When it comes to interior signage, dimensional letter signs are very popular. Dimensional letter signs refer to signs made from 3-dimensional letters. The letters are routed from a flat sheet of material and installed onto the desired surface individually. Our dimensional letter signs are usually made from acrylic or aluminum. We can also special order other materials such as bronze or stainless steel if you require a specialty sign, but acrylic and aluminum work well for most signs. We typically use aluminum if the client is looking for a metal look. Aluminum can be painted and anodized to many different colors.
We recently made this hallway sign for Thermofisher Scientific in West Hills. They wanted solid black letters so we went with acrylic. Another option would have been to paint the aluminum black, however, it would be more expensive and if you don’t care about having a metal texture, acrylic works just fine. Many customers will ask about PVC as another plastic option. We prefer acrylic over PVC because there isn’t much of a price difference, and acrylic looks much nicer.
The acrylic we use comes in many standard colors which even include metallic gold and metallic silver. Since Thermofisher Scientific wanted black letters, we just ordered 1/2″ thick black acrylic. The letters were to be mounted with spacers so the letters needed to be stud mounted. In order to stud mount acrylic letters, they need to be at least 3/8″ thick. Because of this, 3/8″ thick acrylic is the most common dimensional letter sign we make, and for those who want more dimension or a larger sign, we recommend 1/2″. The letters were routed from the acrylic sheet, tapped with studs, and mounted to the interior drywall with 1/2″ spacers so the sign is a total of 1″ off of the wall.