Designer Colour paint the town with illuminated shop signage

London based home decor company Designer Colours were looking to rebrand and update the signage at their large premises in Mill Hill to attract more business and boost visibility in the area.

The project involved removing dated signage which was in need of a freshen up. The old signs were replaced with 3 x Flex Face signs, a large canopy sign which spanned 21m and a smaller stencil cut sign tray at 5.4m in length.

The 3 x flex face signs cover an entire wall on the left hand side of the main building and have been painted to match the slate grey exterior. The largest of the 3 is installed directly above the shop window and features a very colourful graphic depicting the services and products available in store. The 2 smaller signs which are installed on either side of the large sign include brands available in store and opening hours.

The impressive main canopy sign tray which is a total of 21m in length covers 3 sides of a canopy which overhangs the customer car park in the centre of the premises. The main section of the sign which is over 17m long is wrapped in printed vinyl and has panel mounted built up halo illuminated letters reading “design colours”. Situated above these letters are 9 x brightly coloured 3D cubes formed from different coloured acrylic and illuminated on all sides. This design has also been mirrored on the right hand side of the sign tray which is 3.5m long so that passersby can see the business name from all angles.

On the right hand side of the premises is another entrance to the shop which needed a replacement sign. Designer Colours chose to have another vinyl wrapped sign tray to match the main canopy sign but instead of built up letters they selected stencil cut detail backed in illuminated acrylic for a simpler, elegant finish.

Designer Colours also commissioned the installation of two freestanding poster case boards that were lockable and could be easily updated. These boards were installed close to the road side and strategically angled so that traffic coming from both directions could easily see the advertisements.

To minimise disruption to business the main part of the installation took place during the last working week before Christmas which was a quieter time for Designer Colours.

W&Co signs put Ordnance Survey on the Map

Bespoke signs and shapes were required by Ordnance Survey to be used as props for an upcoming PR event to help launch Greenspace; a new free layer in Ordnance Survey Maps which enables the public to easily discover green spaces for leisure and recreation across England, Scotland and Wales.

The concept was to produce a giant map pin that was capable of freestanding and various handheld arrow-shaped signs that were fun and interactive. All signage and props had to be lightweight yet robust as they would be handled frequently by school children during the course of the campaign and be travelling all across Britain.

Display-grade polystyrene containing a flame retarding additive was selected as the ideal material to make the signage from due to its lightweight properties, while the additional painted finish added to its strength.

The arrow-shaped signs, which were 30cm tall and up to 2 metres in length, were machine cut from blocks of polystyrene and shaped to have radius corners making them safer for members of the public to handle. The arrows had a matt emulsion paint finish and white, self-adhesive vinyl lettering applied to one side.

The giant pin was an impressive 7ft tall and 1ft thick and had a hollow centre with mini arrow signs inside which were held in place by a pole that ran through to centre of the pin. The pole was fixed to an MDF base and was stabilised by white wedges which helped the pin to free-stand. The MDF base and side of the pin were both covered in a realistic faux grass for added effect. Similarly to the hand-held arrows, the pin was finished in matt emulsion paint and had white vinyl logos and letters applied to the face. The customer chose to have applied vinyl rather than flat cut acrylic letters so that they could easily update logos and wording in future.

Due to the General Election the official launch of Greenspace was pushed back by about a month but all props and signs were delivered by the original agreed date and the customer commented that “they look amazing” and they were “proper chuffed”.

Since the official launch of Greenspace at the beginning of July the props and signage have travelled England, Scotland and Wales visiting schools and local councils and have even been photographed with high profile MPs and celebrities such as Ben Fogle to help raise awareness of Greenspace.

Suzuki Accelerates Sales With Illuminated Signs

Suzuki has been on a recent drive to increase customer sales globally through innovative marketing solutions and encouraging customers to go in to more welcoming dealerships. Suzuki reviewed the vast portfolio of work W&Co had undertaken with high end automotive clients such as BMW, MINI, Land Rover and Ford to name a few and was confident W&Co was the right company to work with to realise their ambitions.

W&Co was approached directly by Suzuki Caribbean, based in Guadeloupe and Martinique, and asked us to develop and manufacture illuminated signage and displays for several dealerships across the Caribbean islands. Using W&Co’s wealth of knowledge and expertise in displays, signage and commercial automotive project experience we were able to supply everything Suzuki needed.

In the Guadeloupe car showroom W&Co manufactured individual illuminated built up letters which were mounted to a curved canopy over the dealership entrance making an overall sign width of 8 metres wide. Combined with internal freestanding displays and wall mounted LED light boxes it all helps the car brand standout and encourages more customers to enter the showroom increasing potential sales.

W&Co looks forward to designing, developing and manufacturing illuminated displays and signs for more Suzuki Caribbean car showrooms in the future.

Banner Stands for the 'Times Past' exhibition in Southwark Cathedral

W&Co was contacted in the summer of 2016 by marketing and events management company, Max Communications, to manufacture and print five FabriTex tension fabric freestanding display stands. The display stands needed to be easy to use, portable and visually impactful as they were for a new and exciting exhibition called taking place inside Southwark Cathedral.  The Times Past exhibition, which showcased photographs from The Times and The Sunday Times archive, opened in the Link concourse of Southwark Cathedral and Cafe from Saturday 2^nd July until Wednesday 7^th September 2016.

From attending a site visit with the client, News UK, and the Cathedral curator present, W&Co was able to visualise the space in 3D on the computer, with the intended FabriTEX display stands shown in the internal archways. The 3D depiction enabled the client to clearly see the available space and the size of the visual area for the graphics. Once the frame sizes were determined, W&Co’s graphic department worked closely with ‘News Syndication’, News UK’s reprographics department, who collated and supplied the artwork for the graphic prints. The graphics represented The Times Past’ features images of the Southwark area in the 20th century.

W&Co’s reputation for supplying innovative displays and signs gave the client confidence in selecting the right product for the job. The FabriTEX tension fabric banner stand supplied was made to a custom size of 841mm wide x 2000mm tall and was a 45mm deep double sided display stand that has a tension fabric graphic on each side.

The graphic is printed onto the fabric material using high quality direct print techniques, with a sewn on silicone rubber strip at the edges which pushes into the side channels of the tension fabric frame profile. This makes the graphics very easy to change and cost effective to replace and future proofs the frames for use at other events. The large graphic area gives a high impact visual making these stands ideal for use in places such as exhibitions.

The event was covered well over the duration of the event in the online media and locally in the Cathedral events calendar and encouraged more people to explore the church’s architecture and vital services that the Southwark Cathedral has to offer the local community.

An online Tweet taken from News UK website: by Robert Hands, TNL Executive Managing Editor, said:

“The Archive team have put together an evocative collection of photographs that showcase life in Southwark going back to the early 20th century and it’s fascinating to see how the area has evolved. This has been a great partnership with the cathedral team.”

W&Co celebrates 10 successful years supplying John Lewis

Following the recent opening of Essex’s first John Lewis department store in Chelmsford, W&Co Displays and Signs celebrates the homecoming of their light boxes to Essex and 10 successful years supplying to one of the UK’s favourite and best retailers.

The relationship between the two companies began in 2006 when Vickie Tuley, the then Concept Designer of John Lewis, enquired for a new slimmer type of lightbox for a trial in their Glasgow store stating “We are looking for a quality lightbox that diffuses the light evenly... the frame has to be front loading and easy for our staff to load and reload images. We use a standard light colour throughout our department and we would want the colour of the lightbox to be warm enough to fit in to the overall department ambience.”

W&Co's sleek ultra slim T5 tube illuminated light boxes were originally selected for the trial due to their superior build quality, high brightness and even illumination and following the fitting in the summer Vickie remarked, “Lightboxes look excellent at Glasgow. Everyone is really pleased with the look - especially of the larger ones.”

Subsequent to the success of the light boxes in Glasgow the nationwide roll-out commenced, seeing the first of the products installed into the Perfumery and Beauty departments at John Lewis’ flagship and largest store in London’s Oxford Street. Thereafter other prestigious stores were fitted out including, Bluewater, Edinburgh, Milton Keynes, Leicester and Newcastle.

Five years and several stores later an LED version of the ultra slim light box was approved and the first of these were installed in Westfield Stratford City in time for the London 2012 Olympics. The LED light boxes offered higher brightness in a slimmer and thinner frame and, more importantly, lower energy consumption than the traditional T5 tube versions which were winning features for John Lewis as they contributed towards their commitment to sustainability and energy savings.

One of John Lewis' foremost retail designers, Mag Secretario, commented, "The new LED light boxes are excellent," he continued, "W&Co's exceptional service has helped our success creatively, financially and sustainably by supporting our business case towards a sustainable design approach to branding."

In 2014 the light boxes evolved from snap frame to magnetic lift off front covers. This was so that staff could change the graphics more easily and quickly. This also enabled these even thinner light boxes (only 24mm deep) to be fully-recessed into the new stylish trellis-like framework in the Premium Beauty department which allowed shoppers to see through to other departments whilst still being able to easily distinguish individual brands.

The new ultra thin Tanto LED light box has the same bright and even illumination as the snap frame LED light box used in the Perfumery department, so a continuity of graphic lighting was maintained throughout both departments. The first of this new style was introduced to York soon followed by their flagship in London's Oxford Street, Exeter and High Wycombe.

Most recently over the last year Tanto LED light boxes have been used in Birmingham Bull ring, Liverpool and Basingstoke and now at Chelmsford, the first John Lewis store in Essex, which has the largest beauty hall out of all of John Lewis's small full-line department stores, with 14 premium beauty counters including M.A.C, Charlotte Tilbury and Nars. The branch manager of John Lewis Chelmsford, Laura Rawstron, said, “The business has had ambition to open a shop in Essex for some time now, and the Bond Street development couldn't be a better proposition for us.”

W&Co look forward to continuing their fantastic working relationship with John Lewis with new store openings in Leeds at the end of October 2016, then Oxford and Westfield White City opening their doors in 2017.

Tension fabric LED light boxes steer customers in the right direction

Various large format tension fabric LED light boxes were manufactured and installed at Inchcape West London Volkswagen in Brentford; Volkswagen’s largest UK car showroom and new flagship dealership.

W&Co was approached by branding experts, Integrity, to help design and manufacture a series of LED light boxes to create a fully illuminated feature wall in the main reception and illuminated way finding signage.

The impressive illuminated feature wall constructed from numerous large format fabric face LED light boxes which are fitted around a central doorway and a nine screen video wall as well as wrapping around a corner at one end.

W&Co worked closely with Integrity, both the site contractors and AV suppliers to ensure a well coordinated effort to complete this striking and high quality light box installation.

The majority of the light boxes that make up the wall have been covered with plain white backlit tension fabric whilst some of the larger areas have been digitally printed with images and information on historical VW models from 1945 to present day.

To accompany the main feature light box W&Co has supplied a 7m long, double sided tension fabric light box to act as way finding signage for customers across the 4 floor showroom, which was fixed to the ceiling for maximum visibility as soon as you enter the dealership.

W&Co was also asked to design and develop ceiling hanging tension fabric LED light boxes to go above the cars in other VW showrooms. This square shaped, multi-faced, feature lighting unit is essentially four double sided light boxes neatly connected together with mitre joins to create rectangular highlighters above new key VW models on display. 

Previously W&Co has supplied ground fixed outdoor advertising LED light boxes for Volkswagen to illuminate promotional posters close to the roadside.

For more images follow this link: http://bit.ly/2b6CqvF

Digital signage or printed signage? We explore the merits of both.

W&Co believes that digital signage is better for captive audiences and static printed signage for the passersby and a combination of both is likely the most effective form of advertising overall.

While each has their own benefits, there is a case for using digital signage and static printed signage as proven to W&Co Displays and Signs by many of their own customers, including: Volkswagen, Infiniti and Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust.

In support of the case for static printed signage for quick passing trade, Volkswagen Canterbury made the decision to swap their freestanding digital signage for a static illuminated graphic display after their moving digital roadside promotions were not being noticed by members of the public in quick moving traffic. Whereas Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust upgraded their waiting rooms from printed static signage by installing digital signage screens which allowed the hospital to maximise limited advertising space and update their information in real time to captive audience of waiting patients.

Most recently, Infiniti demonstrated just how effective digital signage and static signage can be when used together at concession stands in shopping malls around the UK which acted as pop-up car showrooms. Freestanding digital signage screens were supplied to Infiniti to enable them to display attention-grabbing digital advertising videos alongside a static sign displaying the company’s logo and name which was great for constant brand presence.

So essentially the printed signage with a brand name and single promotional message helped draw people onto the stands and the digital signage screens filled in the finer details of the car’s features.

Therefore, while digital signage and printed signage have their own individual benefits a clever usage of both in a coordinated advertising strategy offers the best results.