Storefront Signs

If you are looking for an outdoor building sign you have many options to choose from. There are a few key factors that will help you choose the best sign. Things like city requirements, landlord requirements, budget, and desired look will help you figure this out.

• Panels

  If you are looking for a cost-effective way to put a sign on your building, this is probably your best option. ACM, which stands for Aluminum Composite Material, is a commonly used substrate in signage. It’s a sheet of PVC with two thin sheets of aluminum sandwiched together. Some of the prevalent brand names are Dibond and Maxmetal. You can also use acrylic, PVC, or aluminum sheets for the panels. Vinyl is applied to the panels for the graphics of the sign. You can use RTA (Ready to Apply) vinyl, which is a colored vinyl, or digitally printed vinyl if there are custom colors in the graphic. If you want to add dimension to the panel, cut acrylic or cut metal letters can be applied to the substrate for a little more refined look.

• Non-Lit Individual Letters

  If you don’t want a panel, individual letters are another option. Flat cut metal, cast metal, fabricated metal, cut acrylic, formed plastic, and molded plastic are all options for individual letters. The most common are routed acrylic and flat cut metal. If you need a little more dimension rather than just a flat face you can try molded plastic or cast metal letters. Fabricated letters and formed plastic allow for deeper, thicker letters than what you can achieve with flat cut letters. All of these options are stud mounted to the wall. Like in the above Panels section, you can add all of these letters to a panel if you want a backer.

• Lightbox

  Lightboxes are a pretty self-explanatory. A metal box or cabinet is fabricated with aluminum. The interior has LED lights and the face consists of a translucent acrylic panel with vinyl graphics. The graphics can be made with RTA (Ready to Apply) colored vinyl, or if you need a more customized color palette, digital print can be used. If you are able to pick one of the set colored RTA vinyl it is recommended since the color is more vibrant when the light shines through.

• Cloud Sign

  Cloud signs are similar to a lightbox in that it is a lit, fabricated aluminum cabinet, but a cloud sign had shape to it. The outer edge is contoured to create an outline around the graphic. Again, RTA (Ready to Apply) vinyl or digital print vinyl is added to the face.

• Channel Letters

  Channel letters are the type of sign you generally see when driving through a shopping plaza. They are the most common outdoor building sign. Channel letters have a few variations and with some creativity can be a great way to get your business noticed. Channel letters are lit with LED lights. Face lit channel letters have an acrylic face the light shines through. Channel letters can be raceway mounted for easier installation. A raceway is a small box that each individual letter is mounted to, it hides the wiring running to each letter. It is painted the same color as the wall so it blends in. Many landlords will require channel letters be raceway mounted since it causes less damage to the building. You can also mount channel letters individually and directly to the wall. This allows you to halo light or reverse light a set of channel letters. This is when the LEDs shine from the letter back onto the wall they are mounted on. You can also do both face lit and reverse lit at the same time. Channel letters can also be mounted to a pan, which is a fabricated aluminum backer.