The Propeller Group is a cross-disciplinary structure for creating art projects. Their creative headquarters is located in Los Angeles, where they focus on production and post-production. They handle general advertising, entertainment marketing, graphic design, film production and content creation. When it came time for them to look into interior signage for their office, they knew exactly what they were looking for.
The great thing about working with a client that understands design is that there’s no guessing when it comes to what they want. They provided us with the wall dimensions, the desired dimensions for the signage, mockups, and an example of the type of finish they wanted. Instead of having their name displayed in a normal format, they wanted the word “PROPELLER” to get cut off at the end of the wall and start again at the other end as if to look like the words were wrapping around the wall.
The logo, where the “P”s are rotating like a propeller, was to be mounted on a different wall. They wanted a metallic look, and wanted very thick letters. For this sign, we decided to opt for 1” thick acrylic letters that we painted a metallic silver. Acrylic does come in standard colors, one of which is a metallic silver, but only the face of the letters are metallic silver and the sides are black. When a client wants a metallic look with acrylic, we sometimes use a metal laminate. There are many different finishes available and they are a popular choice, however we run into the same issue again that the sides are still black, or whatever color the base acrylic is. Since these are thick letters and the sides are very visible, painting was a great solution. Custom painting gives us the opportunity to make sure that the faces and sides are all the same color and as long as a paint color is called out, the client can get very specific about the color they want instead of setting for a pre-colored acrylic or metal laminate.
As these letters were on the heavier side, they were stud mounted into the interior drywall. At our shop, the studs are tapped into each letter based on the size and shape of each letter. Once at the sign location, our installers use a pattern that is made at our shop to show exactly how the sign is going to be laid out and where the studs need to go. Holes are drilled into the wall for each stud and each letter is installed one by one to ensure that everything is positioned correctly.