Minimum Size, Maximum Impact...

The night of the Sign Industry Awards dinner could be described variously as a glittering occasion, an evening full of excitement or, more soberly, as one of the most important dates in the industry's calendar for at least one small signmaker. Mark Godden explains why ID Graphics won the award for Best Retail Sign of the Year. On that evening back in May, many of the audience were in a buoyant mood, since they had been fed, fuelled and entertained, and weren’t facing the prospect of a personal disappointment, unlike those of their peers who had been nominated. Representatives from some of the UK's biggest and most successful sign manufacturers were there and the air between them almost crackled with champagne-fuelled gladiatorial electricity. Who would be taking home the Perspex? Who would, the very next morning, be faced with the luxurious problem of where to fit one, two or even more trophies in an already overfed display case? As the awards fell, the electrified air began to take on a decidedly shredded consistency, the result of numerous fists being thrust aloft accompanied by victory whoops, back-slaps and high-fives. "Sympathetic" glances toward the beaten competition only fuelled the atmosphere further and the vanquished replied with determined, get-you-next-year stares from the shade of their own, personal rain clouds.

Somewhere in the audience sat Ian Johnson and his partner. They had arrived at the event in good humour, having been shortlisted for an award. In Ian's mind, hope was a long way from expectation, since he figured he had only a glimmer of a chance for the "best sign by a small signmaker". He also believed that he would be merely making up the numbers in the coveted and prestigious Retail Sign of the Year list of hopefuls

"…and the award for best sign by a small signmaker goes to…" Missed it! Smiles all round and Ian found himself warmly applauding the victor and vicariously enjoying the moment, as the representatives of the winner, GDI, left the stage wearing beaming smiles and bearing the spoils aloft.

Some minutes later, Ian had the satisfaction of hearing his name mentioned again, and in very distinguished company too, as the sponsor of the Retail Sign of the Year award stepped up to the stage and prepared to meet its new owner.

The standard of work showcased in the retail category was characteristically high and the competition towered in stature. Ian cheerfully dispensed with his privately held hopes and expectations regarding this particular piece of engraved Perspex, reasoning that it represented a longer-term goal, something to aspire to. One day… just maybe.

"…the award for best retail signing goes to…Ian Johnson and ID Graphics Northern Ireland." Genuine surprise and disbelief, followed milliseconds later by overwhelming delight. Heart thumping, Ian made his way to the stage and was presented with his priceless award - quite the most valuable piece of Perspex he'd ever handled in over ten years as signmaker!

For purely practical reasons, winners do not get to make a speech at the Sign Industry Awards and even if Ian had been given the opportunity, disbelief would have been an impediment to his saying what later came to mind. That this was, "the very pinnacle of my career." No wonder. Ian's work faced down serious competition and not just on the night. In the shortlist stage, the quality of the work, the scope of its application and the sheer creativity that bought it to life, radiated though a very well subscribed category. Judging of the awards is blind, so when the judging panel learned that a small concern would be walking away with such a big award, they were almost as surprised as Ian himself.

ID Graphics Northern Ireland is a small company that represents a perfect encapsulation of what a modern sign company is, and what it can accomplish beyond conventionally understood signing using today's technology. It has deep reserves of creativity, it's well equipped and it's well managed. It clearly puts quality to the fore, thus maintaining its own standards and reflecting those of its clients. Further, it flexes its resources and in so doing, contains costs, delivering real value to its customers. In the case of its award-winning work for ‘We Care’, a high street operation, the project encompassed a counter-to-kerb branding and identity continuation programme, with elements that would have given much bigger companies a large mouthful to bite off.

The personal care, wellbeing and pharmacy category represents a significant percentage of the High Street retail space overall. ‘We Care’, on that basis, not only competes with countless dozens of other high-profile retail operations for every penny of discretionary High Street spend, it also competes with some long established companies operating within its own sector. Cutting through the visual clutter and radiating the very essence that is ‘We Care’, was, therefore, a far from trivial challenge.

The ‘We Care’ commission came to ID Graphics or IDGNI, as the company is more commonly known, via Tom Stevenson, Architects, and Anderson Retail Consultants. Once involved in the gestation of ‘We Care's’ identity, IDGNI's participation was total and its influence broad. The brief was to create a highly individual, light and airy feel, wrapped in total quality, with every element resonant with the programme overall.

The central visual theme is a flower of indeterminate species. It may look like something familiar but is, in fact, an entirely contrived design. The text elements supporting the design thank Garamond for their roots, but that's where the relationship begins and ends. The classical relationship of Garamond’s capital letters to its lower case, has been changed in terms of scale, together with the shapes of the characters, to produce a subtly rounded, more open letter form.

The execution is a total quality multi-media extravaganza, spanning the whole gamut of a modern sign company's output. Above the door, ‘We Care’ radiates both its trading name and a quality aura via a set of fabricated bronzed titanium coloured lettering on supporting decorative polished steel structures. The flawless work was produced in concert with AppleLec.

The project was welded and assembled in the USA and finished in Northern Ireland before being fitted to the store fascia by IDGNI. A prerequisite of any high street company in ‘We Care's’ business is an illuminated projecting sign mounted over the pavement at the sign fascia height. In ‘We Care's’ case, this means a round, double-sided sign, decorated in character by IDGNI and supplied and fabricated by Circlit of Edinburgh. Pharmacy signing ranges from the non-existent to the very loud, flashing LED variety, seen on the Continent and now occasionally, appearing closer to home. The IDGNI interpretation of the Circlit projecting sign is neither. It harmonises perfectly. Beneath the fascia and projecting signs, the shop window admits softened light, through cut and applied etch effect films, to the store’s interior, softening the hard edge of the view. Inside, a laser-cut Amtico floor continues the flower theme underfoot and adds its own on-message accent to a top-quality fit-out, where harmonised wood tones are dominant.

Needless to say, digital print has a role to play in ‘We Care's’ in-store branding, but in a wider range of applications than would be expected. For example, “We Care’ provides private consulting spaces where a shopper can quietly confide his or her personal needs to the resident pharmacist, rather than soliciting the unwelcome views of half the high street. The rooms are decorated with what IDGNI describes as digital photo-murals, resonant, of course, with ‘We Care's overall visual strategy.

The photo-mural's ambient design basis was provided by IDGNI using a set of subtle, life-style-depicting graphics and colourways consistent with the continuation of the theme set in the front of the shop. The intention was to provide a private space, but also to elevate the whole feel beyond that of a retail changing room. The final result is clean, comfortably relaxing and welcoming, rather than cold and sterile.

The photo-murals actually owe nothing to photography per-se, since having forsaken photographic origination and printing for digital, IDGNI used a Mutoh Rockhopper II printer to output the murals on to Metamark MD5 self-adhesive vinyl. The Rockhopper II is capable of printing at resolutions that invite favourable comparison with photographic output and the Metamark MD5 vinyl elected for the job is more than capable of resolving such output detail. Well known in exterior applications, MD5 is increasingly specified indoors too, as printing hardware innovation increasingly stretches the performance of conventional self-adhesive substrates.

The Rockhopper II and Metamark MD5 had a role to play in the front of store too. Consistent with the consulting rooms' themes, the front of shop features IDGNI's photo-murals behind shelf display units and other fixtures. Fragments of the photo-murals are visible upon the shelves' back-boards and through the products displayed on the shelves. Such proximity obviously requires that the mural is of an appropriate quality standard. IDGNI has no reservations about the Rockhopper or the Metamark MD5 being used in such applications, explaining that the output is easier to maintain and keep in good condition than traditional photographic stock.

The net effect of IDGNI's work is that of an impressive, flawlessly executed and very cohesive identity. Despite the disparate elements and the variety of media involved, no one element dominates another. The impression made is as powerful as it is positive and perfectly illustrates how well a spark of a design idea, taken to many conclusions, each of which is a beneficiary of the others, can also add its own contribution to the whole.

We Care’ is evidently impressed, as it has commissioned IDCNI to extend the programme across its retail estate. For a company that doesn't advertise itself, IDGNI appears to have a practitioner's understanding of the art of retail signing and promotion. Based in Co. Armagh at the end of a lane leading to a working farm, it traces its roots back to the days when it made vehicle number-plates. Getting its portfolio of retail clients on board and growing the company to the point where it's manageable, profitable and in demand, owes something to luck - according to Ian Johnson. But just as importantly, it also owes something to talent, competence and capability as recognised by the very big award that was bestowed on this very deserving small company.

October 2006

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