Stocksigns has been a licensed manufacturer of RIBA siteboards for many years and we are well qualified to advise you and create your practice’s siteboards. While we will always create your sign board to RIBA standards, we thought it would be useful to share the design specification with some of our readers. The information in the post has been taken directly from RIBA and we hope that we have presented the information in a way that adds clarity to what is required.

The RIBA Siteboard Design

“The RIBA siteboards have been designed to provide effective and professional promotion of both individual practices and practitioners and the architectural profession as a whole. They provide one of the easiest and cheapest methods of promoting your firm’s work.” RIBA

Guidance notes

From time to time RIBA members ask for variations to the standard signboard and this has placed the onus of explaining the position on Stocksigns, who have been appointed by RIBA to make the boards. These notes have therefore been prepared by the institute with the object of giving members guidance, prior to placing an order.

The board is available in two sizes (4’x1’ and 8’x2’) (121.92cm x 30.48cm and 243.84cm x 60.96cm). A horizontal line appears beneath the top line of text. The RIBA badge and all lettering (which must be in upper and lower case) are printed in white. The boards will be printed all over in red (Poppy Red BS 04E53)(Please note RIBA Client Advisor Boards should be blue with white text) The typeface to be used is Inica. The words appearing above the top horizontal line (marked A) should be:-

1. ‘RIBA Chartered Architect(s)’ or…

2. ‘RIBA Architect(s) plus if wished and subject to fitting in the one line, additional descriptive words from: ‘Engineers’, ‘Surveyors’ or ‘Planners such that the line will read, for example, ‘RIBA Architects & Engineers’

3. ‘RIBA Chartered Practice (only available to registered Chartered Practices)

4. ‘RIBA Client Advisor’ (Client advisor boards have  a blue background)

In addition the practice or office name should appear in the board’s central section (marked B), to the right of the current RIBA badge: no more than three lines are allowed. Sole practitioners may use professional affixes (in addition to RIBA) such as RICS, MICE, RTPI etc. (but not educational or degree qualifications).

Line 1 (practice business name)

Line 2 (practice business name cont. – if needed)

Line 3 (descriptive words on services provided – if wished)

A single line of brief contact details should appear at the foot of the board – subject to available space, one or more postal/telephone/fax/email/website details may appear. A QR code can be added to any of the following designs, but only in the position shown in the examples (and is recommended for use on the 4 x 1′ formats).

One line example

Two line example

Three line example

Guidance for advertising

Use of RIBA boards is restricted to firms where at least one partner or director is an RIBA member (or local authority architects’ departments headed by an RIBA member). RIBA Chartered Practice boards can only be used by registered chartered practices. Manufacturers may require RIBA members (partner or director) to sign a declaration confirming relevant status.

The intention is to keep the layout of the board as simple,legible and visually impactive as possible. Stocksigns have details of the agreed typography. The design must remain standard: no office or company logos are permitted and punctuation should be kept to a minimum.

For more information on RIBA advertising guidelines please visit their website or to place an order for your siteboard please download our siteboard RIBA site boards price sheet.

Fun Facts About the Hollywood Sign.

We spend a lot of time trawling the internet looking at signage information that we think might be useful to our customers. Every now and then we come across something that may not be necessarily useful (unless it comes up in the pub quiz!) but is either a bit of fun or just interesting. We hope that this post written by Catherine R from www.sign.com/blog is maybe a bit of both.

1) The Hollywood Sign is almost 90 years old.

The original Hollywood sign was constructed in 1923, the same year that Rin Tin Tin gained fame as a canine film star. Though it wasn’t originally meant to be an icon for the film industry, the sign was created during the beginning of the glamorous, decadent Golden Age of Hollywood: in 1925, Ben Hur was released with its record-breaking production budget of $3.95 million.

2) The Hollywood sign wasn’t created with the movies in mind.

The sign wasn’t created to advertise movies and starlets; it was created to advertise real estate. Developers S. H. Woodruff and Tracy E. Shoults began developing a new neighborhood called “Hollywoodland.” The sign was meant to act as a huge billboard to draw new home buyers to the hillside.

3) The first sign didn’t say “Hollywood.”

To advertise the Hollywoodland development, the sign was composed of 13 letters that spelled out the development’s name: “HOLLYWOODLAND.” The last four letters of the sign wouldn’t be dropped until 1949.

4) The original Hollywood Sign was bigger than the current sign.

The original letters were constructed of large sections of sheet metal and stood as high as 50 feet tall. They were held up with a complicated framing system that included wooden scaffold, pipes, wires and poles.

5) 4,000 light bulbs graced the original Hollywoodland sign.

The bulbs were timed to blink so that the words “HOLLY,” “WOOD,” and “LAND” each lit up consecutively, followed by the entire word. This was not considered tacky, but rather quite progressive and modern. Each bulb generated only 8 watts of electricity, so 4,000 were needed in order to create the impressive display that Woodruff and Shoults needed to sell building lots.

6) The sign was a very expensive billboard.

Considering that the original Hollywoodland sign was only intended to be an advertisement for a real estate development, it was quite expensive. The construction cost of the sign was around $21,000, which is roughly the equivalent of $250,000 in 2013 dollars. Imagine building a new neighborhood and paying a quarter of a million bucks to advertise it with one sign!

7) An Englishman designed the Hollywood sign.

Thomas Fisk Goff, the artist who created the Hollywood sign, was born in London in 1890. He immigrated to the United States and settled in Los Angeles in the early 1920’s and opened the Crescent Sign Company. Woodruff and Shoults commissioned Goff to create and install the sign. In addition to owning a sign company, Goff was an artist who painted landscapes on canvas.

8) The sign had its very own caretaker.

The real estate developers hired Albert Kothe to act as caretaker. In addition to other responsibilities, Albert was in charge of the maintenance of the Hollywoodland sign. One of his jobs was to replace the lightbulbs on the sign when they burnt out, a large task considering the number of bulbs and the height of each letter.

9) The original sign was only meant to last for 18 months.

Since it was only intended to be a temporary advertisement for the new real estate development, the Hollywoodland sign was designed to be in place for about 18 months, while lots were sold.

10) The Hollywood sign was the site of a suicide.

Sadly, the allure of fame and fortune was not reality for many who flocked to Hollywood in hopes of becoming actors and actresses. One such unlucky girl, Peg Entwistle, left New York City and moved in with her uncle in Los Angeles while she tried to become a film star. Despite her efforts at stardom, Peg failed to land the big role she’d hoped for, and on September 18, 1932, she hiked up to the Hollywood sign, climbed a ladder to the top of the “H” and jumped to her death.

Click her to read Catherine R’s original article

Take time to walk round your premises, it may take a couple of trips round if you have a large or complicated building layout.

Note all your existing fire and safety signs. Do you have all the necessary signs covered by legislation? Through the course of the year things happen to your building, were signs replaced after that wall got repainted? Were your signs covered up when you had the last office move round? Many people find that their fire signage is often in the wrong place, check your emergency escape signage is being displayed properly. If you are not sure whether you are completely covered legally get a site survey done to give you peace of mind.

While it isn’t yet a requirement to change all your existing safety signs to the new ISO 7010 versions, make sure any missing or damaged signs are replaced with the new updated symbols.

Care of your safety Signs

Safety signs over time can become dirty or damaged and several environmental factors can effect your signs. Signs in areas of high traffic can become dirty quickly. Make sure all signs are clean and clear and can be easily read, and cleaning where needed. If they are illegible and beyond cleaning replace where necessary.

For more information about safety signs or any other signage query please contact our sales team at sales@stocksigns.co.uk  and don’t forget to order your new 2013 catalogue.

Don’t Panic about ISO 7010

There has been much in the industry press regarding the new safety signs standard ISO 7010. A lot of the coverage has implied that all companies must change their safety signs in order to comply. This scaremongering has led to many companies making expensive but not necessarily required signage purchases. Yes there is new legislation, and yes a lot of the safety symbols have changed, but you don’t need to rip out all your existing signage and start again.

What to do next about ISO 7010

Here at Stocksigns we recommend certain guidelines which means our customers fulfil their legal obligations without breaking the bank. We advise that you don’t need to change all your signs to ISO 7010 but if you require a new sign, or a replacement sign, yes, you should be insisting on ISO 7010 symbols. However as ‘best practice’ you shouldn’t really mix symbols from the old and new standards. We no longer manufacture the old symbols as standard but if you need to add a sign and your existing signs are all BS 5499 and you don’t want to mix signs from different legislative standards, we can, for a limited time, provide it as a custom made sign. A little more expensive than our standard catalogue products but much cheaper than replacing all your signage, which many of the less scrupulous sign companies in the market would have you believe is your only option.

ISO 7010 has been developed to provide consistency in design across the EU. The new designs have now been phased in and all our signs follow The Health & Safety (Safety Signs & Signals) Regulations 1966 and conform to BS ISO 7010 where applicable.

Call our sales team on 01737 774077

This weeks post is from our guest Blogger – Julian Rowlandson, Sales & Marketing Director, Stocksigns.

Vitreous Enamel Signs -Signs of the Times

From the iconic London Underground maps to retro adverts for household goods in gastro pubs printed Vitreous Enamel signs and panels provide an exciting and durable medium for architects, specifiers and designers.

Using a process that can be traced back to ancient Egypt, Vitreous Enamel or VE has many features that make it suitable for a wide range of applications.  Unlike most other sign making methods VE creates a physical bond between the steel plate and the glass frit.  Layers of paint are applied using traditional screen print processes and are fired in a furnace at temperatures in excess of 700°.  Because of the challenges involved in the manufacture of VE signs there are few companies that have the capabilities required to produce the panels.

The sustainable functionality of VE makes it a natural choice for applications where durability is important.  City wayfinding projects such as in Bristol and the Legible London project have utilised

VE because it is low maintenance, vandal proof and colour fast.  The colour fast nature of VE meets the exacting needs that major utility companies have in identifying power lines from the air.  Helicopter panels are attached to pylons and are exposed to all the elements can throw at them.  They are colour coded to allow easy identification and it is critical that these colours do not fade over time which could lead to dangerous confusion.

The Jubilee Gardens project installed by Stocksigns on the Southbank in London is a good example of VE being used in a more artistic application.  Combining wayfinding and information, the project needed to be aesthetically appropriate for the setting.

There are many opportunities for architects, designers and specifiers to use VE in their projects.  In the commercial setting the use of VE in street names, wayfinding, transport, parks and open spaces are all applications that are particularly well suited to the features of VE.  While, potentially, more expensive to purchase, the low maintenance cost and longevity more than compensates for the initial expenditure, giving VE an attractive total lifetime value.

In the more aesthetic setting, retro products such as those that used to form the Garnier Collection are enjoying a renaissance.  Advertising panels for Colmans Mustard, Castrol and BMC are amongst popular images from yesteryear that are used in restaurants and pubs.

Stocksigns, a leading manufacturer of VE have been involved in projects that cover all of these areas.

Following the recent ‘Go Green Week’ we can keep the eco-campaign going with this week’s environmental awareness week ‘Climate Week’.

Climate Week is Britain’s biggest climate change campaign, inspiring a new wave of action to create a sustainable future. Culminating in a week of activities, it showcases practical solutions from every sector of society. Each year, half a million people attend 3,000 events in Britain’s biggest ever environmental occasion. Events are run by schools, businesses, charities, councils and many others.

To help you make a few ‘green changes’ in the work place we have brought together some of our eco blog posts.

• Energy Conservation Signs – Remind Staff to Turn Off the Lights
• Help Your Staff to Recycle
• Photoluminescent Signs the “Eco” Benefits

To find out more about Climate week please visit www.climateweek.com