ARCHIVE: Category Archive for: Design/Build

5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Green Signage

There’s a lot of talk about “green” these days because many firms are jockeying to position themselves as environmentally conscious and more “green” than their competitors. The signage industry can be a major partner in this effort. To help bring you up to speed, here are 5 things you probably don’t know about “green” signage: 1. Signage can help a facility gain LEED (the US Green Building Council’s “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design”) certification. For example, interior signs crafted from certain materials can provide credits toward LEED certification. 2. Upgrades to signage can provide big environmental benefits at major savings, compared with total replacement. Refurbishing old signage saves money and eliminates the use of new material (that doesn’t have

While Metro Sign & Awning has long been happy to call Boston our home, we nevertheless get excited when we’re asked to design and/or fabricate signage for natives of other parts of the U.S. Whether we’re working with a West Coast architectural firm, or designing custom signs for a national partner based in Texas or Tennessee, we love what we do, wherever we’re asked to do it. In fact, we’re just as proud to point some pylon signs we’ve installed in South Carolina or to show off photos of a giant banner in Chicago as we are wayfinding signs or a public park here in the Boston area. We’ve even developed our ROI calculator than any business around the country

The term “ADA Signs” is now in widespread use among architects, general contractors, developers, and signage experts. “ADA” stands, of course, for the Americans with Disabilities Act. But the term “ADA Signs” is misunderstood almost as often as it is interpreted correctly. For example: 1. A great many people believe that “ADA Signs” refers to those containing Braille symbols for the benefit of people who are visually impaired. That’s like saying elevators are installed in buildings for the benefit of people who are unable to climb stairs. The claim is true, as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. While signs containing Braille and other raised characters are a highly visible expression of the ADA requirements,

We are pleased and proud to announce that we have completed the acquisition of the premiere sign company in the Southern New Hampshire and Vermont region. Custom Designs Signs (CDS), located in Keene, NH, has been a leading provider of signage design, fabrication, installation, and service since 1969. The company has built its enviable reputation by crafting high quality and eye catching signs and displays for a large number of local businesses, architects, and developers in the greater Monadnock and Brattleboro regions of New Hampshire and Vermont. Recent projects include the Keene State “Wall of Donor Recognition,” Nanotech, Brattleboro Ford, TGI Friday’s, and The Center at Keene. Key people at CDS, including Jim Vitous and sign maker Kris Arnold, will

One of our most demanding projects in recent memory has been taking part in the rebranding of a chain of medical centers that crossed not only state but national borders! It began in March of 2014 when one of our long-time customers, Winbrook Associates, asked us for help. Their customer, Lake Region Medical, had purchased all 18 locations of a company called Accellent, and now the facilities had to be re-branded. We began with a design review and offered some initial signage concepts. But to support the rebranding while the design and build process took place, we installed temporary banners at every location: Just the name “Lake Region Medical” in black text on white material. Our crews surveyed the local

It’s not easy staying current in the fast-paced world of business signage. That’s why the team at Metro Sign and Awning likes to take time when possible to visit with colleagues and take advantage of trade shows with educational opportunities like the upcoming Digital Signage Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center, March 10-13, 2015. We like to keep abreast of current and future trends in our industry, including advanced display technologies, best practices, and new thoughts on how to meet the needs of our retail customers. This particular show offers the 4,000 or more signage industry professionals who attend plenty of collaborative peer-to-peer “Idea Exchanges,” bolstered by lectures and panel presentations, seminars, and roundtable-format discussions. The schedule this year

Did you know that Metro Sign and Awning works with many hotel and restaurant owners to create semi-temporary enclosures that add a degree of weather-proofing to their outdoor areas? Properly done, these enclosures extend the outdoor seating season and thereby add revenue for restaurants. They’re able to contain heaters placed in the enclosed area, as necessary, to allow the space to be used quite comfortably during the colder months, here in New England. We’ve also worked with hotels to create enclosures to block the wind and weather around pick up / drop off areas. This makes hotel ingress and egress for guests and visitors far more inviting and hospital. Material Choice Important For many of the enclosures we use “Weathertyte”

Metro Sign and Awning’s designers are expert at managing the many nuances that help create extra value and excitement in your signage. Here’s an example…

Another Way To Improve Signage ROI – Add Quality and Features!

Any business is inherently interested in knowing the return on investment (ROI) for the important actions it’s considering, because doing those calculations not only makes it easier to choose among different strategies, but also helps identify which of several possible actions should be prioritized and which ones are better delayed. With signage, you can do two varieties of ROI calculations: ROI in comparison with other advertising expenditures Pure financial ROI in comparison with any type of expenditures If you haven’t already, by the way, you can check out your signage ROI with our unique Business Sign R.O.I. Calculator. Either way, you’ll find that the cost of signage is relatively small compared to all the other expenditures you are making to

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which first became the law of the land in 1991, has made incalculable improvements in the lives of countless people. More recently revised in 2010 and made mandatory as of March 15, 2012 for virtually all new construction and renovations, the ADA has resulted in a system of “best practices” that make it possible for disabled persons to access and enjoy an extremely wide range of public and private built environments. Many people think the ADA just requires Braille on certain signs, but it’s considerably more comprehensive than that. Compliance can impact a great many of your project’s signage (and design/construction) specifications. Unfortunately, the ADA’s requirements are sometimes ambiguous. That’s one reason Metro Sign