Imaginality’s Synagogue Banners Announce a Joyful Noise

Formed in 2009, Imaginality Designs LLC (Minneapolis), according to company president Myrna Orensten, functions “as a boutique, creative studio focusing on projects where we can really make a creative difference.” It’s a business unit of Imaginality Inc., a 30-year-old, creative studio that develops various graphic designs and branding campaigns.

She noted banners represent less than 5% of the shop’s business; architectural signage, ADA programs, wayfinding and monument signs comprise other types of environmental graphics. However, Orensten said banners are a frequent project consideration for helping clients deliver short-term, promotional messages, as well as providing architectural embellishment.

When Audrey Abrams, the cantor at Temple Beth-El, a large St. Louis Park, MN-based synagogue with nearly 4,000 members, contacted Orensten, banners weren’t a mere afterthought. Abrams wanted a large, horizontal banner to serve as a backdrop for a showcase display that highlighted the “Beth-El Sings” graphic design – on which Orensten and Abrams had collaborated – that celebrates the essential role music plays in daily life and the synagogue’s array of musical and cultural programs.

During an overall remodeling of the synagogue, Orensten wanted to explore other signage possibilities with Abrams. A quote by Ronald Shakespear, the legendary Argentine designer, serves as inspiration: “Some clients will ask me for a boat. What they actually need is to cross a river.”

“It’s so important for signage and environmental-graphic providers to not just work with requests and specs, but to help a client explore new solutions,” Orensten said. “A site survey is essential for evaluating ideal media, dimensions, colors and lighting. If you don’t take the time to identify all opportunities and potential improvements, you’re not setting everyone up for success.”

Orensten persuaded Abrams and other temple representatives to upgrade the campaign with a large, exterior entrance banner and 10 double-sided, pole-mounted banners that carry the message to Beth-El’s parking lot. For the five pairs of parking-lot banners, Orensten developed complementary graphics. She created textual graphics with two inspiration words (in English and Hebrew), and each pair featured the “Beth-El Sings!” slogan and whimsical designs with starry skies and flowing musical bars. These graphics feature 13-oz. Kapco banner material printed on the Roland SolJet Pro III XC-540 and protected with 3M’s 8518 glossy-finish topcoat. Imaginality finished the banners with stitching and grommets installed on flexible banners secured to lightpoles.

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For the 3 x 20-ft., display-case banner, the shop selected a glossy, white 3M material, which it printed on a SolJet with Eco-Sol Max low-solvent inks and VersaWorks RIP software.

However, because it was installed within a display case with metal hardware – Imaginality had removed some shelves and cut away some areas of the backdrop – on an uneven surface, installers left the print’s release liner intact to prevent unwanted adhesions. To adhere it to the backer, installers also applied double-sided tape and aluminum trim pieces across the top.

For the exterior, entrance banner, Imaginality printed the 3 x 10-ft. graphic on 13-oz. banner material, which it also printed on the SolJet. The installation was completed with a standard grommet and rope-tensioning system.