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A sign designer describes the creative process for planning electric signs at an historic redevelopment.
Two former breweries, National Brewing Co. ("Natty Boh") and Gunther Brewery, in Baltimore's Canton neighborhood, were renovated as a mixed-use, commercial development. Developers Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse (Baltimore) are converting a dozen buildings to create Brewers Hill, which will house office space, retailers, restaurants and residential space.
Triangle Sign (Baltimore) served as the primary sign fabricator on the Brewers Hill project, and we designed all of the signage. We've worked with Triangle for more than 20 years on various projects. This long-standing relationship facilitates projects because we've already worked out communication kinks between the designer and the fabricator.
As designers, we're most concerned with the end product's appearance and functionality, and let the sign fabricators handle all the technical aspects of the signage. We like a back-and-forth discussion, and we're always open to new ideas, as long as it's a discussion between us and the fabricators. We've had a few bad experiences in the past with other sign fabricators going directly to the client with suggestions that compromise the end design. We don't pretend to know everything about how to fabricate signage; we rely heavily on the sign fabricator's knowledge.
Design process
Our design goes through three stages: conceptual, development and fabrication/shop drawings. We present concepts to the client as rough ideas based on project research. Rather than focusing only on our personal design style and taste, we prefer to make design decisions based on what's right for the specific project or, for historic renovations like Brewers Hill, the building's history.
During the design development stage, we apply feedback from the client to the entire project. We start adding details necessary for a biddable package. Because we focus on design, we rely on the fabricators to create the shop drawings. Our documents are detailed enough to price the project.
Our packages include sign and message schedules, the look and feel of signs, and materials and sizes. But we rely on the fabricator to help determine how the signs are exactly built and engineered. We review all shop drawings to ensure the end product represents what we envisioned. We feel shop visits are necessary throughout the fabrication phase.
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