Mission Hills Dental reached out to us for their interior signage for the reception area. One of the signs they wanted was a logo sign that was internally illuminated. Their interior designer had already provided them with specifications, renderings, and drawings for an illuminated sign so there was no design needed on our end.
The sign that the design firm called out was a push-thru letter sign. Push-thru letters are acrylic letters that look as though they were pushed through the back of a sign face. Most of the time, the sign face itself is opaque while the acrylic letters are translucent. A light source is installed behind the sign face so the acrylic letters light up. We use LEDs for all of our illuminated signs unless the client specifically requests another type of lighting.
Push thru letters are a good way to have subtle illumination. Another type of sign where the face lights up is front-lit channel letters which are hollow metal letters with translucent faces that are also internally illuminated. Front-lit channel letters need to be a certain size to be able to be manufactured, and the edges do not typically light up so for what Mission Hills Dental was looking for, push-thru letters were the best option.
The letters are coming out of what is essentially a metal box. We made the box from white painted aluminum and it is 3″ deep. The reason we made a box was to enclose the LEDs so only the acrylic letters would light up. If a client has an existing sign cabinet or frame, we can simply change out the panel but if there is no existing sign, it is necessary to create a box or a retainer of some sort. If we just mounted a metal panel with LEDs behind it, the illumination will not be as concentrated behind the letters, and it would not look as nice.
