Author: Marianna Bartholomew

Name: Sign Artist Inc
Price range: $

September 18, 2020

Multi-tenant Signs for Westwood Financial

This week, Sign Artist completed our largest project for Westwood Financial, a national commercial real estate developer. Our crew fabricated multi-tenant sign panels for a 16-foot pylon sign at Elk Crossing Shopping Center, Elk Grove Village, Illinois. The applied vinyl on polycarbonate panels replaced old signage that was faded, peeling, and with outdated logos.

The reveal of the new sign includes a striking image of an elk, apropos of the shopping center’s theme. Well-known signs and logos from Panera Bread, Jewel-Osco, Great Clips, T-Mobile, Auto Zone, Citibank and Doctors of Physical Therapy, filled our studio this week, until thepanels were successfully installed yesterday. The result is a nice, clean look for Elk Crossing!

Before our Elk Crossing project, Sign Artist was asked to arrange for a Covid-19 curbside pickup base and post sign for Elk Crossing Shopping Center. Sign Artist installed this colorful trio of directional signs Westwood Financial, clearly marking curbside service for the shopping center visitors.

The project was unique, in that the foundations of four signs needed to be filled with 600 pounds of sand, to keep them stable! That put a new twist on the sun and sand concept, for our father-daughter crew that day.

Westwood first contacted Sign Artist pre-Covid era, after finding us online. This management corporation asked us to install a small directional sign for shops at picturesque Elmhurst City Center in downtown Elmhurst, Illinois.

Our favorite thing to do, is to provide multiple signs of all varieties to our happy repeat customers. Now…how might we serve you?

September 10, 2020

Sign Artist Draws Repeat Customers, Installing Business Signs With “PACE”

In Sign Artist’s early days, we developed a model of operation we called “PACE.” It’s an efficient and effective strategy to keep clients happy, as we fabricate and install their commercial signage. We’ve stuck by it ever since:

P roductivity: We create and install great signs, that turn heads and generate business
A daptability: We work flexibly with each unique client and project
C reativity: We blend striking designs with distinctive materials to make signs that inspire
E fficiency: We value clear communication and goals, reliable turn-around, high quality and clean installation

Yes, at Sign Artist, we “PACE” ourselves with these values and goals. The end result is loyal customers who turn to us time and again. For example, Drive Train Services in Bensenville, Illinois is a repeat customer, who benefits from a Sign Artist original Covid A-frame sign, vinyl application exterior directional signs, large exterior acrylic business signs mounted on brick, and dock signs.

Latsko Enterprises contracted Sign Artist for 200-plus interior and exterior signs for its Clark and Diversey high-rise residential property, including: ADA Braille directional signs; 3-dimensional, LED-illuminated entryway address numbers; brushed bronze, branded intercom panel; and framed evacuation map.

Sandburg Village in Chicago is a repeat Sign Artist customer, asking for several fabrication/install sessions for vinyl directional signs.

Chicago Cred asked Sign Artist for a cityscape wall mural, and is now asking for office nameplates.

Granite Transformations is a regional business, that has benefited from Sign Artist retractable signs and vehicle graphics.

The DUMP furniture store in Deerfield, IL, asked Sign Artist to install a large, illuminated channel letter sign for its showroom, and an applied vinyl mission statement that covered a full wall, 20 feet above the floor. Our studio was asked to return, to apply more text to an interior showroom wall.

Integrity Exteriors has returned time and again, for a Sign Artist banner and to apply company branding to its fleet of vehicles.
Elmhurst University in Elmhurst and University of Illinois in Chicago are also repeat customers, returning to Sign Artist for an array of sign needs, such as monuments, directories/maps, wall murals, vehicle graphics, 3-dimensional acrylic letters, brushed bronze plaques, and more.

Elmhurst Auto Care: After fabricating and installing new sign panels and a message center in an exterior pylon sign for this customer, we designed and provided business gift certificates and business cards.

Often, customers approach Sign Artist with one or two sign needs. After having a great experience with our team, and seeing the professional, striking results in their newly-installed signs, customers get creative and return with a full basket of branding and signage needs. Signs of all kinds are a great way for businesses to get their message across, and attract new customers! How might we help you?

September 2, 2020

Making Great Signs To Last

What makes signs great? Let’s look at the MTC monument sign Sign Artist just fabricated and installed. Our crew clipped “darts” into the high-tech printed vinyl wrap on this Myers Technology sign back. They also brushed on a translucent sealer. Both tactics resulted in a high quality sign for this Elk Grove, Illinois machine company. Myers Technology started with a bold, eye-catching design in vivid tones. Sign Artist fabrication methods complemented the design, assuring that the sign would be smooth and durable.

With sun, wind, rain and snow beating on monument signs day in, day out, top fabrication values play a key role in making a sign last. A worst-case scenario, would be sign edges curling and fraying in the breeze! But Sign Artist standards make such a disaster highly unlikely.

This well-crafted MTC sign on our Sign Artist fabrication table, struck us as a work of art. The designer who accomplished this precision cutting and application, has her degree in fine arts. She is adept at working with a wide variety of media. She also collaborates with clients to design their own unique logos and branding. We couldn’t resist showcasing her work!

Overall, this striking sign reflects the pride Myers Technology takes in the machines it offers. It also reflects Sign Artist’s pride as creative and competent sign fabricators/installers.

The MTC monument sign was affixed onto a classic brick and mortar substrate. Another 21-st century option, is to install monuments made of cutting-edge, synthetic materials, like the Orion sign below. Mixing materials makes signs polished in appearance, and reduces costs. When clients prefer, Sign Artist installs high-density urethane monument signs. The base is a high-tech urethane that contracts and expands with the weather. This keeps cracks and other indicators of age at bay. With no masonry work needed, costs are decreased. Such signs can be adorned by 3-dimensional letters and graphics, or printed vinyl, on an acrylic panel,

Whether classic brick, urethane, acrylic, or applied vinyl, your monument sign can shine! Check out more exterior sign ideas here. Call Ed at 630-594-4185, to discuss your monument options!

September 1, 2020

Sign Artist Installs 50-Plus Directional Signs In Skokie Parking Garage

Sign Artist manufactured and installed directional sign panels for a public parking garage in Skokie, Illinois. Our 50-plus vivid signs on 080 coated aluminum substrate will keep traffic on the right track.

Providing directional signs is a valuable service offered by Sign Artist. Such signs are essential:

On roadways
In parking lots
In recreation areas
In industrial parks
On healthcare campuses
On school grounds

Directional signs promote safety, and include the category of Covid directionals, too. Check out our pre-designed Covid signage, add your brand, or let us help you design your own unique signage.

Tell us your directional signage needs. Call Ed at 630-594-4185.

August 14, 2020

200-plus Custom Signs at Clark & Division

Sign Artist is proud to help transform a former historic parking garage in Chicago into a stunning residential property. In the heart of Chicago’s Gold Coast, Sign Artist helped equip Latsko Interests’ new property. Our studio fabricated and installed 200-plus custom signs. This vintage brick building received the following:

Perforated vinyl graphics covering 3rd-4th floor windows
Nearly 200 ADA signs
Side-lit LED channel address numbers atop main entrance
Engraved aluminum plate for intercom system
Framed evacuation plan

The day of the window install, 35-40 mph winds added some excitement. Sign Artist’s crew waited to ascend in the 65-foot-tall articulated lift. Finally, winds eased and they were good to go up and get the job started — around 10 PM! They completed the job around 2 AM. Mid-way through, pedestrians stopped to compliment our crew on the great-looking signs.

The sun rose to the newly-wrapped building at 1201 N. Clark Street. The graphics provide eye-popping visibility for contact information and rental unit availability. Perforated vinyl is also a high-tech material of choice for clients seeking high-profile window signage, that provides privacy, while allowing clear visibility from inside the structure. Addressing sign needs covering a vast array of materials and applications, makes Sign Artist a one-stop shop for clients like Latsko.

One unique challenge, included designing and installing the illuminated LED entry numbers. Affixing the numbers securely into a steel beam, meant fabricating and bolting into place a custom sub-assembly.

Another unique element, included an original design for multi-floor ADA room numbers. Precision laser cutting acrylic created the ADA braille “bumps” and numbers. Sign Artist applied translucent taupe vinyl with a contemporary pattern to the back of the signs, adapting them to 1201 Clark St. decor. How might we help you uniquely brand your residential unit or business?

April 23, 2019

Are Sign Letters Gone with the Wind? Try LED Signs!

All of us at Sign Artist play a Where’s Waldo? game of sorts. We spot problematic signs wherever we go! We applaud this dry cleaner in Chicagoland for posting positively and taking the “high road.” He obviously takes a lot of pride in his signs, because the message changes often.

However, we also wonder if the sturdy Spring winds have whisked a couple letters to another county!

Stringing letters manually to a gigantic sign board is one way of getting a message across, and we’ve happily provided changeable letter signs to area clients. But a more modern approach, and one that can be easily programmed with the touch of a finger on a screen, is LED lighting.

LED signs give an updated look, and have exterior and interior uses galore, from way finding, directory and even sports arena signage, to menu and score boards. and open/closed signs. Wifi controller connections allows the owner of the sign to make changes to content as needs dictate.

These electronic message centers provide high visibility to your business!

Let us know if you’d like to update your look, make lettering legible and secure, and simplify maintenance, with a programmable LED sign. We’d be happy to give you a quote for your specific need and application.

April 17, 2019

Be Strategic with Signs

People heading up any enterprise, often pour hours into strategic plans, employee and client interactions, but sometimes miss the obvious — planning for a stunning sign that will turn heads and generate buzz and business. Whether you’re shopping for a new dentist or realtor, a clothing boutique or condo, would you be more willing to try the establishment that features a yellowing, half-lit sign announcing its services…or a fresh sign with all letters intact? Do you enjoy seeing more than plain signage? A well-designed image or two, placed strategically, can make any sign more striking.

We’ve had a brutal winter in many parts of the U.S…and certainly in Chicagoland! Now is a great time to see if your shop, residential or corporate signage needs a face lift. We’ve already seen an uptick in business at Sign Artist, as customers are asking for new directory sign panels, banners for temporary branding until storefront build outs are complete, vinyl wraps to turn vans into moving billboards, and new wall murals to brighten a shop interior.

If you have a dream for how to rev up the interior or exterior of your business, contact us! You may be amazed at the tremendous variety of materials available that can move your project forward. Also, we have a fine artist on staff, who has a wonderful gift for grasping clients’ visions and helping to make them a reality.

If you’re tired of your branding and would like a logo re-design, Sign Artist is up for the challenge. Want to see some of the cutting-edge materials that make contemporary signs pop and also last longer? Reserve a time with us, and then come view samples of every imaginable kind of sign, in our showroom. We look forward to “Springing forward” with you, as our weather changes, and we help you put on a fresh new sign for your business!

April 9, 2019

Every New, Exterior Sign Needs a Permit

Sign Artist’s crew was busily installing a 15-foot pylon sign in a Western Suburb of Chicago, when a city official strode up to check our code compliability. Had the crew obtained proper permits to revamp the sign? When the official saw our paperwork, all signed and sealed at city hall, he smiled and joined us for a photo.

Does code compliance matter? Yes, and many a business owner has discovered this the hard way. On one recent job, Sign Artist was asked to remove a beautiful 10-foot-wide channel letter sign, because the previous sign company had not followed city codes in its installation. The improper sign looked great on the store front, but was not compatible with other storefront signs in the complex, so had to go. Sign Artist took care of removal of the old sign, and design and installation — and code compliant paperwork — for the new sign.

What’s involved in obtaining proper paperwork from city hall? Owners either file for permits themselves, or hire Sign Artist to do the leg and phone work, in sending dimensional and other information, and photos of the projected sign, to appropriate staff at city offices. The process of obtaining permits does require certain fees and can take some time, even several weeks or more. If a business owner wants his or her sign installed ASAP, then the code and permitting issues should be addressed efficiently, or crew and owner will face delays in the install.

Make everyone happy — dot every “i” and cross every “t,” regarding city permits! Give Sign Artist a call for any questions about the process, and we’ll smooth the way for you, ensuring that your sign will make you — and your city officials — smile.

Let Sign Artist do the legwork in obtaining proper exterior sign permits!

April 5, 2019

Sign World Convention 2019, Nashville, TN

Sign Artist met with half of its 320-plus sister sign companies at the 2019 Sign World Convention at Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, March 22-24, 2019. Our crew joined the gathering of sign company owners, designers, installers and vendors.

Highlights included observing cutting-edge techniques in installing the newest 3M substrates, demonstrations of a high-grade measuring tool called Spike, and group and private sessions with management experts.

Sign Artist designer Erin, said she appreciated “learning about other designers’ processes” from across North America, and getting refreshers on helpful Illustrator shortcuts.

The Sign Artist crew delved into production and installation techniques of top sign makers, including one sign company owner who involved our crew in hands-on demonstrations. This car wrapper for the “stars,” serves on movie sets in Burbank, California.

Our crew spotted a wild variety of signs at every turn in Nashville, from small scale to monumental. Whether turn-of-the-century ads for jalopies or 21st-Century LED signs, artistry and loving care showed in the design of many.

As Sign World owners met for the sessions and spent time comparing notes, one thing was clear: Sign Artist’s commitment to its clients to visit large-scale sign environments to gauge installs, is invaluable to making us a top-ranked sign company. One example, is Sign Artist’s install of the Elmhurst Auto Care pylon sign on North Avenue in Elmhurst, which required site visits to properly plan for the production and install of the sign. Sign World Convention speakers and company owners from across North America agree, that this level of service is vital in creating top signage.