We recently made an acrylic dimensional letter building sign for T&F Sheet Metal Fab & Machining. They are a machine shop in Gardena, California that specializes in manufacturing aerospace components along with many other types of metal work. They had an existing sign that was just a flat print of their logo that was mounted to the building wall. They wanted to completely redo their exterior so they removed the sign and repainted the whole building.The Logo
Their logo uses a clean and simple font so the letters looked great as individual building letters. When they first came to us, they provided us with their logo file which had “T&F” large on the left with “SHEET METAL FAB & MACHINING” and “INC.” stacked to the right as smaller letters. This would make the sign very long and narrow. Since we had a vector file of the logo, our in-house graphic designer was able to move the letters around a bit to make the logo more pleasing to the eye and make more sense as a sign.
Vector Artwork
There are multiple reasons why it is important to have a vector file version of the artwork that is going onto a sign. The main reason is that if we are printing or routing anything, we definitely need a vector file in order to make it. Another reason is so our graphic designer can adjust the artwork accordingly to how it will work for the sign.
In the final version of the proof, the letters were stack together a little more evenly and the letters were brought closer together. Since we had the vector file, this was very easy to do.
Renderings
After the layout of the sign was decided, we moved onto the sign location. The previous sign was below the light fixture but since there was plenty of room on the building wall, we sent them options. Our graphic designer created two renderings of where the signs could go. The first one was to the right of the light where the sign would fit perfectly between the two vertical lines on the building. The second one, which T&F decided to go with, was to install it beneath the light.
Both options looked great, but making a rendering is important so we can make sure that the customer is 100% happy with how the sign will look on the building. The letters are very legible, looks great with the new paint job, and will definitely help people locate the business.