A recent project for Kingston Yard, a pre­mier enter­tain­ment dis­trict devel­op­ment in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, per­fect­ly illus­trates why 360-degree sign fin­ish­ing was an archi­tec­tur­al neces­si­ty. Read about the project here.

Imag­ine park­ing your car on the top lev­el of a park­ing garage, step­ping out, and being greet­ed by exposed wires, raw met­al seams, and open struc­tur­al cav­i­ties. It instant­ly cheap­ens the environment.

In the case of Kingston Yard, where park­ing spots back up to the back­sides of the chan­nel let­ters, we rec­om­mend­ed ful­ly enclos­ing and fin­ish­ing each let­ter on all sides. By sand­ing, prep­ping, and paint­ing the backs and returns to match the front aes­thet­ic, the let­ters look sleek, pro­fes­sion­al, and inten­tion­al, whether you’re view­ing them from three blocks away or three feet away.

When chan­nel let­ter backs are left open or improp­er­ly enclosed, elec­tri­cal con­duit and LED wiring har­ness­es are exposed to the ele­ments. Ful­ly fin­ish­ing and enclos­ing all sides of a chan­nel let­ter cre­ates a pro­tect­ed inter­nal cab­i­net that:

• Hides all LED illu­mi­na­tion wiring, elim­i­nat­ing unsight­ly exter­nal con­duits run­ning along the park­ing deck framework.

• Shields elec­tron­ics from weath­er expo­sure. Enclosed cab­i­nets keep del­i­cate elec­tri­cal con­nec­tions dry and secure.

• Mit­i­gates tam­per­ing and safe­ty risks by keep­ing high-volt­age ele­ments out of reach from the pub­lic and wildlife such as nest­ing birds or squirrels.