LED Innovations Brighten Brands While Highlighting Savings

Sometimes, a small dot can make a big difference.

Retail designers, store planners and architects across a variety of industries often face common challenges when it comes to creating illuminated signs, displays and fixtures:

• How can I ensure the right lighting for my project?
• How can I be sure of getting a quality product?
• How can I minimize the environmental impact?
• Where can I get the best value?

For years, it was difficult to effectively address one or two of these challenges – much less all four – in a single project. Now, Acrylic Design Associates is helping clients create eye-catching solutions while seamlessly addressing their questions around quality, cost and sustainability. Here’s how.

Acrylic Design's ARRAY™ line of illuminated solutions uses the latest in LED innovations to ensure brilliant lighting across virtually any type of interior application.  As the name suggests, Array includes a wide variety of displays, fixtures, luminaires, window boxes, wall panels and other lighted elements.

Unlike other options, Acrylic Design achieves uniform, edge-to-edge lighting without shadows or hotspots. For many applications, it does so by creating custom light-guide plates that distribute light evenly.

“Up to recently, signs and panels were often illuminated with strings of lights that roughly corresponded to letters or logos – which can lead to uneven lighting,” said Acrylic Design President, Bill McNeely, Jr.  “Our custom light-guide plates allow us to get light spread beautifully through any type of project.”

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Acrylic Design uses precision lasers to etch specific dot patterns in its light guide plates.  Similar to a high-end television set, LED lights are placed around the edges of the plate, with hundreds or thousands of etched dots carrying the light evenly throughout.  By controlling the dots and the lighting, Acrylic Design can achieve the desired brightness, colors and warmth for any given project.  Production is handled in-house, allowing for rapid testing and changes to get just the right effect.

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Even better: By using certified recycled Recrylic® for its light guide plates instead of virgin acrylic, clients are able to reduce carbon emissions by 90%.  When combined with energy efficient LED lights and other recycled materials, Recrylic can provide a highly sustainable solution for virtually any client need.  All LED projects are UL certified, helping ensure that they are constructed correctly with the highest safety standards.

One recent project, for example, involved creating more than 2,000 framed signs for a well-known retailer.  Acrylic Design recommended Aluminum Composite Material (ACM) for the sign body, with Recrylic used for the push-through logos and light-guide plates. The new signs not only reduced CO₂ emissions by 90% vs. virgin acrylic, but also were light enough for store employees to install themselves, saving the expense of outside installers.

How else might this apply for retailers, banks, architects and hospitality companies?  In addition to traditional signs and letters, Acrylic Design can create virtually any lighted item, including custom displays, product fixtures, luminaires, window boxes, wall panels, and more.  As the technology has advanced, Acrylic Design has been able to create thinner, brighter panels, achieving more stunning results.

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“One of our most popular LED solutions is our Fineline™ frame,” said McNeely.  “We are able to achieve the industry’s thinnest profile for window and wall frames for single panels or connected systems – allowing for brilliant, edge to edge graphics.”

And the best news of all?  Thanks to its innovative approach, Acrylic Design is often able to offer LED innovations that are significantly more affordable than competitive offerings.  All projects come with a 4-year warranty and are virtually maintenance-free.

To learn more about LED innovations from Acrylic Design Associates, please complete the form below.

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