ImageFirst News

Direct or Stud Mounting

This method leans toward a more clean or archi­tec­tur­al appear­ance. Here, the let­ters each have mul­ti­ple non-cor­ro­sive fas­ten­ers (or studs) that are attached direct­ly into the face of the build­ing (or ceil­ing like the exam­ple on the left. All elec­tri­cal is run inside the build­ing, or wall, where the let­ters attach. Acces­si­bil­i­ty to this space is imper­a­tive for future main­te­nance. If your client does not have access then a race­way is prob­a­bly the way to go. 

Backer mount­ed letters 

Anoth­er more archi­tec­tur­al look is when chan­nel let­ters are attached to an over­sized backer, mon­u­ment, or cab­i­net sign. Elec­tri­cal and pow­er sup­plies are eas­i­ly hid­den in the over­sized backer. Instal­la­tion is a bit sim­pler with less per­fo­ra­tions into the façade of the build­ing and access points are a bit eas­i­er for future maintenance. 

Illu­mi­na­tion Options: Halo, face, or combination…and be care­ful with blue.

CAU­TION: Blue is the clos­est col­or to a dark night sky and a brand’s pres­ence can be lost (what a waste of mon­ey that would be). 

Sol­id blue let­ters do not illu­mi­nate the best at night. If you must use blue, or a sim­i­lar dark col­or.
Here’s 4 ways to achieve suc­cess with blue: 
1. Use per­fo­rat­ed vinyl on acrylic for the face of the let­ters. This allows a dark col­or dur­ing the day then illu­mi­nates white at night (see tiger­hawk exam­ple below).
2. Use a white key­line around the perime­ter of the faces with a min­i­mum of ¼” to have a nice white out­line to the blue.
3. Stand the face lit blue let­ters off the backer and back light with white. This is the a nice look but costs a bit more with the added illu­mi­na­tion. This method is shown in the Gra­ham Surgery Cen­ter exam­ple below.
4. Don’t use blue. Use white, always use white. 

Front Lit Illu­mi­nat­ed Chan­nel Letters 

These can use a lex­an or acrylic face depen­dent upon the size of the let­ter. There are many choic­es out there for vinyl over­lays, most only allow for <1% light trans­mis­sion so col­or selec­tion is a vital com­po­nent. If the stan­dard array of col­ors that are offered do not match what you are after, you can also print a spe­cif­ic color.
Dual film is also very pop­u­lar and has a war­ran­ty that fits the qual­i­ty of the prod­uct. Using a dual film you are able to achieve the col­or you want dur­ing the day and white illu­mi­na­tion at night which is opti­mal for visibility.

Back Lit Chan­nel Let­ters or ​“Halo” Illuminated

This type of illu­mi­na­tion is best for direct mount­ed appli­ca­tions. Back­light­ing is a great way to illu­mi­nate unique shapes and let­ters. Keep in mind, some sub­strates such as brick do not dis­trib­ute the light as well and a fab­ri­cat­ed backer or over­sized cut alu­minum let­ters may need to be used. Last­ly, a shiny sur­face may enhance the light­ing so much that you may be able to see some of the LEDs reflect­ed upon the wall. Using a mat­te paint fin­ish is imper­a­tive when using LEDs to reduce any visu­al ​“hotspots.”

Com­bi­na­tion - Front and Back Illu­mi­na­tion for the Win! 

This is a unique way to make your logo pop, espe­cial­ly if you’re dead set on a col­or (oth­er than white) for your let­ter illu­mi­na­tion. This is also the ide­al way to use blue if it is part of your brand­ing. This method is a great and high­ly vis­i­ble solu­tion, but con­sid­er that the cost is a bit more with hav­ing twice as many LEDs for illumination. 

Light Source:

There are many dif­fer­ent options avail­able in today’s mar­ket. LEDs are by far the most pop­u­lar. Image­First typ­i­cal­ly uses qual­i­ty LEDs from Prin­ci­pal LED, but any spec­i­fied LED, (brand), col­or tem­per­a­ture, or RGB sys­tem can be uti­lized to match your project needs.

Man­u­fac­tur­ing:

We pride our­selves on cre­at­ing qual­i­ty chan­nel let­ters for our clients using .090 and .063 alu­minum for backs and faces and .040 and .063 alu­minum for returns. All of these let­ters are cut, fab­ri­cat­ed, paint­ed, and fin­ished out at our Iowa man­u­fac­tur­ing facil­i­ty. We wel­come you to come for a vis­it to see how we build chan­nel let­ters and all of the sig­nage we have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to build.