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The Goh Ballet’s Nutcracker
We helped Lugaro and Rolex prepare their sponsorship signage for Goh Ballet’s 2011 presentation of the Nutcracker.
Here are a couple of pictures.
Live at Amberleigh!
We just helped one of our best clients Morningstar Homes get ready for opening their new Burke Mountain community “Amberleigh”. It is a neighbourhood of 67 village-style single family homes (with detached rear garages) ranging in size from 3096 sq.ft. to 3238 sq.ft. and looks like a top notch development.
Here are a couple of pictures of their development signage and new houses. We will add more pictures of their additional signage in the future.
Cheers,
Speedpro Coquitlam
Scridb filterSpirit of Community Awards
Speedpro Coquitlam is a proud sponsor of the spirit of communities and would like your help in recognizing and celebrating the extraordinary people of the TriCities, Anmore and Belcarra who contribute their time and energy to strengthen and enhance our communities.
Nominations are now open in the following categories:
* Environment * Youth * Neighbour to Neighbour * Cultural Harmony * Community Action * Middle School Youth * Community Volunteerism *Arts and Culture * Douglas College Lifetime of Leadership in Honour of Myrna Popove.
Deadline for nominations is Friday, June 3rd, 2011.
To nominate someone, or for more information visit www.societyforcommunitdevelopment.com/community_awards or call 604.897.8478
Cheers,
SpeedPro Coquitlam
Scridb filter2010 Franchise of The Year
While our mothers told us we should never brag, this is definitely something to share. Speedpro Signs Canada (which is the largest group of signage and display product providers in Canada) has named us the top location in all of Canada for 2010. The award is based on our Sales volume. growth, ethics, innovation, employee satisfaction and community participation.
Glenn and Lynda, Owners of Speedpro Coquitlam, Accept the Award.
While the acknowledgement is nice, what we really appreciate is all of our customers, who have allowed us to serve them over the years, and supported us on our journey to become one of the best visual communications and marketing partners in B.C. and apparently Canada.
Thanks for your continued business and support!
Speedpro Imaging Coquitlam Team.
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Glenn and Lynda, Owners of Speedpro Coquitlam, Accept the Award.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Tradeshow Season.
It happens at least twice a year and many people find it even more stressful than Christmas. For us it starts before Christmas, when the best-organized call for quotes and to get the ball rolling, wanting to ensure that they will have their tradeshow booths in time. As the wave builds through January we see more and more people coming in closer and closer to their big show.
We love tradeshow season. We see certain customers that we haven’t seen all year and get to catch up. Everyone has big ideas that require some production knowhow and others are looking for a creative hand to fill out their 10’x10’ homestead. In the spirit of the season we have compiled 4 suggestions to help you out.
1.) Invest in your booth. This may seem self serving, but spending a little extra on flourishes like likes can make a $1000 tradeshow set up seem like a $5000 dollar one. People will ultimately make a quality judgment about your products based on the quality of your booth and your collateral.
2.) Money is secondary to creativity. Maybe you don’t need buy new banner-stands, but just replace the banners. Maybe you can get by with a continuous image over three banner stands for $900 instead of a 10’x10’ wall for $2000. If you are looking to brainstorm, talk to your graphic designer or a speciality graphics shop (like ours).
3.) Good booths prompt questions, not answers. To be perfectly honest, tradeshow displays aren’t sales people and won’t close sales. They need to a.) get you noticed and engage the person b) Establish your brands credibility, c.) give passersby an idea about what you sell and d.) Engage them to the point that they ask your exceptional sales people questions about the products.
4.) Set Goals and Calculate ROI. Tradeshows are not inexpensive; paying us is just the start. Paying you exhibitor fees, travel and the wages/meals for your best people to be gone for days on end is expensive. Set a goal for how many people you want to talk to, track how many turn into leads and ultimately sales. For many businesses (like this one) the tradeshow circuit
While there is lots of advice out there, I tried to keep this somewhat concise if you have questions call, and to be even more enticing we are offering 15% off our entire tradeshow catalogue as well as small promotion on our everyday low priced retractable banner stands, 50% off the lights with the purchase of the stands.
Scridb filterThe Taste of The TriCities.
Another edition of Taste of The Tri-Cities is in the books. Samplings from popular local restaurants, food and beverage manufacturers, cookbook authors, retailers, artisans and many others from the culinary world came together on Tuesday September 21 at the beautiful Red Robinson Show Theater at the Boulevard Casino. It was a phenomenal event and we hope to see you there next year.
For more information please visit: http://thetaste.ca/
Weekend to End Women’s Cancer.
During one amazing weekend, August 14-15, 2010, thousands will join together in a 60 km walk in support of the battle against all women’s cancers.
Speedpro Coquitlam has proudly contributed financially and through the donation of products to a local team for the upcoming event. We encourage you to also offer your fiscal support to the participants who have been campaigning relentlessly and who are giving of their time and stamina to help eradicate these terrible cancers
Scridb filterWay-Finding Signage.
If you are moving into a beautiful new building or you want to help your employees and customers navigate your current building; the answer is deploying a “Way-finding” signage system.
We have compiled some best practices for creating guiding signage below. If you have any additional questions or would like some ideas on how we help you deploy way-finding signage, please give us a call.
- Is your office a blank canvas for directional signs?
Way-finding Signage Considerations:
1.) Consistency
Consistency is the key to way-finding signage. Every sign should utilize the same visual elements and be placed in a similar manner. This creates a “system” that your visitors will recognize.
2.) Wording
Complicated technical terms may be fine for employees but not the general public. Customers tend to think in actions, they want to pay bills, make appointments, get service or place orders. Try to use language that facilitates the task they are looking to complete.
3.) Brevity
Determine which messages needs to stand out. Too much information can overwhelm the reader and keep them from their goal, which is to complete their transaction.
4.) Colour
It may seem obvious but use colors that contrast well so the message is easily visible. No yellow text on white back-grounds!
5.) Fonts/Typefaces
Block or San Serif fonts work better than intricate script fonts. Canadian federal buildings uniformly use Helvetica Medium, in all their signage to create a uniform and easy to read system nation-wide.
For more technical typographers out there; The American Disabilities Association(ADA) suggests Letters and numbers shall have a width-to-height ratio between 3:5 and 1:1 and a stroke-width to-height ratio between 1:5 and 1:10
6.) Flexibility
Where things are located within your building may change over time. Try to use a flexible signage system that allows you to update components easily.
Sign Placement Guidelines
In many cases the architect will have determined sign placement in a new building. For everyone else we have offered guidelines based on Speedpro’s experience.
- Way-finding placement guidelines.
1.) Inside Signage
Directory Signs – You don’t want people kinking their neck up or down to read information placed near the ceiling or the floor. Generally you
do not want the bottom to be lower than 4 feet and the top not higher than 7 feet at the top.
Door Signage – These need to be at eye level, of course everyone’s eye level is different, but generally you want to go between 4 ½ feet to 5 ½ feet from the ground. Always think about the audience, elementary schools are different than offices.
2.) Outside Signage
Parking Lot/Roadway Signs
According to a study by the SGIA , signs are most visible when placed within 20 degrees of the driver’s line of sight. If driving at 30 km/h the driver requires about 150 ft. In this case the sign needs to be 26 feet on either side of their direct line of vision. The diagram below demonstrates this:
Text Size - For Signs to be legible to someone while driving their car the font size should be at least 4 inches.
Height – These need to be visible above the roofs of most vehicles. This enables people to see them across a row of parked cars if needed. So 7 feet is generally suggested
Walkway Signs – These are usually seen from a distance so they don’t need to be exactly at Eyelevel. We suggest 5 feet off the ground.
- Parking Lot Signage Guidelines.
Hopefully this post helps you find your way, with regards to “Way-finding” Signage. If you want to see some more examples of our work, please click here and if have any questions about signs you can contact us by clicking here.
Scridb filterThe Art of Sign Making Part 4 of 4
The ABC’s of Visual communications: How to find the right signage for you.
Nearly every day, I will come across a customer who believes he needs a sign, but doesn’t know exactly what type of sign would best suite his business and his needs. With the plethora of options that sign companies offer today, from neon signs to vehicle wraps; how can you, the consumer, understand what you need from a sign and narrow down those choices to the right one for you? Here are some “real life” stories.
Robert is a small business owner; his shop is in a busy strip mall where he gets a lot of foot traffic, but limited visibility from the street. Our suggestion to Robert was a full colour, double sided a-frame sign for the entrance to his strip mall and a full colour digitally printed banner for his awning. These two items increase the visibility both within and outside of his strip mall, targeting both the foot traffic and the vehicles driving by.
Melanie is a designer whose products are showcased within various specialty stores in the lower main land. Melanie is looking for something that she can have within the stores to feature and promote her products, as well as something outside the store that will help drive business into her distributor’s locations. We suggested product display signage that would fit on the walls or shelves within the locations and small banners and window decals that the distributors could place outside to advertise that they feature her products.
Amy is a photographer who operates out of her own office and those of event planners. She wanted cool and dramatic ways that she could one-up the competition while showcasing her work with wedding and event planners. We offered Amy a series of custom plaque mounts and canvas stretches to showcase her wide variety of photos.
In the vast world of signage there is no one type of signage for any given application. Instead you will need to determine who you want to target with each sign and choose appropriately. Overwhelmed? Confused? Don’t be. Call one of our dedicated team members today and let us help you to choose the right sign for you.
Scridb filterThe Art of Sign Making Part 3 of 4
The A B C’s of Visual Communication Part 3 of 4. Branding and Imaging.
When we think about signage, we at Speedpro Imaging try to think outside the box. The beauty of digital printing is that there are few limitations to what we can do with graphics. With the wide variety of options available to our clients, we wanted to talk a little bit about some ‘rules’ to keep in mind when you think about your advertising.
It’s surprising in today’s consumer driven world how often you see inconsistent advertising. When you think about corporate branding what comes to mind? Coca Cola started selling their soda in 1886, what started as a small soda fountain beverage has grown into one of the most recognizable brands the world over. Why?
Consistency, followed by a bit more consistency. The Coca Cola name is their brand, and this brand is everywhere and has been for generations. Their vehicles, signs, business cards, bottles, even their delivery drivers are required to wear Coca Cola shirts. You have Coca Cola coasters, pens, hats, stuffed toys and so much more. They have made their mark on our consumer world.
When you see this brand it is always crisp, clear, and to the point. Rarely will you see this reproduced in bad quality. Why? Well that would reflect badly on them. Would it right away produce a drop in their sales? Probably not, but it does leave the consumer with a negative impression of carelessness.
The average consumer will make a decision based on your product, service or business’ presentation within the first 90 seconds. What does your presentation say about you?
For high definition digital printers we often find that when printing logo’s on signs or vehicles the customer doesn’t realize how a 5”x7” logo will look when blown up to 5ft x 7ft. Why? It’s not their business, that’s where we come in. It’s important for our brand and our company that we don’t let you leave with graphics that are a poor representation of our work. You become our brand.
The best advice we can think of for small businesses or those just starting out, is to remain consistent in your branding. When you think about your vehicle advertising look at what you already have and build on that. Starting from scratch and creating something totally new is great, however when you hand them your business card, is the image you are trying to project the same on both items?
It all comes down to repetition, repetition and some more repetition. The more the customer is bombarded with your consistently recognizable brand, the more likely they are to remember you. Be discriminating, this is your company image.
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