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.”
Young Electric Sign Co.’s (YESCO) Las Vegas branch built an exterior-sign system for Jackson Rancheria, a Jackson, CA-based casino and hotel. According to Mark Oatis, a YESCO designer, creating signage to an appropriate scale with the facility’s rural environs emerged as a key priority. The 86-ft.-long, gateway sign, clad in stone native to the area, provides a luminous sense of place, and the pylon, monument and destination signs complement textures and finishes found throughout the property’s architecture.
The 20-sign program features LED- and fluorescent-lit faces and a 14 x 20-ft., LED display with 20mm resolution and 208 x 288-pixel matrix. Oatis added, “The project carried stringent engineering requirements because of the area’s seismic activity.”