Coordinating ST’s International Sign Contest annually provides one of my most enjoyable job duties. The opportunity to review hundreds of top-flight projects that arrive through the transom –mostly on our FTP server and via email – always delivers an exhilarating experience.
Given the quality of entries we receive, it’s always unfortunate that some very worthwhile signage doesn’t make the winners’ circle. But, just because an entry doesn’t earn recognition in the contest gallery, it may still appear on our pages. This month, we’ve culled through several submissions left in the field and compiled this gallery.
As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe you’ll like some of the signage presented here more than those that earned glory in last month’s issue. In any event, ST proudly offers the “best of the rest.”
This project likely received the most discussion of any that didn’t earn a contest award. Among other things, the judges debated at length whether the wall sign constitutes a building sign or a monument sign. Superior Electrical Advertising (Long Beach, CA) built this 11 ft. 4-in. x 27 ft. 8-in. wall from aluminum and polyurethane-coated EPS. To create the illusion of chiseled letters, fabricators routed the aluminum-backdrop, carved-HDU letters and created a halo-lit effect with white LEDs. To create an aged effect, Superior applied a sponged, aged-bronze-patina faux finish.
The shop produced the pole-sign letters with a layered design with the back lettering including ¼-in. aluminum and a ¼-in.-thick Lexan® polycarbonate pegged off the letter backer. White LEDs mounted behind the front generate a halo effect. The flat, cut-out hotel letters were cut from Lexan and pegged behind the Maya letters. The main letters were peg-mounted to a C-channel rail that’s painted with the same faux-finish as the wall sign. Superior’s Alfredo Zavalza designed and rendered the project using CorelDRAW 12.