Signs Matter in your Community

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Why Signs Matter: The Power of Visual Communication in Residential Communities

Recently, Signwave created and distributed a brochure to residential property managers. The purpose of the brochure was to ignite a conversation regarding why signs matter, and why you need a professional sign company to manage your community’s signage. But brochures have limited space and logically focus on photography, so we’re taking an opportunity now to focus on the details. No matter if you’ve found us through the brochure, or a social media link, or a Google search, here’s a little more detail about why we’re passionate about community signage.

   

 

1. They Enhance Safety and Compliance

Safety signs for the crosswalk and garage door height assist drivers at Fountaingate Gardens

Clear, visible signage can significantly reduce liability and improve resident safety. From pedestrian crossing signs to pool safety rules and fire exit instructions, signs help you meet local codes and regulations while keeping residents informed and secure. Safety signs are especially important in high-traffic areas like parking lots, stairwells, and common spaces.

2. They Improve Wayfinding and First Impressions

Painted, carved PVC signage helps visitors and delivery personnel find addresses at the Fisherman’s Wharf private community in Babylon

Imagine a new resident or delivery driver pulling into your property. Can they easily find the leasing office, guest parking, or Unit 244? The last thing you want is a delay for an emergency response vehicle. Directional and unit identification signage makes navigation simple, reducing frustration and traffic issues. For prospective tenants, polished and professional signage signals that the property is well-managed and thoughtfully maintained.

3. They Reinforce Community Rules and Expectations

Pool regulation signage is an important requirement for safety, but it can still match the community signage aesthetic

No one wants to constantly nag residents about noise levels, pet policies, or parking rules. Signs are a tactful, neutral reminder around the clock for community expectations. Whether it’s a Quiet Hours sign in a hallway or pool regulations, signage promotes shared responsibility and mutual respect among residents.

4. They Strengthen Brand and Aesthetic Appeal

Halo lit dimensional letters for upscale condominiums, Woodbury NY

A Welcome That WOWS – stunning halo lit dimensional letters for upscale condominiums, Woodbury NY

Your signage is part of your property’s brand. A beautifully designed monument sign at the entrance can create a sense of arrival and boost curb appeal. Elegant street signs demonstrate that you put thought and care into the property and all its residents. A consistent aesthetic across the property promotes a feeling of harmony.

5. They Support Accessibility and Inclusion

Clear emergency signage, including Braille, provides accessibility and safety to all

Inclusive signage is more than just nice to have. It’s imperative. Braille on room signs, clearly marked accessible entrances, and multilingual notices demonstrate your commitment to serving a diverse resident population and complying with ADA regulations.

 

Investing in quality signage is one of the simplest ways to enhance your property’s function and feel, making life better for everyone who lives, visits, or works there. If you need a signage overhaul or just want to investigate what signage can do for your residential community, call Signwave for a free on-site consultation.

storefront door sign is a welcome mat

When Is A Door Not A Door?

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If you don’t know the answer to this old riddle ask a dad.

But here at Signwave, Long Island’s home for beautiful signage and displays, the answer is “when it’s a welcome mat!”

How do you welcome your customers, clients and guests? Can they find you? Does your door reinforce your brand? Does your door put them in the right frame of mind to transact business with your organization? Is it shabby, or is it professional?

Whether you want a full coverage frosted vinyl treatment, some printed window perf vinyl for privacy, a full color contour cut logo, or simple letters in white, Signwave can help. Below are just a few of the hundreds of door treatments we’ve created to welcome customers and visitors to offices all across Long Island. If you want to make a good first impression on YOUR guests, call us today.

glass door cut vinyl

cut white vinyl logo and hours on glass door

Storefront lightbox and window graphics for Rose & Boom Boutique, St James NY

cut etch vinyl on a window

Door vinyl for office

Fall signage for West Islip, NY flower shop

Is Your Signage in Season?

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For retailers, compelling signage makes all the difference in attracting customers all year round. Depending upon the location and the type of store, you can offer a new promotion every month – and signage designed with changing sales seasons in mind can make sure that there’s always a relevant offer on hand.

Let shoppers know you’re stocked
for the “Big Six”

A case in point is our customer Towers Flowers, in West Islip, NY. After we designed the windows and interior signage for their new location, they came to us for a solution for changeable signage to display the many seasons of flowers. The florist business is a particularly seasonal one, and we came up with designs for the “big six” annual flower events – Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mothers’ Day, and Graduation. After developing designs for these, we developed promotional signage for year-round and “off season” events, like weddings, funerals, summer parties, and birthdays, to fill in the gaps.

Visual Merchandising that’s easy to change.

To assure ease of changing as one season ends and another begins, we printed these signs on translucent vinyl and installed them on flexible acrylic sheets that could be easily popped in and out of their existing window frames. The windows were supplemented with changeable banners installed on a strategic wall, facing oncoming traffic, to assure maximum visibility. The window signs and banners are saved and reused year after year.

Signwave can help change your retail signage from stale to seasonal. Give us a call at 631.761.9292 to make sure that potential customers know what you’ve got in store.

 

5 Things To Know About Permits

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You’ve chosen a sign company, worked with them to design your sign, and paid your deposit. Now all you have to do is sit back and wait for them to make and install your beautiful new sign, right? Not so fast.

Long Island is only made up of two counties, but within each county every town and village has set in place widely different regulations regarding signage. Almost all new or updated exterior signage requires some kind of permit, and navigating the process can be daunting. Here are five important things you need to know about permits before you even start designing.

  1. Permits are required for good reason. Of course we wish we could make you the biggest, most colorful sign on the street to get attention for your business. But if everyone tried to do that the streets would be a big cluttery mess, and likely a safety hazard as well. Every single town and village on Long Island has their own disparate set of sign codes, and they’re all in place for different reasons. They may want a main street to have uniformity of design. They certainly want to ensure that flashing, moving, or brightly lit signs aren’t hazardous to passing drivers. They need to protect pedestrians by guaranteeing that the signage is constructed well, illuminated safely, and installed securely to avoid accidents. They can’t allow one business to have an enormous sign that dwarfs all the others in the area.
  2. Neglecting a permit can be costly. Let’s be honest, no one wants to have the town dictate to them how they should and should not market their business, much less pay for that restriction via permit fees. And there are plenty of fly-by-night sign companies that will happily bypass the process for you. But what is the cost for neglecting a permit? If the town or village code enforcement officer notices your new sign and discovers it has no permit, you will certainly be receiving a fine. If you pay the fine and attempt to file for the permit after the fact, you may learn that something about your sign is out of code and you’ll have to remove it and start all over again. If you ignore the fine, your town or village could inflict even harsher penalties. The risk isn’t worth the initial savings.
  3. Permit applications are time consuming. Not only that, they require a lot of technical structural and electrical information that you may not have. It takes time to gather all the information from all the different sources, procure the required signatures — including notarization — and deliver the permit package to the town. It may even be necessary to attend an in-person meeting of the town’s Architectural Advisory Committee, which are generally held in the evenings. If the permit is deemed to require a variance, that will involve even more time and paperwork that you may not be able to dedicate.
  4. DENIED! Speaking of variances, permits can be denied for a huge variety of reasons both big and small. Believe us when we say sometimes the reasons can seem painfully small. But the town has the final decision power. So if a spec needs to be updated in more detail, or a mockup drawing needs a different angle, or you suddenly need very specific paint chips to show color, there’s no getting around it. It can sometimes take multiple rounds of permit applications before permission is granted for a sign. Patience and tenacity are key.
  5. So why bother? The fifth and most important thing you need to know about permitting is that a permitting professional can take all this aggravation off your hands and get the permit approved efficiently. We know where to find the applicable town codes so the sign has the best chance of being approved the first time around. We have the technical know-how to create a polished permit package that has clear details the town needs. We take the time to compile all the supplemental documents, procure the signatures, and submit everything on your behalf. If it’s required for someone to attend the review board meeting in person, we’ll handle that as well. And in the case where a variance is necessary to get special permission for a sign that might otherwise be denied, we’ll walk through the process with you to completion.

It’s everyone’s goal to make sure your business gets the attention it needs to thrive. Signwave can help you through the signage process from beginning to end, including permitting, so you can get back to building your business — only now with a beautiful new sign.

And if you’re an out-of-state sign company looking to have an installation done locally, we’re here for you as well. We can procure all the permits for your local customer’s signage and do the installation too.

Don’t let the permit process intimidate you. Call Signwave and we’ll take the hassle off your hands.

3 Reasons You Should Winterize Your Signs

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The new year is almost upon us, and advertisements will be everywhere telling you it’s time for a “new you.” Believe it or not, it’s also an important time to make some changes to your signage. You may not need to “slim down” your signage or do a “budget overhaul” to make it work,  just make time for some “self care” with small adjustments, like the suggestions below. A resolution to update your signage to the season will have a big impact in 2023.

Three Reasons Your Signs Need Winterizing

Increased Visibility for Outdoor Signs

In cold weather, the foot traffic around your business decreases dramatically. An A-frame on the sidewalk suddenly impacts fewer and fewer potential customers–the pile of snow along the road from the plow blocks it from view, and most people are staying indoors anyway. The majority of people passing by are in vehicles, so you don’t have much time to attract their attention. You need big, bold, colorful, and quick messaging. Consider an illuminated channel letter sign on your building, or a colorful window graphic. Window vinyl can be applied “second surface” or on the inside surface facing outward, to protect it from the elements!

New Product Offerings Need Custom Design

Do you have a special on down-filled weatherproof jackets this week? Have you created a brand new Instagram-worthy secret-menu latte drink? Do you carry a new brand of winter tires that you’d like everyone to know about? You’d better check your signage and make sure you aren’t still marketing bathing suits, or frozen fruit drinks, or air conditioning system tuneups. When your product offerings change with the seasons, it’s crucial that your signage does too. Update your window signs, in store displays, even your vehicle graphics to feature your most up to date product lines.

Changing Business Hours for Entrances and Door Signs

No matter what business you’re in, your hours can be affected by the seasons. Outdoor recreational facilities may need to change their closing hours because it gets dark earlier. Even if you posted your holiday closures on your website, make sure they’re easily found by customers who show up to your physical location as well. And we know too well in 2022 that staff shortages due to illness can lead to early closing or late opening, and it’s important that you keep your clients aware to avoid frustrations and lost business. Flexible signage options include LED message signs that can be mounted inside your window to be viewed from outside, or a changeable letter sign.

Signwave is ready to do a signage evaluation for your facility to make sure you’re winterized! Call us at 631-761-9292 or fill out the contact us form, and we’ll get started.

3 Reasons You Should Winterize Your Signs

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It’s a new year, and advertisements everywhere are telling you it’s time for a “new you.” Believe it or not, it’s also an important time to make some changes to your signage. You may not need to “slim down” your signage or do a “budget overhaul” to make it work,  just make time for some “self care” with small adjustments, like the suggestions below. A resolution to update your signage to the season will have a big impact in 2022.

Three Reasons Your Signs Need Winterizing

Increased Visibility for Outdoor Signs

In cold weather, the foot traffic around your business decreases dramatically. An A-frame on the sidewalk suddenly impacts fewer and fewer potential customers–the pile of snow along the road from the plow blocks it from view, and most people are staying indoors anyway. The majority of people passing by are in vehicles, so you don’t have much time to attract their attention. You need big, bold, colorful, and quick messaging. Consider an illuminated channel letter sign on your building, or a colorful window graphic. Window vinyl can be applied “second surface” or on the inside surface facing outward, to protect it from the elements!

New Product Offerings Need Custom Design

Do you have a special on down-filled weatherproof jackets this week? Have you created a brand new Instagram-worthy secret-menu latte drink? Do you carry a new brand of winter tires that you’d like everyone to know about? You’d better check your signage and make sure you aren’t still marketing bathing suits, or frozen fruit drinks, or air conditioning system tuneups. When your product offerings change with the seasons, it’s crucial that your signage does too. Update your window signs, in store displays, even your vehicle graphics to feature your most up to date product lines.

Changing Business Hours for Entrances and Door Signs

No matter what business you’re in, your hours can be affected by the seasons. Outdoor recreational facilities may need to change their closing hours because it gets dark earlier. Even if you posted your holiday closures on your website, make sure they’re easily found by customers who show up to your physical location as well. And we know too well in 2022 that staff shortages due to illness can lead to early closing or late opening, and it’s important that you keep your clients aware to avoid frustrations and lost business. Flexible signage options include LED message signs that can be mounted inside your window to be viewed from outside, or a changeable letter sign.

Signwave is ready to do a signage evaluation for your facility to make sure you’re winterized! Call us at 631-761-9292 or fill out the contact us form, and we’ll get started.

canvas gallery wraps

Custom Gallery Prints

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Your business is unique, and when your office is the “face” you present to the customer you want it to showcase that unique quality that makes you stand out from your competition. One good way to do that is to have one-of-a-kind decor in your office space. A custom-made canvas gallery print is a budget-friendly way to decorate your office. We can use your logo, photos of your staff or facilities, artwork that you have the rights to use, or any other graphic you can imagine to create a custom-sized, bespoke piece of artwork that fits your exact needs.

framed artwork displayed on an easel

Custom canvas prints can be displayed in a variety of ways

Signwave has talented designers on staff that can create the custom artwork you want, and size it to fit the space you want to fill. We custom build each sturdy frame using exacting methods, and have a variety of options for canvas styles on which we can print your design. Once complete, the canvasses can hang directly on the wall for a minimalist look, or they can be framed or placed on an easel for display.

a graphic print on canvas displayed on an easel

Displaying your custom canvas print without a frame gives a minimalist and clean look

Gallery prints are more than just business decor. They would be welcome as part of a year-end award ceremony for meeting fiscal or production goals. Encourage outside creative efforts among your employees by having their artwork turned into a masterpiece, either the art itself or a photograph of the results, and hang them in your facility for other employees to enjoy.

One Signwave customer used a custom gallery wrap as a memorial to his father, using photographs and text. It will hang in his home for all the family to see and remember their loved one.

printed memorial with photos and text

We sized this customer’s artwork and printed a lovely memorial to his father, with a custom-built frame

They also make wonderful gifts if you have a treasured family photo you’d like to showcase.

When you’re ready to turn a special photo or piece of artwork into a gallery wrap for your home or office, call Signwave to help you get started. We’ll create a durable custom piece you’ll love.

Why Do I Need an LED Retrofit?

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Fluorescents can be a fire hazard. This sign is a perfect opportunity for a retrofit.

“Wow, it took me a while to find you guys!” Ever hear that from a customer, due to a dim, unlit, or damaged sign? At that point you call up your local sign shop and ask them to come out to replace a bulb, or check the wiring. At the time of the diagnosis they tell you that yes, they could replace the burned out fluorescent bulb or repair the wiring, but your best option would be to replace the entire works with an LED retrofit. Then they quote you a price that is quite a bit higher than a replacement bulb. What?!! You decide they’re trying to upsell you into a solution you simply don’t need. But what are the unseen costs you’re incurring by sticking with the old technology, and what is the ROI for making the switch?

Cost vs. Value

An LED bar that fits into your fluorescent fittings

  • Lower Maintenance Costs: LEDs cost less to maintain because you replace them less often. Fluorescent bulbs are cheap but fragile, and you have to pay for a bucket truck to come out and change them up to 2 or 3 times a year in some cases. LED lights running 10 hours a day can last up to a decade, meaning one trip to install and no more labor charge for years to come.  Your LED retrofit could pay for itself in as little as 2 years.
  • Lower Operating Costs: LEDs use about 1/3 of the energy of a fluorescent bulb, meaning your energy bills will be lower without sacrificing brightness. Also, fluorescents can lose up to half their output in cold weather, while LEDs continue to operate at full efficiency in both very high and very low temperatures.
  • Increased Visibility: LEDs are brighter than fluorescents. A regular fluorescent sign bulb shines in 360 degrees, wasting light that shines toward the back of the sign. The light from LEDs is directed straight onto the sign face for increased brightness and readability. If one LED module burns out, the overall effect to the sign is much less than if an entire fluorescent bulb burns out.

    Each LED element is quickly and easily installed into your existing sign cabinet.

  • Reduced Environmental Impact: Fluorescent bulbs contain mercury and phosphor, and must be disposed of in an environmentally conscious way. If your company has green initiatives and goals, LEDs are a necessity.
  • You Can Keep Your Existing Cabinet: With an LED retrofit, you don’t need an entirely new sign. You can keep your existing cabinet and sign face, and our technicians will replace only the lighting elements. It’s a cost-efficient glow up for your sign that will immediately draw attention.

Double Your Value with a New Sign Face Too

Once your new lighting is in place, you may notice that your sign face suddenly looks a bit drab or old. Signwave’s experienced design team can create a bright, fresh graphic that will play off the new lighting perfectly. Done along with the retrofit install, you save even more money by avoiding two install trips. It’s a double whammy that will turn heads and draw in customers.

 

An LED retrofit plus an update to the vinyl face makes the K&M Truck Repair lightbox stand out in Ronkonkoma

A Smart Choice with High ROI

Choosing to update your illuminated sign with an LED retrofit is a smart decision that we recommend because it’s our job to boost your business: to help you get more attention and save money. If your lightbox or pylon sign isn’t looking its best anymore, give Signwave a call. We can find the best solution for you.

Neon – It’s a Gas!

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The Las Vegas strip. The Pike Place Market sign. Times Square. These words probably all draw up images in your mind that have one thing in common: NEON. For over 100 years, the technology used to create neon lights has remained very much the same, and purists the world over still rely on it for colorful, eye-catching signage. From large, show-stopping outdoor signs to small interior window signs, here’s a little background info you might not know about your favorite gas!

The Discovery of Neon and History of the Neon Light

The chemical element neon was first discovered in 1898 by British chemists Sir William Ramsay and Morris W. Travers, who at that same time discovered two other inert gases: argon and xenon. When isolated inside a sealed tube, the neon emitted a very bright reddish-orange glow. However because so little of the gas was extracted during their small-scale air liquefaction process, it was too costly to use in quantity. It wasn’t until 1910 that Air Liquide business owner George Claude was able to produce enough neon in his larger-scale process to make it practical for use in lighting applications. His first attempt at neon lighting, to be used in home settings, was unsuccessful. But once he was able to channel the neon light’s extreme brightness and unusual tint into signage applications, the demand began to grow. He sold the first neon signs in the United States to a Packard dealership in Los Angeles in 1923.

Just three years later, Jacques Risler of France discovered how to create additional colors in neon. By coating the sealed tube containing the gas with different fluorescent coatings or “phosphors,” the ultraviolet light emitted by the gases inside caused the tube to glow with various colors. Colors outside the red/orange spectrum usually have additional compounds added to enhance the color, such as argon and mercury. By the 1960s there were about two dozen color options available, and today there are almost 100.

Iconic Neon

Here are just a few examples of how neon can be used to create signs that are recognizable the world around.

Classic Texas barbecue neon sign

The grandfather of all neon cities, Las Vegas

The Pike Place Public Market in Seattle boasts one of the most recognizable neon signs in the US.

Neon can be fabricated in a wide variety of colors

Your (Business) Name in Lights

One of the main benefits offered by neon signage is its longevity. A well cared for neon sign can last for years, even decades. But just as in the early 1900s, neon can be very costly to fabricate and repair, making it outside the budget of many small businesses. So what alternatives have come along? Enter LED technology.

Just a few of the color options in LED neon style rope lighting

LED (light-emitting diode) technology is used in just about every illuminated sign we create at Signwave, from lightboxes to channel letters. It’s super bright, cool to touch, energy efficient, versatile, long-lasting, and affordable. There are even LED rope products that can mimic the look of classic neon tubing with more flexibility and color variety. With all the options that LED technology opened up, a classic-looking neon sign with modern benefits is in anyone’s reach.

Are You Ready To Be Iconic?

Whether you’ve been in business for 40 years or 40 days, you can be a neighborhood icon with the right signage. Are you ready? Call Signwave today and we’ll come to you for a consultation and site visit. We can help you stand out in the crowd.

 

 

 

Using color to identify subsidiaries in dimensional lettering

A Perfect Season for Interior Signage

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Wintertime is Interior Signage Evaluation Time

Why are interior signs important?

Outside all signs point to more cold weather to come, but inside it’s a perfect time to reevaluate your business’s interior signage. Attractive signs are much more than just bits of information to stick on a wall or door. After all, it’s not just your customers that use them as a visual marker. You and your employees and co-workers see them, walk past them, and work under them day after day. A drab, purely practical sign does nothing to inspire pride or productivity.

Cream and blue ADA sign reading "work room"

Do a site evaluation and make notes

Take a walk around your facility and see where you have a generic, off-the-rack sign, a piece of printer paper, or nothing at all to designate the different areas and offices. What message would it send to your employees and customers if you had a custom-made, coherent signage plan in place to increase visibility, decrease confusion, and create a harmonious work environment?

Where can we make improvement?

Consider these options:

  1. Signage in your company colors to designate workrooms, conference rooms, and storage areas
  2. ADA compliant bathroom signs that also sport your company’s logo
  3. Panoramic wall vinyl with photos depicting scenic areas in your town, or your products in action
  4. Cozy, welcoming signage in your staff dining areas
  5. Clear directional signage for your customers and visitors
  6. Custom nameplates for offices
  7. Long-lasting, custom made floor markings for social distancing and safety

Custom Motivational wallCustom Wall Graphics for Conference Room

There’s no better time than today

Right now is the best time to make those interior changes, before the warm weather calls us all outside again. Signwave can implement your vision, or start from scratch and come up with a full site signage plan to meet your aesthetic and your budget. Give us a call for a site visit!

painted dimensional logo on shiplap wall

Take Pride In Your Brand – Logo Signs For Building and Lobby

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Like you, we work hard to elevate our brand to prominence, and we all spend every minute of the day to make sure it stays on top. Your logo is the embodiment of your brand and deserves all the attention that you can bring it with signage outside and throughout your place of business.

Your Logo In Lights – Illuminated Property Signage

Whether your business is retail, manufacturing, or service-oriented you want the world to know who you are and where you are. Your best opportunity to succeed is with highly visible and expertly executed signage. Forgive us our moment of pride while we show off some of the logo work we’ve been doing for our customers recently. These are just a few examples of our creative logo wizardry – give us a call to see what magic we can do for yours.

Fabricated Metal Lettersets – Casting A Glow

A custom finish, rendered with perfection, will display pride in your property to all who enter. For this entrance to a luxury property in Woodbury, NY we created fabricated stainless steel letters with a brushed gold titanium finish. An array of energy efficient LEDs cast a halo effect on the brick wall behind to assure a majestic presence day or night.

closeup view of The Preserve sign day and night version

A closer view of The Preserve lettering, day and night versions

The Art Of Channel Letters Done Right

Even a complex logo can be handsomely rendered with the right channel letter design, manufacturing and installation process. Here’s a 50′ wide announcement to the neighborhood of the new business in town that we created for the new Water Lilies Fine Asian Cuisine kitchens in Bay Shore, NY. The elegant flower logo is composed of 14 segments, each its own channel element, with LEDs, custom color front lit translucent polycarbonate, and clear polycarbonate backs for a stunning halo effect.

illuminated channel letters with halo lighting

Front and halo lighting along with an intricate logo design create a strong brand and presence

Inside The Building – Illuminated Logo Signs For Your Lobby, Conference Room or Showroom

Your Lobby Tells Them Who You Are

No other company is like yours. Thus your lobby sign should be like no other. Here’s a unique logo treatment we created for the customer entrance of a manufacturing and distribution company in Islandia, NY. This design features a dimensional logo with red halo lighting, custom color print faces, and a textured wall behind for an extraordinary overall effect.

PVC sign with red LEDs casts a halo effect on the wall.

PVC sign with embedded red LEDs casts a halo effect on the wall behind.

SEG Lightboxes – Perfect For Showrooms

A common style of showroom signage is a silicon-edge graphic lightbox. But the effect can be anything but common. An array of LEDs in a thin wall-mounted frame permit an easily-changed seasonal display rendered in full color graphics on translucent fabric. A silicon edge bordering each print permits easy changeout to keep your messaging current. Learn more details about SEG graphic frames and lightboxes at this article. Also great for tradeshows!

A photograph of SEG graphic ads in a subway

Illuminated silicone-edge graphics attract attention and are easily changeable.

The process all begins with your brand and vision. Let us show you how our design creativity, materials expertise and skilled craftspeople make your logo something of which to be proud.

safety signage

Returning to Work Safely: Evaluating your Safety Signage

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Now more than ever, employers have to be aware of our responsibilities regarding the safety of our employees. We have to go beyond the old fashioned “X days since our last accident” signage and create simple but effective everyday reminders of how to avoid injury and maintain overall health. Now is a perfect time to do a signage inventory to see where you might fall short in protecting your workforce. Because the day is coming, sooner rather than later we hope, when our facilities will be fully staffed and running full force again, and we can’t wait until then to make the changes we need.

safety signage inventory list

Determine the Right Location For Your Safety Signage

Each area of your facility, whether factory, warehouse, restaurant, retail shop, or office, needs safety signage in place exactly in the location where it should be utilized: blade safety in cutting areas, back strain warnings in areas where heavy lifting is done, and hand washing reminders by sinks and in bathrooms. Choose signage that fits the location in size and material…it won’t do you any good to have a knife safety reminder sign on the opposite side of the kitchen just because it won’t fit over the food prep table. And a paper sign from your office printer in a high-humidity area seems cost-effective, but how many times will you need to replace it?

 

Avoid Cluttered Information Signs

Don’t allow an overabundance of signs to cover up or distract from your most important messaging. Go through all the pieces of printer paper and sticky notes, and come up with one or two clear, visible signs that can convey all the information needed. Custom signage is easy when your sign company can design, fabricate, and install the entire job exactly to your needs.

 

Are Your Signs At The Correct Height?

The height placement of signage is so important that the government regulates it very strictly for signage that must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It’s important for non-ADA signage as well, so take stock of where your signs are hanging and make sure they are at or near eye level. If not, ask your sign company what the law requires or, if no law applies, what will work best for your specific need.

 

Replace Out of Date Safety Signs

As we look ahead to a post-COVID-19 world, it will be very important to reevaluate the accuracy and efficacy of the safety information on your signage. Think about the new ways you’ll want your employees to wash their hands, cover their coughs, wear their protective gear, and handle an absence due to illness. Make sure the signage you install keeps up with all the most current scientific information and human resources initiatives. There are many inexpensive material choices for less permanent signage that can help ease the transition until experts have a better grasp on what measures should be mandatory, and which are merely recommended.

 

Assess Missing and Damaged Signs

Hm, I wonder why that area on the wall is a different color than the wall around it? Is it possible that an important piece of signage fell, or broke, or was supposed to be temporarily moved and somehow never got replaced? Make a note of any signage that is either missing or no longer effective due to fading or other damage, and replace it. Looking at your signage plan as a whole gives you an opportunity to create a fresh and consistent design aesthetic that will be as attractive as it is informative.

 

Are Temporary Signs Appropriate?

Again, remove and discard signs with outdated information, and any that are damaged or unreadable. They’re just making physical and mental clutter for everyone. Then evaluate whether they should be replaced with a more robust permanent sign that fits with your overall design plan, or if it makes more sense to continue using less expensive temporary options for signage that changes frequently. Your sign company can recommend a myriad of options to fit your budget and need.

 

Once your inventory is complete, call your sign company. Here in New York, we are allowed to continue operating as usual when servicing an “essential” business. However we know your business is always essential to you, so there are many things we can do right now to move your project forward while still following all state and federal mandates. 

 

Call Signwave at 631-761-9292, and we can start today to help you get ready for that wonderful day when we are all operating full steam once again, with health and safety as our number one priority.

 

A photograph of SEG graphic ads in a subway

Getting an edge on your competition

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When your product and service offerings are changing to meet the fast pace of today’s business, one thing that might prevent you from purchasing signage is the fear of having to do it all over again within a few years, or even a few months. How do you stay current without breaking your budget?

A photograph of SEG graphic ads in a subway

Illuminated silicone-edge graphics attract attention and are easily changeable.

Just take a walk through your local mall and notice how many retail stores are using silicone edge graphics, or SEGs. These are large, usually internally illuminated fabric display cabinets that grab your attention using bright colors, bold graphics, and lighting. And they change regularly, sometimes multiple times within a season. These displays are made up of three elements: a plastic or aluminum frame, strategically placed LED lights, and a dye-sublimated fabric print.

Close up image of how to insert the silicone edge into the frame

The silicone edge easily slips into the frame for one-person installation.

Dye sublimation is a process in which heat bonds ink into the fabric so that the color is bold and long-lasting. Your graphic is printed onto and INTO the fabric, and then a strip of silicone is sewn into the edge of the fabric. This silicone strip slides securely into a channel that runs around the outside edge of the frame, holding it firmly in place so the graphic is taut. The LEDs are permanently affixed to the inside of the frame, so connect the wiring to your electric feed and voila! Your sign is ready for display. There’s only a small sliver of frame visible around the edge, so your graphic takes center stage.

Why are these signs so popular? Changeability and price. Once you have your frame, updating your fabric graphic is as easy as sending a new art file over to Signwave (or having our experienced design staff create one for you). We’ll have a new graphic printed and ready to install in no time. Even better, it doesn’t take a sign professional to do the installation. You or a member of your staff can remove the old graphic and install the new one in a matter of minutes, saving you money.

Trade show display 2

Silicone edge graphics can be illuminated (from interior or exterior sources) or displayed with no lighting.

As perfect as this technology is for retail, it works just as well for trade show graphics and office/showroom decor. An entire tradeshow display can be built from SEG signage, and it can be illuminated from behind the frame or using attached lighting at the top. After the show, the fabric can be removed and folded away, and the frames can be disassembled for compact, lightweight travel and storage. The graphics will last for years and are washable. Another option is to recess the frames into the walls of an office or showroom for an elegant and impressive way to showcase your products and services. Changing the graphics as your business evolves is simple.

Call Signwave and let’s discuss how you can integrate silicone-edge graphics into your marketing plan!

Is My Signage ADA Compliant?

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Make yourself more accessible with Braille signage.

When it comes to doing business in an increasingly wide and varied world, one of the many important issues a company faces is accommodating people of differing abilities. The penalties for ignoring laws regarding accessible facilities, information, and websites can be stiff, both monetarily and in terms of customer good will. The Americans with Disabilities Act–the rules and regulations governing what accommodations are fair and lawful for all–is not always clear or concise. If you don’t have an ADA expert on call, how do you know you’re doing everything you’re supposed to do?

ADA signage applies to more than just restrooms.

Fortunately for you, Signwave has the expertise you need to ensure all your signage is ADA compliant. We understand what materials, fonts, and color options are allowed, and why. We know the regulations regarding installation of ADA signage, and what the allowable exceptions are in cases where ideal install locations aren’t feasible. We know where you can let your creativity shine, and where you need to stick with the standard. Let us take that stress off your plate so you can rest easy that your facility provides accessibility for all your visitors and employees, and you’re not at risk of penalty for violating state and federal laws.

Why do I need a custom sign shop?

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No matter what industry you work in these days, you have to be aware of who your competitors are and what they’re up to. What services and products are they offering? What are their price points? What have they got that you don’t? Increasingly, we have to be aware of the growing competition from companies whose entire business is operated online.

This isn’t news to anyone, including your customers. As the economy shifts and changes, customers are constantly searching for vendors who can work quicker, cheaper, and better. Or they’re figuring out ways to do the work themselves using how-to videos and suppliers. How does a brick and mortar business survive in that world?

As a company that services businesses, we try and help our customers navigate the paths of brand visibility while dealing with that exact scenario in our own industry.

metallic lobby sign

Brushed aluminum veneer on acrylic

What’s the point of a custom sign when I can get it online?

It’s inevitable. We get a call from a potential customer who wants a particular sign, and they want us to match the price they saw online. What do we say to that? We say, “By all means, if the internet store has the exact size and color and wording that you want, buy that sign.” We don’t want to waste your time or ours proposing something that we both already know you can get elsewhere for less.

BUT…

What if the sign you saw online doesn’t include the required ADA components? What if you want your sign in a very specific Pantone color to match your logo? What if the size of the sign you saw online is just a tiny bit too large to fit the space you want it to go?

What if you simply don’t know what you want yet and need an expert to guide you through the process?

custom signs, logo signs, window signs, salon signs, sign consultationNow, you need a custom sign company.

Signwave has the knowledgeable sales staff to walk through your physical space with you, and listen carefully to your needs. We can advise you on sizes, materials, and construction. We have talented designers who have worked with innumerable sign-making materials, with the creativity to develop a project that is unique to you. We walk you through all the steps of making that design a reality, working within your budget. We work with your town to ensure all signage is legal and permitted, taking that burden off your plate.

We have the industry contacts to coordinate all aspects of your branding project, from an illuminated sign on top of a 10-story building, to the etched lettering on your office doors, even to the branded napkins you set out for your corporate events. And we have skilled installers to put everything together for a finished project that potential customers can’t ignore, no matter how distracted they are by their mobile devices.

WE are a custom business, to help YOU stand out in the crowd as a custom business. Attract the customers you want so you can keep them with your stellar service, unmatched by any faceless internet company. It’s working for us, and we can make it work for you too.

Painted HDU sandblasted sign

Digital Signs: The Next Step in Sign Evolution

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In an increasingly digitized world, digital signage is the next and most logical transition for businesses that want to attract tech-savvy consumers, young people, and customers who simply enjoy technology that is new, interactive, and cool. Examples of digital signage include the entertainment/payment kiosks at your restaurant table, menu boards, up-to-the-minute flight schedule information in airports, and giant billboards in Times Square. All these types of signs provide information, are visually arresting, and can be changed at the tap of a keyboard.

Today let’s focus on the ubiquitous directory sign. Most buildings need them, and it’s very important that they are easy to read and up to date. A digital directory has a lot of advantages over traditional modular-style directory signs, foremost being the immediacy of updates. Not only can management instantly update tenancy information, but they can regularly refresh the design as well as create new and interesting advertising graphics for the tenants on site. Someone may be here to visit the office next door to yours to have their annual eye exam, but as they stop by the directory to find the office’s suite number they are greeted with a colorful ad for your shoe repair business, reminding them to stop by later with those boots that need to be resoled.

Arranging for a new digital sign at your office couldn’t be simpler. You don’t have to be a tech genius! Signwave will walk you through the process, which will include:

  • Onsite assessment where we visit you, take measurements, and talk about your needs.
  • Consultation services: together we work through Signwave’s initial proposal and pricing.
  • Hardware and software: determining which components fit your needs and budget.
  • Installation and commissioning: determining what contract work or permitting needs to occur, then overseeing the professional install crew on the day of installation.
  • Content creation and management: Our design team will create the design and content to your exact specifications.
  • Training and support: Once everything is installed and the content is ready, you’ll have all the training you need for the hardware and software, plus 24/7 phone support.
  • Ongoing service and program evaluation: As you use your service, we can make recommendations for changes or upgrades as you need them.

Our digital display package includes:

  • A high quality brand name digital display
  • Premier tilt mount, On-Wall Cabinet Enclosure, or In-Wall Cabinet Enclosure
  • Lifetime Software License
  • Content Design
  • First Year Content Management
  • Onsite Installation
  • 24/7 customer support

There are 3 different mounting options, to fit any space or budget:

The tilt-mounted directory is most cost-effective and easy to install.

The on-wall cabinet directory has added security because the wiring is inaccessible to the general public.

The in-wall cabinet directory has a seamless, professional appearance but has a more involved installation process.

Are you ready to bring your office into the digital age? Call Signwave at 631-761-9292 and let us show you how easy it can be.

Textiles – Your New Branding Medium

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Recent breakthroughs in the manufacture of durable fabric media have opened up a new world of printed, washable fabric options for your signage. Custom printed fabrics do more than just decorate your office and shop–they integrate with your marketing plan in any budget to create interest and spur sales.

While dye-sublimated printed fabric graphics are everywhere–airports, trade shows, retail stores–what’s new is our ability to create beautiful custom decor items for your business or home using our onsite latex printer, with a durability never before available.

Expand your vision of “signage” by imagining how custom printed fabric can enhance your office or retail shop.

Custom branded pillow

Use a simple logo on a pillow cover to make your waiting area couch a comfortable resting spot AND a marketing tool. Use it as part of a window display for your hot new inventory–imagine shoes or jewelry resting on a cloth throw with your store’s logo.

Custom-printed curtains

Window draperies can promote your brand or set a mood. Fabric creates a soft divider between office areas compared to walls or cubicles, having a positive effect on customers and employees alike. Print your logo on a large curtain that will cover the glass on your salon space or conference room, sliding easily to one side when you want an open view. Signwave can take your project from concept to production, including sewing.* Or we can deliver a printed fabric for you to craft into your own one-of-a-kind item.

For the ultimate in fabric branding, create a unique piece of furniture. Custom chair upholstery conveys a message that your company is solid, long-lived, and deserving of trust. Use your company logo and colors, or match your interior designer’s site plan.

The infinite options available through design and texture will support your marketing by creating an instant reaction in all your visitors. Whether your company style is whimsical or serious or anywhere in between, Signwave will take your vision and create for you the perfect custom fabric for your interior design projects.

Call Signwave today at 631-761-9292 to get started!

 

*Ask us about pricing for including sewing in your project. Signwave does not upholster fabric but can contract the upholstery job for you.

 

Dimensional Letter Signs Refresh Flower Retailer

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Retail signage can make or break your business. Draw customers in with new letterbox dimensional signage

If the cold weather has you feeling dreary, give the front of your store a pick-me-up with a new dimensional sign. Our team helped popular florist retailer Towers Flowers at 235 Higbie Lane, West Islip, to update their storefront with a new dimensional sign with new metal lettersets.

We installed four lettersets, as well as window graphics and updated graphics to a street-facing light box. Our high quality acrylic letters make each sign eye-catching and long-lasting. Our metallic acrylic has a chic gleam that would spruce up the front of any business.

Upgraded signage will keep your storefront fresh. When customers are shopping around, they will notice your business with a sign that stands out. Refreshing your store’s look can boost sales and make your business stand out.

A new building sign can draw the attention of both pedestrians and car passengers to reach the maximum audience. People want to support businesses that look professional and updated.

Signwave’s installation crew is professional and efficient

Signwave delivers professional installation with a talented crew. When our team installs a new sign on the front of your business, you can be certain it will draw attention to your store for many long years. Signwave produces custom work that will fit your precise signage needs. Our talented designers will help you create a beautiful custom sign that will attract the most business during the holidays this year.

For a free consultation for your business’s newest signs, call Signwave at (631) 761-9292

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color precision, color match, color perfection, color matching, sign color

Getting the Sign Colors Right

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“Close Enough” isn’t good enough when it comes to your brand. Good signage has to match a business’ brand — everything from the establishment’s overall aesthetics, to the packaging, even their ad campaigns. If signage and branding don’t match, then recognizability will suffer as a result. A sign might be highly visible, but it won’t “click,”if it doesn’t connect with the product or business. But when it’s done right, when the sign colors and style match the brand, your signage will stand out and bring the customers in.  
Read more

Installation of custom-branded changeable letter sign

Changeable Letter Sign For Dairy Queen

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Franchisees need precision in following specifications to assure that their signage is exactly aligned with brand requirements. In Dairy Queen’s case, it means Lexan sign faces with translucent black vinyl and faithful renders of their their logos and brand. The changeable letter sign has rails so the backlit lettering can be easily swapped out depending on the special of the day. Read more

Fall signage for West Islip, NY flower shop

Is Your Signage in Season?

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For retailers, compelling signage makes all the difference in attracting customers all year round. Depending upon the location and the type of store, you can offer a new promotion every month – and signage designed with changing sales seasons in mind can make sure that there’s always a relevant offer on hand.

Let shoppers know you’re stocked
for the “Big Six”

A case in point is our customer Towers Flowers, in West Islip, NY. After we designed the windows and interior signage for their new location, they came to us for a solution for changeable signage to display the many seasons of flowers. The florist business is a particularly seasonal one, and we came up with designs for the “big six” annual flower events – Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mothers’ Day, and Graduation. After developing designs for these, we developed promotional signage for year-round and “off season” events, like weddings, funerals, summer parties, and birthdays, to fill in the gaps.

Visual Merchandising that’s easy to change.

To assure ease of changing as one season ends and another begins, we printed these signs on translucent vinyl and installed them on flexible acrylic sheets that could be easily popped in and out of their existing window frames. The windows were supplemented with changeable banners installed on a strategic wall, facing oncoming traffic, to assure maximum visibility. The window signs and banners are saved and reused year after year.

Signwave can help change your retail signage from stale to seasonal. Give us a call at 631.761.9292 to make sure that potential customers know what you’ve got in store.

 

Mounting a sign

Why Signs?

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Signs are everywhere we look. Adhered to doors, windows, walls and floors. Hung from ceilings. Wrapped around cars, vans, trucks, boats, planes, skateboards and helmets. On poles in the ground, on brick walls, on edifices, on your desk or on your office building 600 feet off the ground.

Signs are there to tell you what to do, where to go, how to get there, and what the rules are. Signs are the most effective, yet least expensive, way to tell the world about your organization or business.

A sign is your introduction and handshake with those passing by, identifying your business to existing and potential customers. It is an opportunity to make a favorable first impression.
Most businesses, regardless of size, rely heavily on signs. On-premise signs tell people who you are and what you sell.

A sign is a critical piece of any business, and a good sign is a critical piece of a good business. We know that our customers are not sign experts, nor are we experts in our customers’ businesses. We will work closely with your team to create the right sign, using the right design, the right materials, on schedule, and on budget.