This sign belonging to a Boise, ID-based pizza chain gives new meaning to “pie in the sky.”

Designed by Ryan Swaar and crafted by Ace Sign Co. (Springfield, IL), this sign for a drive-thru coffee shop earned first-place honors in the Best In-House Design and Fabrication, Illuminated category of the 2022 Sign Contest. It features open-face aluminum letters, LED cove lighting, carnival-style LED bulbs and a programmed flasher. The sign’s LED perimeter illuminates the sequins placed on its interior backs.

With signs like these, it’s no wonder The Arrogant Butcher in Phoenix isn’t lacking for confidence.

Credit: The Arrogant Butcher, Facebook; New Food Phoenix

Founded in 1961, the Pancake Place became a local institution in Tulsa, OK before it burned down in the 1980s. We can only hope its magnificent sign made it safely into storage somewhere.

Credit: Pinterest, Spit McGee

At the Spare Birdie Public House in Cedar Park, TX, you can bowl and play virtual golf under the same roof. The restaurant/bar turned to Studio Dzo (Austin, TX) to design its logo and exterior signage, which subtly reference the attractions inside. (See the font’s club-shaped serifs?) “What makes this unique is the combination of different materials and variation in depths,” Creative Director Russell Toynes says. “The attention to detail we brought to both signs does not disappoint.”

We think this bottle cap blade sign for Seed Kitchen & Bar, based in Marietta, GA, is a beauty.

Credit: Pinterest, greenolivemedia.com

The website for Jack’s Bar-B-Que in Nashville, TN tells the origin story of its sign better than we ever could:

“In 1996 the Metropolitan Council of Nashville held a controversial debate over a Planet Hollywood business sign. The oversized neon sign had been put up without a permit. A councilman was quoted as saying, ‘If allowed to stay, I guess the next thing will be pigs over Broadway.’ Jack seized upon this opportunity and replied, ‘Pigs do fly, why not three? Let the pigs fly!’”

The now-famous neon Jack’s Bar-B-Que sign has become a widely recognizable Nashville landmark and is often featured in movies, commercials and sporting events.

Credit: Jack’s Bar-B-Que, Facebook

Taffer’s Tavern, owned by Jon Taffer of TV’s Bar Rescue fame, tapped Metro Sign and Awning (Tewksbury, MA) for this sign featuring 1.5-in.-deep, fabricated aluminum painted a metallic-copper color, then halo-illuminated with white LED modules and mounted to a 3-in.-deep, fabricated, matte black aluminum backer.

If its sign is an indication, the Nordic Noodle in Copenhagen, Denmark is a good place to spend your time.

Credit: Pinterest, Dean Norton

Synergy Sign & Graphics (Strasburg, OH) used a 3D-modeled pictorial of Huck the black lab (who was a good boy) to fabricate the image out of 30-lb. Coastal Enterprises Precision Board with a MultiCam 3000 router and a CNC plasma cutter.

Danthonia Designs (Australia) used a gouge to hand-carve the letters, which were then gilded with 23 karat gold. The rippled texture caused by the gouge-carving catches the light for a softer, more diffuse effect than conventional prism-carving.

Ashton Design (Baltimore), who was tapped for a recent $285 million renovation at Fenway Park in Boston, created this retro yet sleek blade sign that manages to look authentic in a historic ballpark.

Timber Signs (Ofterschwang, Bavaria, Germany) crafted this Best of Show award winner from Signs of the Times’ 2020 Sign Contest. Though very contemporary materials comprise the Krazy Kraken, the judges were clearly impressed by the finely routed, hand-carved and gilded details.

This sign for an unassuming bar captivated the judges in the 2019 Sign Contest, taking home Best of Show honors. Blackout Signs and Metalworks (San Marcos, TX) evoked the classic Las Vegas style with neon lettering and Sputnik-shaped stars.

Dave’s Signs (Ventura, CA) crafted this sign for a nearby Mexican restaurant – the name of which translates to “The Owl” – that pairs the eatery’s nocturnal namesake with a bolder directional prompt.

NadaMoo is a dairy-free ice cream brand who enlisted local signshop Ion Art (Austin, TX) for this glowing pylon that drips with creativity.

Creative Blast (Cincinnati) used 18-lb. density Sign Foam routed on a CAM Tech CNC SpaceMaker to create the one-of-a-kind, hand-carved Pig Candy BBQ sign. The shop built the sign to an 8-in. depth, then used woodworking tools to carve and shape it.

This exterior sign from Wooden Sign Co. (Elkhorn, WI) features a sandblasted redwood background, gold leaf letters and a hand-carved wood crab.

RiNo Sign Works’ (Lakewood, CO) fabricated the main structure, laminated the barrel to make it look like wood and added color-changing Philips Hue LED rope lights for an eye-catching arrow detail.

The restaurant wanted a sign that appeared slightly aged and indicative of the establishment’s history, and Golden Gate Sign Co. (Oakland) delivered with exposed neon, a radius-corner, green cabinet, classic fonts and a full martini glass.

Signs by Van (Salinas, CA) built this internally illuminated DUNA-USA CORAFOAM HDU sign that was reverse routed using a SCM CNC router, then flipped and routed again to slide in push-through acrylic.

Sign Crafters of Florida (Leesburg, FL) built this 12-ft.-tall sign-topper on a Roper Whitney AutoBrake while its faces were cut with a MultiCam CNC, with the bottom hand-formed.

SignCraft Solutions (Wake Forest, NC) routed the sign faces to allow Piedmont Plastics’ white acrylic push-through letters to pass through, which offered a dimensional letter detail during the day and a crisp, illuminated letter at night.

From Amigo Arts (Monroe, WA), the sign face features acrylic-faced letters with no trim cap and real AstroTurf on both sides. The back side of the sign has facelit channel letters with golf balls to look like beer-filled letters.

Signs for San Diego (Oceanside, CA) crafted bright LED signs with backlit channel letters made with a MultiCam 1000 series router, an Accu-Bend and a Taloc clincher.

This sign for a beach bar on the island of Sylt in Northern Germany includes handcarved and handpainted hibiscus leaves. Timber Signs (Ofterschwang, Bavaria, Germany) routed and installed the lettering onto a routed and spray-coated panel using stud mounts, and hand-painted the outlines and shadows.