Excel Sign Systems
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Channel letters & storefront

Front-lit · Reverse-lit · Halo-lit · Blade signs · Awning graphics

Storefront signage is the most standardised thing we build and the most likely to be governed by someone else's rulebook. In a managed retail centre the landlord's design criteria will usually be stricter than the municipal code, and will dictate letter height, depth, illumination type, raceway colour and even the fastener pattern.

Fascia L A K E S 18 in cap height, 5 in returns, raceway mounted
Raceway-mounted letter set, 18 in cap height with 5 in returns, dimensioned for a design-criteria submittal.

Letter construction

Returns are 0.040 in aluminium coil, formed and seam-welded, with a 0.063 in aluminium back. Trim cap retains the acrylic face where the design calls for it; trimless construction is available where the criteria permit and gives a cleaner daytime edge at a higher cost. Faces are 3/16 in acrylic, either white with translucent film or coloured through the sheet, which does not fade.

Three illumination approaches, and the choice is mostly aesthetic:

  • Front-lit — the face glows. The default, brightest at distance, most forgiving of a busy background.
  • Reverse-lit, or halo — opaque metal face, light thrown back onto the wall. Quieter and more expensive, and dependent on a light-coloured wall behind it to work at all.
  • Combination — both, on separate circuits. Effective on a deep letter, and twice the wiring.

Mounting

Raceway mounting puts the letters on a painted aluminium extrusion that carries the wiring and power supplies, and needs one wall penetration instead of one per letter. It is the right answer on most masonry and on any wall the landlord wants restored at lease end. Flush mounting sets each letter individually with the wiring concealed in the wall, which looks better and requires a wall you are permitted to open.

Every set is built to UL 48 under our own listing, wired, powered and burned in on the bench, then shipped as a unit with a mounting pattern. The installer drills to the pattern rather than measuring on a ladder.

Design-criteria submittals

We prepare the landlord submittal package: scaled elevations, letter sections, illumination details, colour and material call-outs, and the electrical load. Getting this right first time matters, because a rejected submittal in a retail centre typically costs three weeks and those three weeks usually come out of a fixed opening date.

Also in this category

  • Blade and projecting signs, illuminated and non-illuminated
  • Awning recovers with printed or cut graphics
  • Window and door vinyl, including hours and entry markings
  • Cabinet signs with routed faces and push-through copy
  • Dimensional letters with no illumination, pin-mounted

The Lakeshore Retail District project covers twenty-six storefronts delivered against a single set of design criteria. See also architectural signage for building identification above the storefront band.