A couple of years back we made a channel letter sign for Bartz-Altadonna, a community health center in Lancaster, California. They were so happy with the sign that they asked us to make their next sign for a new location in Palmdale, California. We made the same style of sign which was a front-lit channel letter sign. Front-lit channel letter signs are probably the most popular sign type when it comes to exterior signage. Not only are the letters 3-dimensional so they stand out, but they also light up at nighttime.
To get a vibrant color day and night, we used pre-colored translucent vinyl on the faces of the channel letters. Due to the gradient in the logo, we couldn’t use pre-colored translucent vinyl, which only comes in solid colors, so we used a digital print.
The smaller letters around and underneath the logo were made as painted acrylic dimensional letters, not channel letters, due to the size. Channel letters need to have a minimum stroke as we need to fit LEDs inside of the letters. We also need to be able to form the letters and if they’re too small, we can’t bend the returns.
Due to the texture of the facade, we couldn’t install the dimensional letters directly onto the wall. Since the channel letters were installed using a raceway, it also wouldn’t have matched the depth of the rest of the sign. Instead, we installed the letters onto a clear acrylic backer panel. For the letters around the logo, we reverse counter sunk painted the letters into 1/4″ thick clear acrylic that was riveted to the back of the logo. For the “California health” letters underneath, we contour-cut the backer panel from 1/2″ thick clear acrylic and also reverse counter-sunk the letters into the backer.
