FASTSIGNS of Louisville’s Museum Graphics Are a Knockout

Susan and San Cilone, owners of FASTSIGNS of Louisville, Ky., were the Grand Prize Winners at the Wide Format & Signage/FASTSIGNS Awards, held during the annual FASTSIGNS International Convention in Orlando, Fla., January 16–19, 2019. FASTSIGNS of Louisville won for its rebranding project for the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville which was undergoing a major renovation.

Celebrating its 25th year in business, FASTSIGNS of Louisville—with a staff of 12—specializes in graphics for healthcare facilities as well as museums. The company also services local businesses in the Louisville area. FASTSIGNS of Louisville’s relationship with the Muhammad Ali Center, the museum honoring the late boxing great’s legacy, began when the center was founded 14 years ago.

“We began working with them way back at the beginning and initially we might work on an exhibit or an update or an upgrade of some sort,” said Susan Cilone. “So it’s kind of been an ongoing relationship for a number of years. This particular renovation allowed us to be a part of some of the main areas of the museum that were initially done as part of the grand opening. It was a pretty major restructuring renovation of the lobby area and we were really excited to be a part of that.”

The renovated lobby area included new graphics, and Cilone and her team also helped repurpose and integrate some preexisting elements. One of the goals of the renovation was to better highlight the original founders of the center as well as the donors who help keep Ali’s legacy alive. Some of those older elements FASTSIGNS of Louisville had originally created. 

“Five or six years ago, we and designed and installed what we call the ‘butterfly wall,’ a 30-foot, acrylic lightbox that we designed and installed that uses the butterfly as the recognition piece,” said Cilone. The idea, of course, is based on Ali’s famous quote, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” and the butterfly image is a visual motif that is part of the museum’s branding. “The entire wall is kind of a swarm of butterflies that can be updated and added to as they get additional donors. Then the light shines through the acrylic and lights up the name that’s on each butterfly.” 

The new lobby décor also included metal letters placed on top of a new canopy above the Ali Center Store, and a 10-foot portrait of Ali was used to create a mural that highlights center’s mission statement. Column wraps also included Augmented Reality (AR) elements. Everyone was delighted with how the results turned out. “The space turned out amazing and all the elements came together in a way that I think exceeded what we had hoped,” said Cilone. The Center has also hosted a number of events since the renovation, including having an episode of Top Chef shot at the center. More importantly, perhaps, it has led to more work for FASTSIGNS of Louisville. “The Muhammad Ali Center has since then recommended us for a number of projects I think because of their confidence in us to get the project completed and being there for them,” said Cilone. “They had recommended as for work on a project for the high school that Muhammad Ali attended when he lived in Louisville. So I thought that was kind of icing on the cake for us to be able to be a part of that.”

FASTSIGNS of Kankakee, Ill., took two Runner Up Awards, one for exterior and interior signage for Riverside Healthcare, the other for branding Hoekstra Transportation’s new corporate office. Founded in 2014 and having seven full-time employees, FASTSIGNS of Kankakee specializes in helping small to mid-size businesses with their branding. Top verticals that FASTSIGNS of Kankakee serves are healthcare and higher education, with two local colleges among the company’s client roster.

Riverdale Healthcare is FASTSIGNS of Kankakee’s biggest customer, and David and Sonya Comer, owners of FASTSIGNS of Kankakee, have developed a highly collaborative relationship with Riverdale. “We’ve done a lot of work for them through the years,” said David Comer. “All their ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] signs and their large exterior signs, so we have a real good feel for what they want and what they're looking for.” This stood them in good stead when Riverdale sent out bids to local sign companies for the interior rebranding project. “The heart and vascular images, and particularly the one where you see the lighted heart, that was their marketing campaign,” said Comer. “They sent a blast out to different sign shops and said, ‘Give us your ideas, give us your mock-ups.’ We submitted two and those two were their number one and number two choices.”

Project elements included ADA signage, wayfinding, murals, channel letters, refinished outdoor signs, LED lighting, and more. The one challenging part of the project was creating the lighted heart, and that was the one part of the project that Comer had to outsource. “We said, ‘OK, how do we get this made?’,” he said. “And what’s nice about being part of the FASTSIGNS network is that we can reach out to corporate and ask, ‘Who would you recommend as a vendor for this?’ They recommended a place in California, so that's pretty much how we accomplished that.”

FASTSIGNS of Kankakee also won an award for the rebranding of Hoekstra Transportation’s new location. Unlike Riverdale Healthcare, Hoekstra had not been a current FASTSIGNS of Kankakee customer. Comer had landed that project through old-fashioned business networking. “We are heavily involved in BNI, Business Networking International,” said Comer. “Business owners and salespeople from around our community meet every week, and we’ve built relationships through that. One of the guys in that group owns his own construction company and was doing the buildout for Hoekstra. He said, ‘Hey, they’re building a really high-end facility for their drivers and they want to make the branding look out of this world. So we met with them several times and got a feel for what they were looking to do.” It took a lot of mock-ups and prototypes—23 different mock-ups for the front elevation alone. “We kept tweaking it, and kept presenting ideas to them until we finally found something that they liked,” said Comer.

The project included murals throughout the building, wall graphics, wayfinding, and ADA signage. To boost visibility from the interstate, which runs near the back of the building, they added a 12.5 by 62.5-foot banner with decorative frame. 

“When we started doing that project, they were not a customer at all,” said Comer. “Now they’re a big customer.” 

Both FASTSIGNS franchises are seeing environmental graphics and interior décor as among the fastest-growing areas of their business. 

“That’s one area of growth,” said Cilone. “We’re providing custom-printed wall coverings and graphics that might be in a lobby, conference room, or other area where they wanting to extend their brand. We’re doing a lot more work in that realm as well as adding dimensional pieces along with the wall covering. So there might be a printed wall graphic and then a dimensional logo or other dimensional aspect installed on top of that.” 

“What we found is that people are wanting to make their businesses look really professional when people walk in,” said Comer. “Instead of having people walk into just a bland, open space, they are really dressing up the décor because they’re trying to sell their their services and their goods to a prospective client or customer. So we’re seeing a lot more of them trying to make the décor a high-end experience for people.”

Wide Format & Signage congratulates both these FASTSIGNS franchises on winning these awards.