Inside Scoop

When you need to install a sign or graphic panel in an upscale environment like a corporate office or art museum, the usual brackets, screws and washers available at the local hardware store just won’t fit the image. Fortunately, there is a wide array of specialty mounting hardware available, originally designed for the retail display and fixtures market, which features clean lines, utilitarian design and satin aluminum finishes that will support your signs beautifully in a variety of creative ways.

They can be as simple as standoffs that are mounted directly to the wall and pass through holes in the graphic panel with a cap on the front, but even that basic fixture is available in a wide range of shapes and sizes to work in almost any environment. If you don’t want to drill holes through your panel, edge grip standoffs are also available, which can hold the panel parallel or perpendicular to the wall or ceiling.

These standoffs are ideal for directories, room identification, or graphics that are frequently changed, because once the bases are installed on the wall, it is a simple matter to unscrew the caps, slip the new graphic into place and screw the caps back on. As long as you are careful to measure and drill the holes precisely, installation is a breeze.

For more complicated installations, there are shelf supports, brackets, wire riggings, rod supports, hinges, extensions, clamps and frames galore. If you really want to get creative, it is even possible to build functional furniture with the components available. There are also a variety of lighting options to illuminate your graphics, including overhead low voltage fixtures on arm extensions, and frames with LED edge lighting.

To get a good idea of the products available, Google “architectural sign mounting hardware”, or explore these websites, where the technology of mounting has been refined to an art.

B & N Industries, Inc.
Gyford Standoff Systems
Nova Display
Europtimum Display
HangUps Unlimited
Sign Hardware
Sign Bracket Store
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Each of these companies offers similar hardware, but they have developed product lines that are unique in many ways. B & N Industries offers Iconic Panels; rigid wall forms with a variety of sculptural images on the face that would add a nice touch to a sign structure or background element. They are fabricated with either reclaimed wood or a formed laminate over a carved wood core, and can be sawn, nailed, screwed, glued or mounted on walls with their special Panel Cleats. They also offer Quadri Frames, which are satin anodized aluminum graphic holders that allow material up to ¼” thick to be slid into an opening in one of the sides. The frames can be ceiling-suspended, installed on the wall, or combined with bases for freestanding applications.

Gyford has some uniquely shaped standoff caps and under their StructureLite category, you will find panel frames and a wide variety of hinges, edge grip fixtures and structural elements that might remind you of your childhood days building your own creations with an Erector set. They offer all of the anchors, washers, plastic tubing, drop ceiling clips, adhesive and even drill bits that you will need to successfully install a sign support structure. The portfolios with examples of client’s work on their web page are truly inspiring.

Nova Display offers easy access poster frames, banner suspension systems, large format digital printing on a variety of substrates, and their E-Motion poster display system, with narrow vertical acrylic pockets that rotate, allowing two posters to be displayed in a limited space. Their P.O.P. Display section includes XtraLite Edge-Lit illuminated poster frames, cold-cathode light boxes for illuminated graphics, and ultra-slim digital display screens that can be suspended from their cable/rod support system. All the unit needs to run is a memory card with data downloaded directly from a digital camera or PC.

Europtimum Display has a wide variety of freestanding displays and frames, folded and pocket acrylic graphic holders, modular kiosks and partitions that can incorporate backlit or digital displays, printed vinyl graphics and wallpaper, edge lit and backlit display frames, and a curved metal frame with a backlit clear acrylic face that displays translucent graphics in a unique and attractive format.

Products and prices vary widely, though none of these fixtures would fall into the “budget” category. They are designed to appeal to the upscale retail or office environment, to display quality graphics and merchandise in an elegant and aesthetically pleasing manner, and they do that very well. Once you are familiar with all of the hardware and have designed and installed a beautiful donor wall or graphic display for another delighted client, you may never want to go back to the corner hardware store again.