The obsession with the self-portrait, abbreviated to “selfie” in modern lexicon, has become borderline pathos with social media’s prevalence and smartphones’ photographic convenience. Not only do social-media aficionados use them to indentify themselves on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and the like, but they also create memes (cyberspace alter egos) using their whimsical snapshots.
Robert Cyr, the owner of St. Cyr Salon and Spa in Worcester, MA, wisely capitalized on this obsession, and hired Serrato Signs, also of Worcester, to build a sign that appeals to fashion-conscious millennials with the tagline: “Improve Your Selfies, See a Stylist.”
Andy Serrato’s father, Luis, founded Serrato Signs in 1945 inside a seven-car garage that he converted into a signshop. Currently, the full-service shop maintains a 12-employee crew.
Serrato Signs had previously worked for the St. Cyr Salon, which has been in business since 1965 (remarkable in itself in a field where continuity is often misconstrued as unhip), by fabricating banners installed on the building’s exterior side wall. However, Cyr wished to create greater impact, and ordered an LED-lit sign with an LED messageboard on top that seemingly broadcasts the thoughts of the woman depicted on the sign. The face represents the sign’s logo; it replicates the shape of an awning that Serrato is also building for Cyr. He scanned Cyr’s existing logo to create production files.
To internally illuminate the sign, Serrato used SloanLED’s PosterBox modules, which he said create effective, but not overstated, illumination, which Cyr requested. The module layout includes six chains – three across the top, two halfway down and one on the chin.
“Originally, they had suggested another product,” Serrato said. “I was advised that this would create uneven lighting. But uneven lighting is what we wanted.”
The sign also features standoff mounting and halo lighting, which incorporates SloanLED’s Highliner LED system, which captures and defines the “selfie in thought” concept.
The signframe entails 1-in.-diameter, aluminum tubing, which the shop formed with its tubebender and MIG-welded into place. The signface required printing on clear, translucent 3M material, which was decorated on the shop’s Roland VersaCamm VS-540 eco-solvent-ink printer, and applied to white Sabic Polymershapes Lexan® polycarbonate.
To create the “thought bubbles”, Serrato installed a 16mm Watchfire LED display screen atop the visage. St. Cyr creates and manages its own content.
For installation, angle-iron clips stand the sign off from the building, which enabled installing the halo support frame on the back, and using lag bolts to secure the sign to the building studs. Onsite work required the shop’s 85-ft.-reach Elliott and 45-ft.-reach Altec bucket trucks.
We love hearing about signshops that have been passed along from father to son, preserving not only a business, but a way of life. A well-established shop and client that collaborate to create cutting-edge signage affirms that successful businesses get better, not just older.