class="tag"Posts Tagged ‘area’
No Comments Historic Building Became A Hot Spot For Sign Depot
It Was Heating Up At The Sign Depot
June 17 2014 was a very interesting day for us here at The Sign Depot in Kitchener Ontario. Our fire alarms began going off inside this historic building at Borden and Charles streets. We evacuated the building and were informed by The City Of Kitchener Fire Department that the fire was in a different part of the building (the 50 Ottawa St. S side) and that it was under control and it would be out shortly. This was a relief to us, but we took it as a sign that we should appreciate this historic location and we thought we would give you a brief history about this building
Before The Sign Depot Occupied This Historic Building
According to Western Libraries the history of this building begins with Doon Twines, owned by The Krug Family, needing a bigger factory to meet the high demand of rope in 1916. The Krugs renamed the company (which would now be termed as rebranding) to Canada Cordage and according to Ropecord News it was once Kitchener’s biggest employer. In 2007 Canada Cordage was sold and moved from this building. Enter Access Storage.
Access Storage took over the building and converted it into a Self Storage facility and leased industrial space to other businesses.
This is when The Sign Depot moved into the Borden Ave. S. side of the building. You can read more about our move to the building on Peter’s blog post A Good Move For Custom Signs
Present Day At The Sign Depot
Being in this building for almost five years, we have witnessed several changes in the area. Many new businesses have been drawn to the area with word that this will be a hub for Region of Waterloo’s LRT (otherwise know as Rapid Transit or the ION). This meant there were a lot of eyes on yesterday’s events. You can read about the fire in building on the THE RECORD website as well as on the Waterloo Region Police Services incident page for June 17.
Thanks To Kitchener Fire
We would like to thank the Kitchener Firefighters that worked quickly to contain the blaze and extinguished the fire. We hope that it’s a sign of how important this historic building is to the community.
Custom City Signs Reflect An Area’s Best Attributes
City Branding and Custom Signs
This week I noticed a lively conversation on facebook regarding City Signs. The conversation began with Chris Farais of Kitestring‘s status about Hamilton Ontario and the CBC Post about City Signs. The CBC Show Me A Sign post talks about one person’s plight to have a Welcome sign created for Hamilton. Chris, being a strategic branding brings, up the question about what would best represent Hamilton Ontario on a city welcome sign? Should it reflect the historic attractions of the city or highlight things to come.
Our answer would be a long one which is what inspired me to write this post about custom signs in regards to welcome signs for communities and attractions.
Over the years we have created many custom signs for cities, attractions and heritage sites. Each one is very unique as the location itself. It serves the purpose of wayfinding but also foreshadows what people can expect from the locale. The graphics, text, font and choice of colours indicate what the sign is representing and in turn becomes a reflection of the site. In other words it serves as a first impression for that area’s brand.
Custom Sign Creations
The Clappinson Corner sign features a wagon wheel with spokes representing all the different areas that converge on one hub which is a reflection of their historic geographical area.
Tillsonburg’s Downtown combination of custom cedar and digital signage serves as an information centre while letting passersby know about the architecture of the area. This gives it both a traditional and modern feel.
Quinte West chose to focus their custom sign around their natural areas and that it why it is framed with log posts
New Dundee Ontario chose to mark the Doug Fischer Park with landmark sign that includes donor recognition
The Welcome To Dundas sign features the establishment of the area while not intruding on the surroundings, but instead complementing the garden where it resides.
While the Puslinch sign was created as a very tall pylon sign to capture the attention of the highway traffic and let them know about the local area.
As you can see there are several options when it comes to creating custom city signs. The city signs vaired by location, sign permit regulations and industrial locates. They are highly visiable without becoming an eye sore for the area. It is important to think about the surroundings when you decide on a permanent location for custom created sign. A great background can bring a sign to the forefront and be a great addition to a community.
Thanks to Chris for getting this conversation started and getting the residents in Hamilton engaged on the topic of their city signs. We look forward to seeing where this discussion leads.
What are some of your favorite City Signs? Let us know in the comments below or better yet post a picture of it on our facebook page! If we get enough we will dedicate a Pinterest Board to the images that are sent in.
