Chocolate Universe

In the middle of all its surrounding Times Square spectaculars, billboards and sign edifices, stands the flagship Hershey Times Square, a retail gift store which is a chocolate confectionary paradise that is the center of the chocolate universe. The gift store has come to represent a 15-story outdoor fantastical "chocolate factory" whose incredible signage includes 34 dimensional props, four steam machines, over 4000 chasing lights, 30 programmable gel lights, 56 neon channel letters, 14 front-lit signs and an LED ticker, all designed to represent the various Hershey candy products in their packaged wrappers.

In total, the spectacular measures 215 feet in height with a 60-foot width from one side of the building to the other. The crowning touch of its factory look was its two Times Square smoke stacks that are identical to the ones in its main Hershey, PA factory, complete with the company's name vertically painted on each stack. This entire collage of signs is located on the northwest corner of Broadway and 48th Street, on the lower rooftop and building sides of the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Although this sign project was completed in 2002, it is still a paramount project because of the diversity of signs used to complete the project.

With this diversity, the Hershey spectacular has an odd pedigree of also becoming a sign museum representing every type of sign technology used for outdoor advertising since the 1900s

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Distracting Motorway Signs

There is a much talk at present that motorway signs are distracting and could be the cause of some accidents on the motorway. These are not the ‘normal’ signs that we have on our motorway network, no these signs are those that advertise the nearest coffee house or others that claim ‘work from home and earn hundreds'. Critics claim these signs are actually illegal and distract motorists as they are usually placed in a field close to a motorway and if you travel much on the UK road network you will see that they are becoming more common.

With hundreds of thousands of drivers using the motorways in the UK each day, the companies advertising their wares have got a real market on their hands. But are drivers taking their eyes off the road ahead to read these ads?

The Campaign to Protect Rural England are up in arms as they believe these ads blight the countryside and say this method of advertising is inappropriate.But the farmers who use this as an alternative income for their land charge the advertisers about £1,000 a month to use their land in this way and claim that they can do what they want with their land.

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Sign of the times

Motorway drivers tearing their hair out while trying to navigate the M4 will be given helpful visual clues next week with the introduction of pictures on overhead signs. Following research drivers are said to find pictures easier to read and react to than text. Drivers using the M4 in Berkshire will start to see some new signs on the motorway from the middle of June. The Highways Agency is changing the display on almost a hundred existing overhead electronic signs around Newbury, Reading and Wokingham to show pictures as well as words.

Designs are based on already familiar road signs such as those for accidents, queues, snow and ice, high winds and skid risk. At the moment the motorway signs are only able to display text messages in block capitals. The well-known symbols now being introduced are inside red warning triangles which are recognisable from some distance away. Because they are easy for all road users to read and react accordingly, they should help to make roads much safer.

Highways Agency Network Operations Director Derek Turner was quoted as saying; "We are now upgrading these latest generation signs with pictograms to get helpful and up-to-date information out to drivers. The programme is being rolled out across the country during the year."

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Acrylic Boat Windows

We specialise in supplying replacement boat windows. Acylic or Perspex as it is know is a very hard transparent plastic material. If treated properly this material with not discolour, got brittle or crack. The material can have a very long (15-20 years) life, as long as it is looked after. It is extremely tough and is at least ten times stronger than normal glass and is the hardest and indeed the most scratch resistant of all clear plastics. It is ideal for use within the marine industry.

We can cut the material to any size to suit your exact requirements. We can make your replacement boat windows out of clear or tinted acrylic. Turnaround is usually 1 week. Please call us a for very competitive quote.

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Urgent Signage Review Called For

Scottish Councillors have considered the Scottish Government's response to their call for greater use of Gaelic signage on trunk routes in the Highlands.Highland Council's Gaelic committee wrote to Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson strongly urging him to install bilingual signs on the A9, A96 and A82. However Mr Stevenson was quoted as saying that the impact of existing bilingual signage would have to be reviewed first. The Gaelic committee wrote to Mr Stevenson asking that the review should not be seen as a barrier to the expansion of bilingual signage

Road signs in both Gaelic and English have been requested by the local authority on key routes to and from the region. It has also asked that the Scottish Government to give "urgent consideration" to bilingual signage on the A9 from Perth northwards.

The Scottish Government said it was seeking to "fast track" this review. The report from the review of existing trunk road signage was not expected until 2011.

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Sandwich Signs Get The Crunch

As reported in the US press today .. in North Adams, Massachusetts— The Planning Board is taking a long hard look at both shops and eateries around the city because of what has been perceived as a proliferation of sidewalk signs over the past few years. Many of the sandwich signs appear to be unapproved and are infact illegal, said Chairman Michael Leary, who requested authorization to craft a letter at last Monday's Planning Board meeting to be sent to errant businesses.

The letter would be sent to business owners in the city who do have sandwich board-style signs that were not approved as part of their signage package or not approved afterward ... asking them to come before the board to have them approved as they should have been." Public safety is of paramount concern given that some of the signs in public ways. City Administrative Officer Jay Green said other downtowns, such as Northampton and Rockport, have had to deal with the issue as well.

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Breakthrough In New Signage Technology

It was announced today a team of top researchers at the University of California, Riverside has been able to fabricate microscopic polymer beads that can change colors instantly with the application of an external magnetic field. The most interesting aspect of the color changing properties of the polymer beads is that the color change can be reversed. The beads are being looked at closely for use in displays to make rewritable signage, posters, paper, and labels. The material could also be used to make magnetically activated security features and environmentally friendly pigments for paint and cosmetics.

The beads are technically magnetochromatic microspheres and have excellent structural stability according to the researchers. The microspheres are also very compatible with multiple types of dispersion media including water, alcohol, hexane, and polymer solutions. This allows the beads to retain their ability to be magnetically tunable in color when dispersed inside a variety of chemicals.

The color change of the microspheres is accomplished by simply changing the orientation of the particles. The microspheres themselves are created by mixing magnetic iron oxide particles into a resin that starts as a liquid and hardens with exposure to ultraviolet radiation.

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Las Vegas Neon Museum

In an barren yard not too far from the world famous Las Vegas strip that spawned them is a huge smiling duckling, a giant pool player, towering slippers, and a pair of immense golden nuggets. These, and more, are the still proud remains of vintage neon signs that once beckoned visitors. No longer wanted by the businesses that originally commissioned them, they are carefully propped up and stacked throughout the two lots that make up the Boneyard of the Neon Museum in Las Vegas.

Vegas is known for imploding much of its history, but the tangle of old icons that makes up the Boneyard, and the restored signs throughout Fremont Street Experience show that someone cared.

The Neon Museum was started back in 1997 with the simple goal of collecting, refurbishing and exhibiting that classic Las Vegas art form – the neon sign. A tour of The Boneyard makes it clear that the advertising has become not only a part of modern popular culture, but a form of public instant art. If the Neon Museum gets its way, these iconic signs will one day return to their former glory, and provide us with a glimmer of the vintage Las Vegas.

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Crackdown On Signage

As reported recently in the North Carolina press - illegal signage can cause problems. Folding sidewalk sign boards. Strategic street-corner signs. Intersection direction signs. All are tools of the trade some Southport business owners passionately defended this week as the city's sign code came under official review. But city officials say a contagion of sign clutter is making Southport streets unattractive and unsafe. And, they say, many of the signs are illegal under the city's sign code.

Four business owners, all defending their promotional signs, spoke during the public comment section of Southport Board of Aldermen's Thursday meeting. The backlash came just two days after sign ordinance enforcement was discussed by the Southport Planning Board.

"We are talking about something which is extremely sensitive," said Phillippe Arroyas, developer of The Cottages at Price's Creek.

Arroyas said that even though he knows his signs are in the city's right of way, they help guide people to his business, which is not on the main thoroughfare.

"It is very bad timing for this," he said of limiting signs during the summer tourist season and in a struggling economy. Arroyas said he used to employ 40 people building houses, but now he employs just six. "I have $5 million worth of property out there, and I will go bankrupt if I cannot advertise."

Other Southport business owners expressed concern about how, exactly, enforcement officials will decide which signs to allow and which signs to pull.

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Railway Signage To Aid The Less Able

It has been reported in the Indian press this week that a new project to upgrade the signage at the countrys 1500 railway stations has been agreed. With a view to giving convenience to physically challenged people, the Railways have decided to provide special facilities in over 1,500 stations in the country. Special facilities like access ramps, reserved parking slots, low height water taps and suitable toilets for differently-abled people will be developed in phases at important railway stations, a senior Railway Ministry official said.

"The decision in this regard has been taken by the Railway Board. We have earmarked 1,560 stations for the purpose and the work at all these B-Category stations -- most of them in state capitals and important cities -- will be completed by the end of 2010," he said.

Railways have nearly 7,000 stations spread in 16 zones. Non-slippery walk way for the handicapped and special signage for the blind will also be put up at the stations. "The Board has also decided to have 'May I help you booths' especially to guide and assist them in case of need," the officer said.

Sounds like a really great idea.

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Woman Injured In Horrific Seagull Attack

Signs are normally there for a reason - so really you ignore them at your peril. Sometimes the consequences can be quite scary as this report in the Dorest Echo reveals. A grandmother was battered and bruised during a bizarre seagull attack just a few yards from her Weymouth home. Apparently three birds repeatedly dive-bombed Delphine Mutch as she tried to get home from a nearby doctor’s surgery.

But she tripped, landing face first on the pavement, where the birds – described as ‘something out of Hitchcock classic scary film’ – continued to attack and peck her as she cowered helpless on the floor. Eventually, reportedly covered in blood, she managed to stumble to nearby OJos hairdressers to raise the alarm.

“When one of the girls heard my calls for help she came to the door and said, ‘Have you been beaten up?’” said the 49-year-old.

A spokesman for Weymouth and Portland Borough Council sympathised with Delphine’s plight, but added: “We put up signage and do all we can to discourage people feeding the seagulls. Unfortunately at this time of year, because they are nesting, they can be aggressive.”

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Better Bike Lane Signage

As reported in the US press better bike lane signage is a low-cost, high-impact solution for Urban Cyclists. Project 'Better Bikeways' is causing quiet a stir. While the rest of us spin our wheels waiting for that infrastructure cash to kick in so that we can have a smooth new bike path to ride on, Los Angeles-based designer Joseph Prichard has a much better idea-one that not only gets bikers on the road, but makes them safer too.

His proposal, Better Bikeways, calls for a simple, cost-effective overhaul of bikeway signage instead of the pricer options of paving new routes or marking dedicated lanes on the streets. Plus, it raises awareness for car and motor cycledrivers who may not know they're sharing the road with two-wheelers. "Unfortunately all too often the role of signage is overlooked during the design of new bicycle routes," he writes in his introduction.

Even better, he says, good-looking signs can work as an advocacy campaign for biking alternatives. "Effective widespread signage can be a powerful tool in convincing people to take up cycling as a mode of transportation." Here are some of the concepts presented in his signage system:

Navigation signs function like bus stop maps, pointing out major streets, neighborhoods and lengths of routes. Connection signage points out how far away riders are to other routes and distances to bus and Metro stops. Caution signs are attention-getting and use iconography that's vastly different than other street signage. Points of interest signs include resources for bikers like repair shops and cultural institutions.

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Signage In A Scrum

As widely reported across the sporting press today AUSTRALIA’S threatened boycott of their Four Nations match against France in the autumn is set to be resolved. The Kangaroos are backed by brewery Victoria Bitter, whose name appears on their shirts, and that would have gone against French law, which bans alcohol sponsorship and signage. Now the Fosters group, who own VB, say they are prepared to let the Kangaroos play with “clean shirts” without a sponsors’ name for the scheduled game New Zealand, who are also backed by a beer brand, Lion Red, and are due to play in France, are still considering what their position is.

Sponsorship of sport is now a multi-million pound industry and despite the major economic crisis we face - there are still dozens of large multi national companies willing to sponsor both sporting events and the major teams within those sports.


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Iconic signs : Grain Belt Beer Minneapolis

This has to be one of the most iconic signs of the US Midwest hearlands. The Minneapolis Brewing Company rebounded in 1933 in the form of long-neck amber bottles with an updated logo,"The Friendly Beer With the Friendly Flavor". The company developed new packaging to meet the increasing consumer demand that changed since the pre-Prohibition days. Consumers wanted an easily refridgerated brew as more and more drinkers now consumed at home rather than in taverns. Over the years, Grain Belt experimented with several different bottle designs and advertisting techniques.

Around 1938, the Grain Belt logo began to feature the trademark bottle cap logo behind a red diamond. A few years later, the giant Grain Belt sign was built on the west side of Nicollet Island along the Mississippi River near downtown Minneapolis. For years, the billboard flashed the letters in sequence: "G-R-A-I-N B-E-L-T B-E-E-R". The neon sign hasn't cast a glow over the city since the late 1980s, but the vintage sign continues to be a popular fixture in the city.

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'Apprentice' winner to join Sugar's digital signage arm

Yasmina Siadatan, the latest winner of the BBC show 'The Apprentice' will join Sir Alan Sugar's digital signage business, Amscreen, to help promote their digital signage offerings within the healthcare sector. Last year's winner of the show, Lee McQueen, also works for the same digital signage company as a development director.

The company was previously known as Comtech M2M, and was bought by Sugar in 2008 to be a wider part of his Amstrad empire. His son Simon Sugar is the CEO of Amscreen.

The company was recently appointed by BP's UK retail business as its exclusive digital signage partner

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Free milkshakes at shop opening

A new milkshake bar is to open in Milton Keynes city centre and the first 50 customers will be given a free drink. The ShakeAway chain was founded ten years ago in Bournemouth when Peter Moody and Rob Hazell started blending their favourite chocolate bars with milk and ice cream to create personalised milkshakes. Here at Hants and Dorset Signs we are proud to have had a long and on-going business relationship with them

ShakeAway is to open a shop in the Midsummer Place shopping centre, Central Milton Keynes on Saturday, June 6. To celebrate the launch at noon the 50 first people through the door will get a free milkshake served by one of the shop's team of 'shake-ettes.

The menu now contains over 150 ingredients including branded chocolate, sweets cakes and baked goodies. For the health conscious there are fruit flavours and added extras like protein and fibre supplements and vegans can order soya milkshakes too.

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Little Audrey back up in lights

As reported in the Melbourne press - the iconic neon sign of Little Audrey is back. LITTLE Audrey was back up in lights last night. Melbourne's most recognisable neon sign has been restored and returned to its rightful place over the Abbotsford side of Victoria St. The Skipping Girl Vinegar sign flicked and flashed above traffic for the first time since 2001. After some much-needed restoration, the famous advertisement was hoisted into place on Thursday and finally switched on Friday night.

"The Skipping Girl is one of Melbourne's favourite heritage neon signs," Premier John Brumby said. "Little Audrey has been skipping for many years and I look forward to seeing her re-energised and back home."

First erected in 1936, the sign stood until its removal in 1968. Twelve years later a new version was constructed in the same spot. It was switched off in 1986, re-lit in 1990 and switched off again in 2001.

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Digital Signage Storms the Channel

Digital signage is one of the hottest plays in the channel these days – and it’s poised for hotter times ahead thanks to Tech Data expanding its specialized business unit (SBU) for digital signage software and hardware. The most significant part of the expanded SBU is Tech Data’s new distribution deals with market leaders HANNspree North America, Hitachi Home Electronics, and Vivitek Corp. However, the expansion also covers the addition of Panasonic commercial displays; digital signage bundles from leading vendor partners; and nationwide installation support services through TDOnCall.

“Our expansion is in response to growing demand from our customers for greater product choice and depth of service,” said Wendy Linsky, Tech Data’s vice president of peripherals product marketing. “Digital signage is among the fastest growing technology segments in the channel.”

Digital signs are used in both public places (train and bus stations, retail stores, etc.) and private spaces (corporate offices) to convey information or advertisements to a targeted audience. Digital signage can be in the form of LCDs, LEDs, plasma screens or even images projected onto a wall.
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Neon - A Modern History

The Audi advertising slogan that was as brilliantly simple as it was ingenious: Vorsprung durch Technik! - this has actually evolved over the years and in 1980, it finally starts to appear more and more frequently when the Audi quattro is launched. This marketing era also marks a page in the Neon Sign history books with the Audi marketing machine pushing the current Neon technology to its then limits.

It features in the advertising rather than in the sales documentation. And it is advertising which sends out a very clear signal in May 1984. Europe’s largest neon advertising sign at that time is erected atop a high-rise building directly next to the Ingolstadt North exit of the A9 motorway from Nuremberg to Munich: a reddish-brown Audi oval bearing the slogan “Vorsprung durch Technik”. The lettering tips the scales at seven tonnes, while the trademark weighs four tonnes. 7,500 watts of power are needed to let Audi shine out for all to see at night too and to proclaim exactly where leadership through technology has its roots.

From October 1986 onwards, following the launch of the third generation of the Audi 80 with its fully galvanised body and styling that had been perfected in the wind tunnel, the words “Vorsprung durch Technik” once again make their way into the sales brochures and on-board literature. Ever since, the Audi claim has been an intrinsic element of the corporate identity that is now set in stone – perfection just can’t be bettered.

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National Signage Conference Announced

Everyone associated with the signage industry is invited to participate in the National Signage Research and Education Conference (NSREC) at the University of Cincinnati (UC), October 13-15, sponsored by the Signage Foundation, Inc. (SFI) in collaboration with the UC Colleges of Business and Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. The conference is designed for planners, governmental regulators, appraisers, marketing/branding specialists, sign makers and their suppliers, businesses that use signage, and those students and faculty who study signage and its impact on the business, social and visual environments.

The conference will provide an important venue for discussion of on-premise signage issues and concerns in positive, non-confrontational and research-driven dialogue.

Peer-reviewed research will be presented at the conference with numerous opportunities to interact with researchers on specific topics and their implications.

The UC is uniquely qualified to participate in these discussions because of the recent establishment of the James S. Womack/Gemini Chair of Signage and Visual Communications and the Terence M. Fruth/Gemini Chair of Signage Design and Community Planning. Both chairs were established through donations from Jim and Sharon Weinel, Gemini, Inc. and are the basis for the university's vision to become the nation's first center for signage

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Frankfort Chicago Greenlights Neon Signs For Local Businesses

As reported in the local Chicago press Frankfort’s long-standing prohibition of neon signs was overturned in 4-3 vote by the Village Board Monday at the request of business owners seeking attention from customer. Village officials, however, reassured residents that Frankfort isn’t likely to be mistaken for Las Vegas.

The town’s 51-page sign ordinance will be revised to permit businesses to display one neon “open” sign as long as it is no larger than 2 feet by 2 feet. The signs “cannot flicker, flash or change color” and can display only the word, “open,” in one color, Trustee Mike Stevens said.

Business owners, who said “open” signs are “”vital in the economic downturn,” first brought their concerns to the Plan Commission and the Land Use and Policy Committee, which recommended allowing them, Stevens said.

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Neon Almost 100 Years Old

Neon (Greek for “new one”) was discovered in 1898 by the famous Scottish chemist Sir William Ramsay . Neon was discovered when Ramsay chilled a sample of the atmosphere until it became a liquid, then warmed the liquid and captured the gases as they boiled off. The three gases that boiled off were krypton, xenon, and neon.

But it was in December of 1910, that French engineer Georges Claude first made a lamp from an electrified tube of neon gas. On January 19, 1915, Claude began selling his tubes to U.S. companies; the Packard car dealership in Los Angeles was one to see the potential and one of the first to buy it. Within 15 years the idea had spread around the world and today neon signs are a part of our culture. So next year, 2010, will mark the 100th anniversary of the first neon sign being shown at The Paris Exhibition.

Since the early days of Neon things have moved on considerably. With the introduction of argon gas as well as neon and a variety of glass coatings a wide variety of colours can now be achieved. So design possibilities go on and on and are indeed endless and only really limited by the scope of our imagination.

Two quite different kinds of neon lights are in common use. Glow-discharge lamps are typically tiny, and often designed to operate at 120 volts; they are widely used as power-on indicators and in circuit-testing equipment. Neon signs and other arc-discharge devices operate instead at high voltages, often 3–15 kilovolts (3,000–15,000 volts); they can be made into (often bent) tubes a few meters long.

Neon is now all over the planet and during the 50’s and 60’s could be seen all over world famous landmark sites like Times Square in New Your City, Piccadilly Circus in Londons West End and most images of the sprawling metropolis of Tokyo in Japan are supplemented by greats sways of neon lighting and advertising signs.

Neon has even made it big in the cinema and made its mark. Many of the iconic scenes from Ridley Scott art-house science-fiction classic Blade Runner are of dark rain filled streets whose gloom is broken only by the abundance of futuristic neon signs

Reliability has to be a consideration when investing in a new sign. Today we are able to give reassurance that your sign will be looking good for years to come. With modern materials being used in the manufacture of electrodes, transformers and cabling combined with regular maintenance, breakdowns are few and far between. So that sign continues to get your message and your business noticed.

Neon signs are now commonplace and they are truly affordable. They can really make your business stand out from the crowd and in todays marketplace your business really does need to be seen.

So if you want to get noticed – get neon and do not let the thought of discussing cold cathode lighting (to use the correct name) put you off getting your business noticed.

Here at Hants and Dorset Signs. we will always be happy to give you best advice on neon signs. And for that matter all your signage needs.

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Atlas Life Building Added To National Register

In Tulsa, Oklahoma– The Atlas Life Building in Tulsa has been added to the National Register of Historic Places, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. The National Register is the nation’s official list of places significant in our history. The four-story neon sign and the roof line Atlas sculpture with the world on his shoulders overlooking the street below, have become icons that merged building architecture with building purpose, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society.

The Atlas Life Building was constructed in 1922.

The Oklahoma Historical Society reports the building’s architecture represents the significance of the primary business that occupied it, the Atlas Life Insurance Company. Constructed when the Classical Revival style was popular between c. 1885 and 1940, the Atlas Life Building is among Tulsa’s remaining examples of this architecture, with near intact original features on the exterior and the primary public space on the first floor.

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