2016 The Year in Signs & Signage Project Highlights

Our talented creative team is already hard at work creating signs you’ll see in 2017, but they recently got together to discuss some of their favorite signage projects of 2016. 

ADA Signage

Required in most buildings, ADA signage must be created and installed according to strict guidelines. At Metro, we strive to create ADA signage that is not only a functional, but also a beautiful, addition to interior design. We enjoy the challenge of designing ADA signage that incorporates elements of our clients brands, that is also compliant and enhances building utilization for all.

Awnings

Awnings and enclosures can update a business image, invite customers into a new entrance, and serve as new and additional signage. In some cases, helping a client’s business stand out when the property manager dictates color, size, and font requires extra creativity – but we enjoy that challenge!

Banners

Ensuring that banners are eye-catching and appealing, in spite of the fact that the usually flexible material will be buffered by wind, rain, and snow, takes a certain amount of experience.

For Bistro Duet, we took the client’s logo and concept  and turned it into a reality for the new business.

EXPERT TIP:

Projection banners can be tricky when desired for long term use. Specialty tensioning brackets and double stitched hems can keep them in top shape for a long time to come.

Blades

Can we make a blade sign shine like a diamond? Yes we can! And that’s not just us talking, the Marcou Jewelers sign, hanging in Waltham, took top honors in the 2016 US Sign Council Sign Design Competition. The project was challenging, but fun – our designers and fabricators created a floating diamond that mimics the look of the real thing.

Custom Signage

The ATM Surround/Wraps at Cambridge Savings Bank are an example of our custom signage. Our vinyl experts make it a seamless process when printing customer graphics to digital film, ensuring that we meet their dpi and pms requirements for brand consistency.

Dimensional and Channel Letters

There is such a variety of materials, colors, textures and lighting available when it comes to dimensional and channel lettering!  Every project (and budget) is different. The backlighting and colored LED combination, like that at  Alewife Automotive Center, is always a favorite of ours.

Post & Panel Signage

Post and panel signs are great for way finding and site identification. A variety of shapes and dimensions, as well as using vinyl graphics to create the illusion of depth, make our customers’ signs unique. Our creative team utilizes a host special routing, painting, tools, dimension, HPL and other materials to ensure each sign’s best look.

We are especially product of our part in making the signs for Children’s Cove, an organization keeps children safe from bad situations.  Working with the client and Grouper Design, we created a multi-level dimension on their entry signage, to make the welcome just as special as the children who come here.

Pylons and Monuments

Pylons and monuments and other freestanding signs can identify a corporate facility, industrial park, or municipal and public complex, or brand a shopping centers while identifying multiple tenants within a building.

The Center at Innovation Drive signage was special to Metro since it is in our home town of Tewksbury and truly one of the first and most prominent business park fixtures locally. Utilizing some modern build methods, like pierce cut push through text and combining it with a more on-trend steam punk look with a rusted Corten steel base, is a truly original sign. And the design, done in house by our own Susan McGregor, won several awards.

Vinyl Signage

Vinyl is an affordable and fun material that can help brand a facility and add ‘pizzazz’ to spaces from corporate walls to business entryways.  Vinyl can also serve as a safety component to glass doors and partitions.

Vinyl & Vehicle Wraps

Vinyl on a “brick” covered cabinet?! See for yourself. In the case of vinyl, for interior and exterior signage, V is for “versatile.”  Of course, vehicle wraps are a popular and effective way to advertise a business, wherever the vehicle is.

Wall Signs

Wall signs can be as simple or complex as the application they’re fitted for. The Metro team worked on many theater projects this year, which included some very cool wall signage.

Santarpio’s Pizza in Peabody, MA, features an enormous wall sign that you have to see to believe! The sign was grandfathered due to a pre-existing, non-conforming code allowance. Even in a place where you can’t have the biggest sign on the block, having a sign that stands out is easy – when you work with experienced professionals who take pride in their work.

Time to say “that’s a wrap” on 2016. Here’s to another year of fun and fabulous signage projects !

See all our favorites here:

Metro Sign & Awning has won the trust of businesses across New England because we understand signage is a critical investment in your business.

When you work with signage professionals, you’ll save time and reduce your liability while your signs increase awareness of your business and brand. See our portfolio, or contact us about your signage needs today.