Eye-catching Graphics from Signs Express (Sheffield)

Signs Express (Sheffield) has a long-running relationship with The Children’s Hospital Charity and have become the go-to-guys for any signage projects at Sheffield Children’s Hospital. The latest project that the centre was involved with was in collaboration with Artfelt, The Children’s Hospital Charity’s art programme, which focuses on ensuring that the spaces and walls at the Children’s Hospital feature artwork that will engage and distract the young patients.

Artfelt works closely with local artists, and for this project they commissioned Illustrator and Graphic Designer, Nick Deakin, to liven up the space. Using his characteristic bold colours and simplistic shapes, Nick has created an entire world of characters that run through the entire department. Nick wanted to generate a friendly environment for the families that have to visit the wing, “Artfelt and myself decided very quickly that we wanted a group of friends as our characters and we carried that theme throughout the department.

Signs Express Sheffield 2“When designing something like this, you have to put yourself in the mind of a child going into, what is potentially, a scary situation. I knew that I needed to create something that would make the whole experience much nicer for them. Now, they can see the characters in the waiting room, and then they can follow them through their journey around the department,” Nick revealed.

The team at Signs Express (Sheffield) worked with Nick’s designs and spent numerous painstaking hours vectorising these in order to cut the intricate designs out of self-adhesive vinyl using a plotter. The team’s work is featured across the large waiting room, six orthoptics rooms, four consulting rooms, a treatment room, a quiet room and a visual fields room.

In the orthoptic rooms the illustrations serve a specific clinical purpose of giving the young patients something to focus on during eye examinations. Not only were these just on the walls, Signs Express (Sheffield) also specially turned some of the designs into window graphics as well as ceiling graphics, in order to give the children something to focus on no matter what they are doing.

Having completed a wonderful project in 2013 to totally reenergise their Hydrotherapy pool, Signs Express (Sheffield) is well versed in the needs of the Hospital and its patients. Steve Morris, owner of Signs Express (Sheffield) explained further, “The creative projects that we have been doing at the Hospital are all purposed to make the place seem less like a hospital, therefore less frightening for the children who have to go there. We used a lot of prime colours and a special half-tone effect on the vinyl, which is created by using lots of small dots of colour, meaning that the wall colour shows through and makes the design much more interesting.”

The centre is understandably very pleased with the outcome of their hard work and the special designs created by Nick have worked fabulously in the environment. With excellent reports already coming in from parents and children alike, the project can truly be considered a success. Take a look and judge for yourself the amazing change that these wall graphics have elicited.

Signs Express (Sheffield) provide a large variety of signage solutions to businesses, both large and small in the region. No matter the signage you need, the centre has the skills to design, manufacture and install whatever best suits your needs. Interested? Give them a call on 0114 358 2050, or visit their website to find out more: www.signsexpress.co.uk/sheffield