Coldwell Banker in Moorpark, California had reached out to us for a channel letter sign for their storefront a couple of years back. After the exterior sign project was completed, they wanted to get started on an interior sign also. Interior signs do not need a sign permit so this process was a little easier. As you can see from the photos, we made a set of stainless steel channel letters. The main reason we made this type of sign was that Coldwell Banker wanted to replicate an existing sign they had at another location. They have approximately 3,000 offices in over 49 countries so this Moorpark location is one of many.
For many of our channel letters, we use aluminum because it is lightweight, inexpensive, and easy to work with. However, some clients do specifically request stainless steel due to the durability, although it is harder to clean. When the face of a channel letter is translucent, they are front-lit channel letters as the face lights up if there are LEDs inside. If the letter is opaque aside from the back and the light is coming out the back, they are reverse-lit channel letters. We also call them halo-lit channel letters. However, we can also make plain reverse channel letters without any LEDs. This is exactly what we did for Coldwell Banker, which is why the letters are mounted flush to the wall. If they were reverse-lit, they would need to be spaced off of the wall so the light from the LEDs can be seen.
You might be asking why we made channel letter signs instead of dimensional letters if the sign didn’t need to be illuminated. This is due to the fact that the client wanted the letters to be 1″ deep. We can flat-cut 1″ deep stainless steel letters, but they can be very expensive and heavy. Channel letters or fabricated letters are hollow so you can still have a metal look without the cost of solid metal letters.