Making an impact with 8m illuminated signage

TEDx talks aim to make an impact, and we wanted to do the same with our signage project for TEDxGlasgow, commissioned by TEDx founder Gurjit Singh Lalli.

Gurjit said “We carried out a rigorous national tendering process and shortlisted 3 companies with Wrights Plastics winning overall. We felt that Wrights Plastics understood not only the exact design TED requires but also the complex technical requirements and reliability.

“Since this is a live event and being filmed by the BBC and livestreamed around the world it’s important that the product is of optimum quality.”

Making the 8m long LED illuminated sign, sited onstage at the world famous SEC Armadillo conference centre, used many of our core skills and was designed, made and delivered within a three week timescale.

From the given typeface, our inhouse design team created the overall look of the sign and then the CAD team turned that idea into workable drawings.

Manufacturing involved many of our inhouse processes. Creating the individual acrylic letters – some 1m high and all 30mm deep – involved either laser cutting or drape moulding. Using our state-of-the-art laser Zund cutting system the straight edged letters were precision cut. Rounded lettering was drape moulded – an acrylic fabrication process that we have over 50 years’ experience in. We firstly designed and made the required tooling and then drape moulded the letters in our large capacity ovens – a complex process but in the safe hands of our expert team.

The front faces were hand bonded to the carcasses by our fabrication team.

Each letter has a removable back panel to allow access to the LED lighting, developed in conjunction with our sister company Mid West Displays. Dimmers were then added to the LED so that the level of illumination could be increased or decreased as require. For example, during filming of a TEDx event, the level of illumination can be lowered.

Some of the letters were then mounted onto black PVC plinth which we also designed & manufactured.

The client was updated throughout the process with detailed photos and video. During design and build we always took into account the fact that the sign would need to be dismantled and then re-assembled on site. With our experience of making high impact architectural signage and POS, we included lots of techniques to make re-assembly as seamless as possible. For example, the acrylic was magnetised so the letters more easily fixed to the base. Hand knobs were included in the design so sections could be connected speedily. A handy ‘Users Guide’ was produced to make assembly easy. We manufactured specially designed packaging for each letter so that they could be transported from conference to conference and safely stored.