs used 4,100 total feet of LED modules. This change in lighting technology takes the sign from 280 amps, drawing 30,800 watts of power, to only 112.5 amps, drawing 12,375 watts, a reduction of nearly two-thirds. To give the cactus its subtle greenishwhite hue, Barlo Signs ended up combining white and green LEDs, which they adhered to acrylic, cylinder sleeves in order to bring the illumination just behind the surface of the cactus panels. This color combination was actually a happy little experimental case of trialand-error. There really wasn’t much science involved in the LED layout and design. Barlo Signs just took what they had and worked from there. “I took one panel section and created a backdrop that I could string the LEDs to and just do an array of six inches on center,” says Brayton. Brayton started out with just white LEDs then just green LEDs. Under-
whelmed with what he was seeing, he tested green and white LEDs together and immediately discovered this combo brought life to the panels. “There’s a beautiful, wonderful look with the white and the green intermixing with each other. So one pixel is white, the next pixel would dance off to the right about four inches and be green,” says Brayton. “That gave us a jeweled look. In some of the cases where the forming had a little bit of a clear, you can see a white light in a spot and then your eye would see a green over there.” Brayton left everything alone. When the client showed up an hour later, he asked them what they thought. “They were instantly impressed!” says Brayton. “It was exactly what they wanted!” Barlo Signs built interior pans and covered them. “We basically had to make them so that they could not only have all the LEDs strung around them, but they would have to be able to fit and slide up inside these radius sections without
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High Quality Products for Your Finishing Needs. completely disassembling the cactus,” says Brayton. “We were concerned that we didn’t want to pull apart too much of the steel.” The company worked on and installed all of the pieces for this sign starting from the top and moving downwards. Barlo Signs used Lexan for the two sets of four acrylic-face tenant cabinets on the previous “Steak House” bowtie cabinet, and they built two new SignComp single-face extruded cabinets with tinted 3M flex faces for the Avalon cabinet on the bottom. The sign was originally built with corrugated metal wrapped around the main steel pipe. “They put their fluorescent sockets in the valleys of the corrugation and ran the lamps,” explains Brayton. “When I saw that, I thought it was a brilliant idea. I had never thought about that.” Barlo Signs wrapped stainless steel on all the cabinet returns to create a single double-face appeal to the signs. “In some areas, where it was just a lot of missing pieces over the years with all the service work that was done to the sign, we worked with some anodized aluminum to gave it a similar appeal of stainless,” says Brayton. “There was an area around the ends of those bowties that was very jagged cut, and every bit of that was hand-done stainless steel trim capping.” All the power supplies are nested in the lowest “Avalon” display. “We had the ten circuits that dropped down to the base of the cactus from there,” says Brayton.
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Making Its Point The illuminated cactus returned to life at a public press-attended ribbon-cutting ceremony on December 21. “It truly is one of the biggest and brightest signs on all of Route 1,” says New England Sign Supply’s Ed Kenny III. Brayton feels the most pride that everyone at his company rallied together to complete this unique and fun project. “There was a lot of off-the-clock time and T-L-C put into this thing by many of us because we just wanted to be over the top,” he says. “To save all that porcelain and rework all the acrylics, you couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.” signshop.com
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Feature Name DIMENSIONAL By MIKE Author ANTONIAK
Building a Better
contraption I
f you’re of a certain age, mention of “Rube Goldberg” brings to mind the cartoonist’s convoluted machines designed for accomplishing simple tasks. Others may know this creative reliance on chain reactions from playing the favorite childhood game Mousetrap. Recently Britten, Inc., (britteninc.com) of Traverse City, Michigan designed and delivered a modern-day Goldbergian take on such comic engineering for visitors to New York City’s Bryant Park. 34
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Sponsored by Bank of America to promote and support its affiliation with the charitable organization Project (RED) (red.org) and its efforts to end AIDS in Africa, this life-sized “Rube Goldberg Experience” drew crowds and raised thousand’s of dollars in donations, twenty cents at a time, over four days in early December. Event marketing specialists Octagon (octagon.com) coordinated and managed the project on behalf of client Bank of America.
“One of their executives had an idea for some type of machine or physical structure to demonstrate how one small change can have a major impact,” says Tiffany Murphy, senior event producer for Octagon. The goal was to engage and entertain the public while showing how every contribution to Project (RED) builds into life-changing benefits, providing much-needed medication for those in the Third World. signshop.com
Photos: Britten, Inc.
Sign company delivers a “Rube Goldberg Experience” for charity. A Rube Goldberg Experience Murphy put out a request for proposals on a “Rube Goldberg” experience to convey that concept and encourage purchases of (RED)-affiliated brands, with special requirements. The contraption had to be designed, built, and installed inside a 30-by-30-foot pavilion in just over a month. The folks at Britten, she says, “got the concept immediately,” and guaranteed they could meet the deadline. signshop.com
According to Britten officials, their company has thirty-plus years of experience helping some of the world’s largest brands visually connect with their audience. “We still do a lot of digital printing, but another area we have really grown into is what’s called ‘experiential’ or ‘event’ marketing, and we have worked with Octagon on several projects befor,” says Mike Dudek, senior designer at Britten. “A lot of customers turn to
us because they know we can execute a project quickly.” Paul Britten, president of Britten, crated and submitted a balsa wood miniature prototype of how his company could deliver that experience. Thanks to that effort, Britten was awarded the assignment. With only twenty-eight days to go until the launch of the campaign, this project landed on the desk of Designer Anna Paddock. March 2019
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Her working guidelines: Create a “Rube Goldberg”-styled machine running less than five minutes, incorporating ten elements showcasing products from brands partnering with (RED). Those brands include Alessi, Amazon, Apple, Mophie, Vilebriquen, Vespa, Line Friends, EOS, Line Friends, Theory11, Chocolate, Fatboy, S’well, and Aden + Anais. A portion of sales of their select products would be donated to the charity. “When it started it was like ‘Here’s a concept, now you figure it out,’” jokes Paddock. “It was nice to be given complete creative freedom, however at the same time, it was very challenging because of the time constraints involved.” Partly inspired by a Rube Goldbergstyled video for the song “This Too Shall Pass” by pop/rock band OK Go (https:// bit.ly/1nBiXnm), Paddock set to work. Initially she concentrated on designing ten separate event stations, modeled on old-fashioned toys, then matched appropriate products to each. From Design to Build “There was a lot of back and forth and minor revisions, but once we had that series of machines, it was primarily up to our engineers to figure out how each element would interact with and trigger the next,” adds Dudek. By week two, the Britten team had a working 3D model built through the 36
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use of Rhinoceros CAD software; then the project moved from concept into actual production. Aluminum trusses that support the machine and stations were painted with Project (Red)’s logo color, while graphics for each element were printed directly to seven-ply birch plywood
Britten really outdid themselves on this project. to turn something around like this in just thirty days is definitely not the norm. panels with the company’s Inca Turbo flatbed. These were shaped as needed with a MultiCam 3000 CNC router. “We used all our equipment resources,” reports Senior Industrial Designer Wayne Stiles. “It was a great challenge, considering the time frame, but we were
able to hit all the sweet spots and utilize all the talents of our company.” In the final week, the entire machine was built and tested at Britten’s production facility in Michigan before the stations were dissembled and shipped to New York City. Seven persons who contributed to this team effort made the trip to assist with the installation and oversee operation. In addition to Britten, Paddock, and Stiles, this group included Artist and Account Coordinator Valerie Hyrman, Junior Industrial Designer Jon Asava, CAD Designer Max Arbury, and Fabricator Jon Schaffer. Wow! When doors opened to the public, the “wow” factor was immediate. Visitors were invited to step up and swipe a gargantuan Bank of America Card through a giant card reader, generating a twenty-cent donation to Project (RED). Monitors tallied the swipes, building towards 200. When that number was reached, the real magic began, and the machine launched into action. In the first station, a pulley lifted a plastic piece which bounced down a series of pinwheels until the last triggered the next event, where another pinwheel rolled along a track passing a mantle hung with Christmas stockings, which activated smoke billowing from the fireplace chimney. signshop.com
Then the wheel struck a sled, which slid down a hill setting cutouts of fir trees spinning. The sled then hit a ball to launch the next sequence. There a series of balls rolled down a figure-eight course, until a circle was filled and a ball rolled out to set a line of playing cards toppling over in a domino effect. The last card fell on a switch to release a bowling ball, which rolled down a track before falling on a striker to ring a bell that set the first in a series of five balls rolling down sloped tracks. The fifth ball released a catch to set a bottle gliding down a zip-line until it struck and set off the last station. From there, a wrapped present affixed to a skateboard rolled down a wintery hill to a Christmas tree where it triggers the dramatic finale with billowing smoke, bells ringing, and animated sequences playing on digital display panels. (Note: To view the entire display in action, visit https://bit.ly/2TPmFQd.)
“To be there in person and see how well it worked, as well as the reaction of children and their parents, was pretty exciting,” reports Paddock. “This is the kind of project we like to embrace because it really gives us a chance to show all we can do,” says Dudek. Murphy considers it a winning experience for all involved. “To say we’re satisfied doesn’t express how happy we are with how this turned out,” she says. “We’re super-satisfied. Britten really outdid themselves on this one. “To turn something like this around in just thirty days—taking it from concept to design and build—is definitely not the norm.” Murphy’s contacts at Bank of America are so happy with the end-result that they’re exploring ways to repurpose this “Rube Goldberg Experience” for other events and venues. “The way products are featured throughout the machine, it’s such a a
creative way to build brand awareness,” says Murphy. “It also shows what’s possible when you work on a project with great partners.”
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March 2019
Sign Builder Illustrated
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ADA
By ashley bray
All About
ADA Installs T
How to prepare for an ADA install.
he most important part of an ADA install is that the signs are compliant with ADA guidelines, meaning the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, which can be reviewed at ada.gov/2010ADAstandards_index.htm. Aside from these guidelines, there are other factors sign shops need to be aware of before installing ADA signs. The Price is Right The all-important question in any sign project is how much to charge, and it’s
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no different on an ADA job. In fact, according to Charles Kelly, Jr., president of Clarke Systems, some of the same considerations that would apply to any sign job should factor into your quote here: sign size, thickness of materials, colors (whether they’re custom or standard), and the method of production (photopolymer, applique, 3D printing, etc.). Other things to consider are the market conditions in your area. “Shops in larger cities like New York and San Francisco can—and should—charge more for
ADA installs due to the higher cost of living,” explains Jennifer Mitchell, national accounts manager, SignMojo.com. In addition to market conditions, Bob Greenberger, director of Sales/Education at Nova Polymers, says to also consider the conditions of the install location, “Is this a highly traveled area where people are coming and going? Is this a high-end location? Is this in the back of the house where you might want to use a cheaper process?” Finally factor in how long it will take to install the signs and any additional site signshop.com
Photos (l-r): Nova Polymers (InPro Corp.); SignMojo.com.
visits that may be needed. “Always be sure to outline exactly how many trips are included in the install price and what additional trips will cost if the property is not ready for install,” says Mitchell. Site Survey Conducting a site survey before any ADA install is highly recommended. “In fact, it’s recommended before manufacturing begins,” says Kelly, Jr. “A pre-manufacturing site survey will avert 99 percent of errors.” He explains that during a site survey, signshop.com
sign shops may encounter situations that require two signs (such as at the end of a hallway) or where two signs were specified but wall space only allows for one. “Doing the site survey prior to manufacturing allows you to account for the additional sign you may not have otherwise known you needed,” says Kelly, Jr. A pre-manufacturing site survey also allows signs to be organized for installers, which is especially important on jobs for convention centers or medical campuses where there are a large number of signs. “It allows production to box the signs accordingly, which saves the installers time and frustration from sorting the signs on the job,” says Kelly, Jr. “Provide an accurate floor plan and message schedule with the packaged signs for your installer.” Site surveys also allow for better preparation heading into the install. “This will allow for them to get a better feel for the condition of the building and if there are any potentially tricky installation issues to address,” says Mitchell. “It gives you time to determine the best ADA-compliant mounting location for those tricky signs when you’re not on site in a time crunch.” “Tricky” issues that can crop up include a lack of sufficient space to install tactile room identification signs beside a door. “Anything less than eight inches of space should be noted, as longer words like ‘administration’ or ‘housekeeping’ usually require signs that are longer than eight inches to be ADA compliant,” says Mitchell. Door swing can also present issues, as the sign placement is dependent on multiple factors: the way the door swings (inward or outward), as well as if it includes a hold-open device. The general rule is that the sign must be placed on a wall adjacent to the side of the door with the handle/latch. However, Kelly, Jr. sees many installers make the mistake of placing the ADA sign directly on the door, which puts the reader in danger of being hit in the face with an opening door. When shops encounter challenges to an ADA-compliant install, Greenberger recommends they seek approval for any install changes and keep a paper trail. “Take photographs of that area and then Photoshop three different [sign] scenarios in. Send it to the local building inspector who’s going to be signing off
on the Certificate of Occupancy and ask them which they want. Let them respond in an email so you have documentation,” he says, recommending a temporary sign while awaiting approval versus having to install a sign twice (which can involve repairing a damaged wall). About the Certificate of Occupancy, when preparing for an install, Mitchell recommends shops pay attention to not only ADA guidelines but building codes as well. “Occasionally local and state building codes will go above and beyond ADA regulations,” she says. “Building inspectors and fire marshals are only required to inspect for building code violations, not for ADA compliancy, so not meeting building codes can prevent a building from receiving their Certificate of Occupancy on time.” One of the last things to pay attention to on a site survey is the actual mounting surface. “Note if there are any signs that will be mounted to glass, as glass backers will be required to hide the mounting adhesive,” says Mitchell. “If a wall is particularly rough, like stucco, an additional mounting plate may be required. You would drill the mounting plate directly into the wall, and then mount the sign to the mounting plate using tape and silicone adhesive.” Keep in mind what may be behind the mounting surface could also cause problems. Greenberger says, if shops suspect an issue behind the wall, to investigate further by finding an access point to see behind or, in the case of buildings currently being constructed, reviewing plans. Tools of the Trade Before heading out on an install, be sure your tool bag is stocked. Kelly, Jr., says installers should have levels, pencils, cut-
Issues that can pop up during an ADA install include a lack of space to install signs beside a door. March 2019
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Greenberger also recommends bringing fishing line. “If you need to remove a sign, you just slide fishing line behind it and go back and forth. It cuts through the glue really nicely,” he says. And don’t forget to pack necessary paperwork. Bring a copy of the ADA standards to reference. Kelly, Jr. also recommends taking the packet the customer signed off on in case any questions come up on site.
Always conduct a site survey before installing ADA signs.
ting tools, double-faced tape, silicone, mounting jigs, carts, and a floorplan and message schedule. Both Greenberger and Mitchell second
the call for a mounting jig or template, which can eliminate the need for measuring on jobs with signs that are identical in size and placement.
Final Factors While preparing, don’t forget things that are often overlooked. For example, does your shop need security clearance or a badge to access installation areas? Also be aware of the weather conditions the day of the install. “If you’re doing an exterior ADA install in cold weather, make sure that it’s not too cold for the adhesives to cure,” says Mitchell. “For instance, we highly recommend using silicone adhesive in addition to foam tape, but it won’t cure in freezing temperatures.”
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Sign Builder Illustrated
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Photo: Clarke Systems.
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FASTSIGNS Partners with Click2Sell FASTSIGNS International, Inc., franchisor of FASTSIGNS®, has announced its partnership with Click2Sell, an online platform created to simplify, automate, and personalize the process for sales professionals performing business-to-business sales. Click2Sell was created for B2B sales professionals by B2B sales professionals. Its proprietary reply actions and email send algorithms were designed to help sales professionals drive sales by serving as a virtual assistant. “Click2Sell’s software was designed with the small business owner in mind, and its capabilities have been proven to not only allow employees the time to focus on more important tasks but also to generate quality leads that convert into tangible sales,” said Mark Jameson, EVP of Franchise Support and Development, FASTSIGNS International, Inc. “Individual franchisee success is how we determine our overall brand success at FASTSIGNS, and by implementing this new program, we strive to uphold our commitment to deliver the most quality resources for the franchisees throughout our FASTSIGNS system.” According to Amy Barcus, founding partner of Click2Sell, the initial results for FASTSIGNS have been some of the best they’ve seen yet. “Our purpose is to help FASTSIGNS re-engage with repeat customers and find new customers daily, keeping the brand top-of-mind with thousands of prospects in each market,” she said. “We look forward to all we can accomplish as our relationship continues to evolve.”
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Altec Industries Inc.
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COMPANIES IN SIGN SHOW 33
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3. Request info about advertisers & products
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43
Shop Talk MARKETING
By DAVID HICKEY, ISA VP GOV’T. AFFAIRS
Help is on the Way!
The combination of inspiration and information.
T
he sign, graphics, and visual communications industry is so expansive that it can be hard to learn all the nuances. That’s where Sarah Schrimpf, design consultant and account manager for Essential Sign in Reno, Nevada, found herself last year. ISA International Sign Expo provided the right combination of inspiration and information to propel the first-year sales rep into a successful year. “I attended multiple sessions at ISA International Sign Expo but have to say the session on wide format print sales was my favorite. Bill Farquharson’s quote, ‘You don’t need to know all the answers, just the right questions to ask,’ has been a driving force in my confidence,” she said. That piece of advice would have been worth the price of admission—and certainly is one that all of us could benefit from applying. But Sarah took home so
many more ideas that have benefited her through the year. “I’ve also used his ‘sale forensics’ and ‘10 Marketing Mistakes’ theories to answer many questions before diving into a new pitch.” The information learned in the sales session was only the beginning for Sarah. “I work with a small, locally owned, startup shop. The floor really opened my eyes to the potential out there in our industry. “Seeing all the different distributors, meeting my vendors face to face, and stopping at random booths to ask, ‘what’s this?’ was such a fun experience.” Eye-opening new products and insightful education is what makes ISA International Sign Expo the industry’s leading tradeshow. It is the only place to see the breadth of the sign, graphics, and visual communications industry— from digital signs to digital print—all in one place.
Sign Builder Illustrated (Print ISSN 895-0555, Digital ISSN 2161-4709) (USPS#0015805) (Canada Post Cust. #7204564; Agreement #40612608; IMEX Po Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2, Canada) is published monthly by Simmons-Boardman Publ. Corp, 55 Broad St. 26th Floor, New York, NY 10004. Printed in the U.S.A. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and Additional mailing offices.
Prices are subject to change.
Pricing, Qualified individual working in the sign industry may request a free subscription. Non-qualified subscriptions Print version, Digital version, Both Print & Digital versions: 1 year US/Canada/Mexico $50.00; foreign $99.00. Single Copies are $15.00 ea. Subscriptions must be paid for in U.S. funds only.
For Subscriptions, & address changes, Please call (US Only) 1-800-553-8878 (CANADA/INTL) 1-319-364-6167, Fax 1-319-364-4278, e-mail signbuilder@ stamats.com, or write to: Sign Builder Illustrated, Simmons-Boardman Publ. Corp, PO Box 1407, Cedar Rapids, IA. 52406-1407.
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COPYRIGHT © Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation 2019. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced without permission. For reprint information, contact: Arthur Sutley, Publisher (212) 620-7247 or asutley@sbpub.com
It also is the only event where you can network not only with other industry professionals but also important influencers. ISA’s XDP program brings designers and brand managers to learn more about the products that can transform their brightest ideas into reality. The Sign Research Foundation adds retailers, urban planners, engineers, architects, and academics to the mix. With this many sign, graphics, and visual communications professionals and influencers in one place, you might just make an important contact on the tradeshow floor, at a networking event, or even on the way to or from the convention center. Perhaps the planner that you meet on the tram to the convention center isn’t from your local area. Still understanding how they view signs might provide insight that could help you at home. Maybe, like Sarah, you’ll find one piece of information in the educational sessions that you use throughout the year. Maybe you’ll find a new piece of equipment that helps expand your business into new areas or solves a problem. The education sessions are a good balance of helping solve specific challenges with sparking new ideas. I hope you’re already making plans to attend ISA International Sign Expo 2019, being held April 24-26 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. The pre-conference events on April 23 also offer great ways to significantly transform your business in the coming year. You may not be new to the industry like Sarah, but I promise you’ll take home something that will build your business. And while you’re there, be sure to stop by the Sign Code Help Desk in the ISA Hub on the tradeshow floor. I will be there, along with the ISA advocacy team, to answer your questions about sign code issues.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sign Builder Illustrated, PO Box 1407, Cedar Rapids, IA. 52406-1407. Instructional information provided in this magazine should only be performed by skilled crafts people with the proper equipment. The publisher and authors of information provided herein advise all readers to exercise care when engaging in any of the how-to-activities published in the magazine. Further, the publisher and authors assume no liability for damages or injuries resulting from projects contained herein.
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