Tactile Wayfinding plaques

Larimer County, Colorado

Photo credit: Teddy Parker-Renga, Larimer County's Community Relations Specialist

 We are city dwellers here at Masterwork Plaques, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t serious nature lovers. When Masterwork was approached by Larimer County to produce their beautifully designed metal Passport Trail Markers, we were thrilled. 

The Larimer County Department of Natural Resources in Colorado manages Larimer County's great outdoor places, including open spaces, trails and water-based recreation areas. They also foster responsible land stewardship through maintaining healthy forestry practices. The county is particularly committed to promoting a sense of community and deep appreciation for the natural and agricultural heritage of the area for present and future generations. 

Each of the sixteen etched bronze trail marker plaques is a small 3” square. Each plaque is fixed to a wooden post placed throughout the county’s open spaces trails. The design team at the Department of Natural Resources provided the metal illustrations, and our studio optimized these designs to ensure each plaque would etch correctly at our etching facility.

Photo credit: Teddy Parker-Renga

Photo credit: Teddy Parker-Renga, Larimer County's Community Relations Specialist

The artwork for each trail marker plaque was particularly important, as the plaques were used for the county’s unique passport program. Each bronze marker was designed with a unique image that represents the space where it is installed. When hikers come along a metal marker on a trail, they can place their hiking “passport”, which they received from the county, over the metal relief and take a rubbing from the plaque (with a pencil, crayon, etc.). This rubbing has a stamping effect which marks their passports and can be used to win various prizes. This fun and interactive activity encourages everyone to hike and enjoy the magnificent nature, while also fostering a sense of pride for the community. 

We’ve found throughout the years that bronze plaques large and small have a unique ability to promote a sense of community where they are installed. Bronze plaques can be used for wayfinding purposes, public art pieces, historic plaques and inset sidewalk medallions. Both long-lasting and eye-catching, metal plaques draw attention to public spaces that may have otherwise been overlooked. As is the case with these Passport markers, plaques can also help lead passers-by through a natural space. Bronze and other metals also have a beautiful visual appeal that will last for years regardless of rain, snow or sun.

We encourage you to learn more about this metal marker project and check out the Larimer County website for more passport program photos captured on the trails.

ABOUT POLISHED FINISHES

Metals react with their surroundings, and for this reason it can seem a little daunting to clean a plaque properly. However, the solution is simpler than you think, especially when it comes to polished stainless steel plaques. All you need to maintain the surface is a microfiber cloth, and if necessary, a mild soap and warm water.  

Polished plaques have a mirror-like finish which gives them a very sleek and contemporary feel. This finish is most successful on stainless steel, as it is a very dense and high quality metal that has a beautiful shine when it has been properly buffed. However, a polished finish should only be used in specific cases. We mostly recommend this finish for interior plaques that are out of reach of the public. As with most mirror finishes, fingerprints and dust are quite visible when they interact with a polished finish surface.  

Rub the surface of the plaque with a microfiber cloth to remove fingerprints, dust and other grease stains.

The easiest solution for removing fingerprints, dust and other grease stains from stainless steel is by simply rubbing the surface of the plaque with a microfiber cloth. This material is soft enough to remove the surface grease without scratching the delicate finish. If any areas were not cleared away by the cloth, we suggest starting with water only and using a soft cloth to wipe away any remaining stains. Only if at this point a surface imperfection hasn’t gone away would we recommend using a mild soap and water solution.  

Commercial solvents should never be used on metal plaques. 

All of our metal products are finished with a clear lacquer coating that protects our plaques from oxidization. This coating can be stripped away by everyday cleaners and powerwashers, so for this reason, if the plaque needs to be cleaned, it should only be done with water and a soft brush if absolutely necessary. Commercial solvents (such as Fantastic) should NEVER be used on metal plaques. In addition, a pressure washer should NEVER be used on any metal work, especially when the surface is finished with a chemical patina or paint.

In general, please come to us first with any questions about cleaning and maintenance. We can be reached at masterworkplaques@gmail.com or (718) 283-4109.

ABOUT BARANO RESTAURANT

Located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn about six blocks from our design studio is the highly anticipated Barano Restaurant which opens this month. Chef Albert Di Meglio, former chef at Rubirosa, created a menu inspired by his childhood as an Italian-American in Staten Island. The restaurant’s name, Barano, is named after his family’s hometown on the island of Ischia, just off the coast of Naples, Italy. New York Magazine writes, “…the kitchen revolves around a wood-fired oven, rotisserie, and grill, which Di Meglio employs for pizzas like the L’uovo (Swiss chard, capocollo, Fontina, and duck egg) and spit-roasted meats.” Sounds delicious to us!

Photo: Jody Wissner/New York Magazine

The interior design aesthetic of the restaurant was conceptualized by Brooklyn Home Studios, with the restaurant’s exterior signage manufactured by Masterwork Plaques. The building’s exterior features two etched brass plaques, one featuring the name of the restaurant, the other the street address.

Restaurant and exterior signage is most successful when the design is simple, crisp and clean. Our studio always recommends investing in high quality materials. Although we do create plaques in aluminum, zinc and other more affordable metals, brass, bronze and stainless steel will stand the test of time.

We were thrilled to see our plaque featured on the restaurant’s main page! 

Photo from B arano Restaurant .

For more information regarding our etched brass and custom plaques, give us a call at (718) 283-4109, and we will be happy to discuss a variety of options for signage that bests suit your business.

Advice from the Plaque-Makers: Make a Sign that Lasts

Exterior building signage is necessary for just about every type of business. When it comes to designing company plaques, it can be tempting to jam-pack each sign with addresses, tag lines and contact info to give the casual passerby more than one way to reach out to your business. While employee email addresses, phone numbers and physical addresses can all be helpful, an outdoor plaque may not need all of these elements.

To prevent overcomplicating your corporate signage, focus on the company name, logo, and your overall brand identity. The outdoor plaque should clearly promote your business’s presence in the building, and it should also catch the eye of passersby, enticing prospective clients to visit or contact your organization.

We recommend sitting with your branding and marketing team—think about a company color and metal type that may best complement your logo. At the same time, decide on one method of contact that is most appropriate for prospective clients who see your company’s plaque on the street—a contact method may not be necessary if the sign is right outside your door. Once the content is decided upon, request a quote from our studio, and our customer service team can help you finalize your plaque design from there. Included below are five helpful tips during your company’s initial planning process.

#1 Avoid QR Codes

Every few months, a client will ask us to add a QR code to their initial plaque designs, but rarely do these customers end up wanting it on the final product. We have a bit of an aversion to QR codes at our studio, and there are two reasons why.  

QR codes are meant for use on printed media.

Barcodes are two-dimensional and almost always black and white. Etched and cast plaques are not completely flat. Cast plaques have a relief depth of 3/32”, so shadowing can distort the QR code and prevent its readability. This presents obvious issues. There is always the risk that the QR code won’t scan properly after the plaque has been created, and what’s the use of an expensive plaque with a QR code that doesn’t work?

Barcode Scanner Apps must be downloaded.

Secondly, if the QR code does scan successfully, smartphones do not automatically come with barcode scanners. The most effective QR codes offer customers a reward if they do scan and view the embedded link. That means unless you offer a discount or another type of incentive, will people use it? A simple website url may be more effective, and also relieves the fear that QR codes will become outdated.

#2 Use Reliable Contact Info

Similar to our first tip, it is important to choose a reliable contact method that will not change over time.  If an architectural signage project has a phone number that is no longer in service, the price to update the phone number on the plaque is just about as expensive as recreating the plaque entirely.  For this reason, make sure there are no typos or outdated forms of contact on your company signage. 

#3 Make Sure Your Logo is Up-to-Date

Vector files are our favorite type of file at Masterwork Plaques.  Vectors are most often created in Adobe Illustrator, so the file would end in “.ai” or “.eps”. If your company only has a jpeg file handy, send us the highest resolution file available. If needed, we can often redraw the logo in house.

Marketing departments will typically have your company’s vector file.  Make sure to send us the most up-to-date logo you have. A bronze plaque can last for decades, but if the content is outdated, you may have to remake the plaque regardless of the condition of the metal.

#4 Invest in High-Quality Materials

  Etched plaque for Barano Restaurant in Brooklyn, NY.

Our studio has many plaque options, but we typically recommend cast bronze and etched stainless steel over most other metal types. Bronze and stainless steel are high-quality, durable metals that hold up well as interior and exterior signage.  High-quality items usually come with a higher price tag, but if you want plaques that will last for decades, these plaques quickly pay you back over time.  

Too often, we see outdoor plastic and aluminum plaques that have been through too many hot summers or cold winters. Their painted backgrounds start to peel away, and those once pretty plastic plaques have dented and chipped. It is not uncommon for cheaply-made, exterior plaques to become unreadable after one or two years. Choosing high quality materials and the proper finish prevents dents and scratches that ruin the plaque’s appearance. Rather than recreating a plaque every two years, order a well-made plaque once, and you will save your company valuable time and money.  Your plaque is a reflection of your company, and a high quality sign sends a strong message to your customers.

#5 Mount Your Plaque Securely

One last piece of advice: Use our hidden stud mount technique for any plaque that is installed outside. This blind-mount technique conceals all attachment hardware from the face of the plaque, which makes it more difficult to remove and protects it against theft.  Bronze is an expensive material, and a plaque that is improperly mounted can be stolen and sold as scrap metal. Masterwork’s cast plaques come with specially developed attachment systems that can be inserted directly into the wall with an architectural grade epoxy.

MASTERWORK PLAQUE SAMPLE DESIGNS

After many requests from our customers, we now carry a variety of metal plaque samples in house for our customers to review.  Because we create custom bronze, aluminum, stainless, brass and zinc plaques using both casting and etching techniques, the amount of choices our client’s have to choose from can be overwhelming.

While we have many examples of past plaque projects on our website, we now have fifteen sample plaques ready to ship, in convenient 6” x 4” sizes, which now gives our clients a more tactile way to decide between different plaque background textures, finishes and mounting techniques. We also carry a four different water-jet cut letters with prismatic, polished, satin and random orbital finishes, so our clients can review individual letter options in person as well.

 HOW TO ASK FOR A PLAQUE SAMPLE

If you are interested in ordering a plaque from our studio, fill out a quote request form on our website, and our designers can start by suggesting the appropriate material for your project based on the size of the plaque, complexity of designs, and where your project will be installed. 

Our designers typically send images of past projects along with their initial quotes, but if you would like to review a sample in person before proceeding with an order, we can send one of the options above to an address of your choice.  If you prefer to create your own plaque sample, we can typically create a custom sample in about 2-3 weeks for a small fee.

Once the sample is sent to your home, and you have determined the best materials for your project, we ask that you return the sample to our studio so that we can continue to send samples to future clients.

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?” –Martin Luther King, Jr.

On Monday January 18th, Masterwork Plaques decided to honor MLK Day with an afternoon of service.  Our design department took the afternoon to volunteer at the neighborhood animal shelter, located just down the street from our studio.  BARC is a no-kill shelter for dogs and cats that highly encourages volunteers to dog-walk in the mornings and evenings, or volunteer their time in the cat loft.  In the cat loft, participants can help socialize the animals in addition to help clean the facilities and distribute food at the end of the day. 

Our employees have volunteered with the dog-walking program in the past, but for the holiday decided to spend the afternoon helping out in the cat lofts, where we met a few furry friends!

(For more information on the etched brass plaque above, and our other sample plaques, check out our pinterest page.)

In addition to custom bronze plaques, Masterwork Plaques can create a variety of armed service medallions, military insignias, service crests, badges and veteran memorials from existing military artwork and logos.  These metal military seals can be created from any of the materials we offer, from cast bronze and cast aluminum, to etched bronze, aluminum, stainless steel, brass and zinc.  Each metal offers its own function and unique qualities.  Bronze and brass typically are considered more traditional looking metals whereas stainless steel, aluminum and zinc give the armed service plaque a contemporary feel.  

MILITARY SEALS & CRESTS

BAS-RELIEF MILITARY SEALS

Military seals are most traditionally created using a cast bronze, bas-relief technique.  This armed service seal style includes prismatic, hand-carved emblems and surrounding raised text with customized border. We have a variety of existing bas-relief patterns for military seals in stock at our studio. If another version of the military crest is requested, our studio clay-artists can hand-carve a new pattern to recreate the specific armed service seal to our client’s specific needs.

Our in-stock patterns include:

• U.S. Army plaques
• Department of the Navy plaques
• Department of the Air Force plaques
• U.S. Marine Corps plaques
• U.S. Coast Guard plaques
• Etched or Cast Military Plaques
• Bas-Relief and Flat Relief military plaques

ETCHED MILITARY SEALS

As a cost-effective alternative to cast bronze bas-relief medallions, we also offer “etched” military seals.  Etched plaques and medallions are lighter in weight and offer a more contemporary look.  Rather than including dimensional elements, these emblems are created graphically, with simple raised and recessed areas.  Graphic military seals give each plaque an illustrated and sleek design. 

FULL-COLOR MILITARY SEALS

Another alternative we offer is the recreation of full color logos and seals on metal military plaques. This process is best used for interior applications.  Using your high-quality photograph, we can create a full-color, printed metal replication of the logo or military crest of your choice.  This process is not created by digitally printing onto laminate or plastic; instead, it seals various dyes into anodized aluminum for a long-lasting, quality product.

VETERAN MEMORIALS / MILITARY BASE PLAQUES

Masterwork Plaques specializes in the creation of Veteran memorials and custom military base plaques.  Tributes to veterans can consist of cast bronze nameplates, commemorative plaques, illustrated bas-relief carvings, photo-portraits, etc.  Veteran recognition plaques can be installed on a wall, at a memorial site, inset into custom plinths or be given as gifts to deserving service members.  Masterwork Plaques provides design assistance and the necessary hardware for all these installations.

 Our studio has experience creating large-scale medallions for the entrances of various military bases and training facilities, as an alternative to plastic or glass signage.  Our custom circular medallions can be inset into the paving, on a wall, or the entrance lobby of your building to include a military base logo, armed forces seal, or other artwork.  Masterwork Plaques past clients include: The West Point Military Academy, The F.B.I., NASA Washington DC, US Department of State, The Los Angeles Police Department, The Los Angeles Fire Department, The Dallas Police Department, The City of New York and more.

For more information on military and veteran plaques, contact us at masterworkplaques@gmail.com.

Building management plaques, metal building owner signs and leasing agent markers are an excellent way to both to secure property and provide a stylish statement piece recognizing building ownership.  Our studio specializes in the creation of these custom building plaques, translating your company’s logo and business information into an eye-catching work of cast metal art.  Our studio also offers discounts on quantity plaque orders, understanding that our property management, building owner, landlord and leasing agent clients often work with multiple properties. 

Building management plaques have a great amount of flexibility in regards to their design.  Material, size, border style and finishing techniques can be tailored to the brand and personality of each company and property location.  For example, bronze and brass plaques are typically associated with a more traditional styled building, whereas a stainless steel or aluminum plaque is visually more contemporary and match modern construction.

We also can offer a variety of border styles and finishing techniques, shown on our plaque options page, that can set your plaque apart from the rest. 

Random Orbital, Satin and Polished finishes

Finally, Masterwork Plaques offers secure installation techniques that both seamlessly integrate into a plaque's design and protect against any risk of theft. For more information on building management plaques, contact us at masterworkplaques@gmail.com. 

What is the difference between an etched stainless steel and aluminum plaque? 

Etched Stainless Steel plaque with Polished "Mirror" finish & Medium Grey Infill

One common question we are asked by our clients is the difference between two visually similar metals: stainless steel and aluminum.  Both are silver in color, yet they are quite different when it comes to their other characteristics, specifically regarding their density and weight.

etched stainless steel

Dense and Durable | Corrosion resistant | Non-porous surface

Stainless Steel is an excellent choice for a plaque exposed to a significant amount of wear and tear and varying weather conditions.  The benefit of stainless steel is its exceptional durability and its corrosive-resistant surface.  Stainless steel is less likely to dent or warp over time.  It is also resistant to discoloration, because of its non-porous surface. 

CAST ALUMINUM

Softer metal | Light weight | Cost-effective

Cast aluminum plaques have unique benefits of their own.  Although aluminum is a much softer metal, it is significantly lighter in weight than stainless steel.  It is a great choice for interior plaques and can be mounted to just about any type of wall, stone or platform, as can stainless steel. At our studio, aluminum is a great alternative to stainless if you are looking to create a large custom plaque on a small budget.  Aluminum is not recommended for plaques that are inset into the ground or susceptible to a significant amount of wear and tear.  Aluminum is a soft metal and can bend and warp if it is dropped or damaged. 

metal finishes

Both metals are silver in color, which can give plaques a contemporary look—a pleasant alternative to the traditional cast bronze plaque.  Both aluminum and stainless steel plaques can be finished in three different fashions: Random Orbital, Satin and Polished finishes. 

On Stainless Steel (from left to right): Random Orbital, Satin and Polished finish

The random orbital finish is a great choice for a plaque that is installed in an area susceptible to scratching, bumping, etc.  Random orbital subtly disguises these scratches, as the sander used in our studio to produce this finish creates hundreds of small textural strokes on the surface of the plaque in every direction.  The finish gives the plaque a buffed look and creates a disguise for any accidental scratch or dent, which could otherwise ruin the look of a perfectly smooth plaque.  Alternatively, the satin, or “brushed”, finish can be added to the plaque, which is created by a different type of sander in our studio.  This is our most popular finish choice. A satin finish is created by adding a horizontal stroke to the plaque, giving it a smooth brushed surface.  It is more susceptible to scratches, but mounted in the right place, it has a very crisp and refined look.  The final option is a polished finish, which is exceptionally unique.  The metal surface is polished until it is reflective, which is why it is also referred to as a mirror finish. This is a great finish if you want to draw attention to the plaque from a distance.  It is often used on lobby plaques and general signage, in both interior and exterior settings.

For more questions on the difference between these metals and their finishes, check out our plaque options or reach out to us at masterworkplaques@gmail.com.