In this blog post we go through some examples of our recent work with small, medium and large companies, and the special considerations and personalisation chosen by each of them as they fitted their new offices and spaces with LED neon signage.

TECHTARGET

TechTarget is a company headquartered in Boston, USA. As they fitted their new office in the city of London (just recently inaugurated in 2022), they engaged us to add some personalisation, not only to their LED sign itself, but also to the way in which the (hidden) wiring would need to be presented in order to achieve their goals.

close up view of TechTarget LED Neon sign

From the close up shot above you will notice a few things:

The backing type is "Cut to Letter", meaning that in essence the sign is mainly the skeleton of the LED strip and very very minimal acrylic backing to go along with the sign to help keep the letters supported in place.
Hidden cabling: Not only did TechTarget drill the sign to the wall, but they also drilled the electric cabling through the way so as to hide the wiring that would traditionally go from the sign to the socket in plain sight. They instead hired a team to achieve this going behind that wall.
Cabling length: While most signs are sold by default with around 3.2 metres in cabling (from the sign to the socket), this customer requested extra cabling length to achieve the aforementioned cabling work behind the scenes.
Wall hole size: While most signs are sold with a switch to turn it On and Off, this customer requested we remove the On/Off switch which meant that when drilling the cabling through the wall, the hole would only require its size to be the diameter of the cable itself, and not the diameter of the On/Off switch which would have represented a far larger hole, and they overcame the lack of an on off switch by implementing motion detection.
Motion detection: This customer created a very unique experience for the office and its employees, this LED neon sign automatically turns On (along with the other lighting in the area) when it detects motion in its surroundings.

TechTarget LED neon sign photo from the side

RUNWAY EAST

Runway East is an office space provider with co-working and private office customers spread across the UK.

Some of the unique considerations that went in to creating their beautiful piece included:

Backing shape "Cut to Shape" - This backing shape is by far the most popular with our customers as it combines a robust acrylic backing across the entire interior of the sign, therefore guaranteeing stability, while also achieving the great visual effect having the acrylic borders trace the contour of the LED all around.
SIZE: While our site includes a CUSTOM SIGN BUILDER where customers can directly personalise their sign by font, colour, size, etc, at times customers want to go one level deeper, and they email us or call us to get that extra level of personalisation into the product. Runway East wanted a sign of a very specific size, which fell just outside of our standard intervals of 40cm, 50cm, 75cm, 100cm, 125cm, 150cm, 175cm, 200cm, etc, and so they came to us to get that custom length.
We brainstormed a number of font designs and their layouts through mockup designs, looking for something that really brought out that East London vibe for their space. The following mockups are roughly our process with Runway East:

LIVE EAST DIE YOUNG - LED neon sign draft

Runway East LED neon sign from the front

THE VAULT BOURNEMOUTH

The Vault is Bournemouth's newest nightclub, set inside inside an old refurbished bank vault.

Many businesses, in particular bars and nightclubs, are gradually switching over from glass neon tubing to LED signs.

This is not only the direct result of companies making an effort to be more Sustainable, but it's also in direct relation to the lifetime of their investments, the visual appeal of these, and the cost to protect their products while exposed to their customers.

Traditional glass neon products are very brittle, and therefore bars, nightclubs and even restaurants have been known to invest in sign protectors or neon sign guards (which are not cheap!) to help these last.

Here's an example of a "glass neon sign guard". While necessary for safeguarding, the guard itself can be seen as a hindrance to the overall aesthetic 🫣👎.

neon sign guard

These protective barriers are placed over glass neon signs to protect the glass tubes and electrical components from damage; glass neon sign protectors are typically made of strong, durable materials, such as metal or plastic. In addition to protecting the glass neon sign itself, they can also help prevent accidents and injuries by shielding people from the hot, fragile glass tubes.

LED signs on the other hand don't heat up and the LED strip material does not break, meaning that you can confidently display your beautiful lights in your walls and other areas without a risk of rupture or injury, and without the need to cover your beautiful signs with a cage-looking barrier. The acrylic backing serves as a safe, lightweight, secure foundation for your sign, making this a very versatile product that's easily installed in a range of settings and against a range of surface-types.

LED strip - does not heat up, does not break

Acrylic backing - versatile, light, safe

CRISS CROSS CULTURE

Criss Cross Culture, in the heart of Soho offers a vibrant variety of sweet, savoury croissants, accompanied by cold drinks and coffee.

Criss Cross Culture Croissants window LED neon signs

Criss Cross is already a favourite with locals, however being in such a touristy part of London, adding a touch of light to their windows shop made it extremely easy to capture the attention and delight that additional foot traffic touring the area.

There are really only two ways in which we would recommend installing an LED neon sign where a window is involved:

If you want the sign installed on the inside of your shop, but facing outside, such as the example above #CROISSANTCULTURE, in this case it's important to use a hanging chain and one (or more) pins secured just above the window pane, so that the sign can safely hang inside the shop, while facing out.
Alternatively, if you want to attach the sign to the window, to be facing inside the shop, the we recommend using adhesive strips to secure the sign to the window. Our signs are not very heavy so this option is a simple way to achieve this type of installation.

Where it comes to very very large signs, for example signs measuring 175cm or larger, we'll normally recommend to our clients that they consider it be manufactured in two parts which, once drilled to a wall fit back together as two perfect pieces of a puzzle. Separating larger signs in two parts means that we can considerably reduce the risk of rupture during shipping and handling, but most importantly, in the eyes of your customer they will never know that the signs is made up for two parts.