Smart business owners know the value of well-designed signs. They capture the customer's attention, provide the first impression and communicate the type of business. Sign Gallery 7 offers a wide ...
An Oklahoma casino catches the spirit.
By Steve Aust
Coordinating ST’s International Sign Contest annually provides one of my most enjoyable job duties. The opportunity to review hundreds of top-flight projects that arrive through the transom –mostly on our FTP server and via email – always delivers an exhilarating experience.
Given the quality of entries we receive, it’s always unfortunate that some very worthwhile signage doesn’t make the winners’ circle. But, just because an entry doesn’t earn recognition in the contest gallery, it may still appear on our pages. This month, we’ve culled through several submissions left in the field and compiled this gallery.
As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe you’ll like some of the signage presented here more than those that earned glory in last month’s issue. In any event, ST proudly offers the “best of the rest.”
The Creek Nation, which operates Tulsa’s River Spirit Casino, sought an impressive, vertical message display to trumpet its amenities. Eslick Design (Tulsa) designed the program. Claude Neon Federal Signs (Tulsa) built the vertical display. Its structure comprises 3-in.-thick, steel angle frame, which is skinned in 0.090-in. aluminum and painted with Matthews acrylic-polyurethane paint.
Aluminum, 2 x 4-in., C-channel grooves crisscross the structure’s face, and perforated, stainless-steel panels cover the entire structure. The channel houses Daktronics ProPixel sticks, which coordinate animations for the open-face “Casino” channel letters and messageboards.
Claude Neon Federal fabricated the channel letters and logo with aluminum backs and satin-black, pre-finished returns. White, 3⁄16-in.-thick, Acrylite® acrylic sheaths the faces, which are backlit by 8,300K, 15mm EGL neon. For the logo, Premier Graphics (Lubbock, TX) created a digitally printed, vinyl overlay, which Claude Neon Federal applied over Lexan® polycarbonate. Horizon-blue and tropic-green, EGL 15mm tubing provide the logo’s backlighting.
The primary messageboard features Daktronics’ ProStar 16mm full-color, three-sided board, which wraps the sign’s street-facing end. The secondary ribbon uses Daktronics ProAd 16mm, full-color displays.
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