Lobby Signs in Nashville: How to Choose the Right Build

Q: Can a lobby logo be mounted without visible hardware?

Yes. Big Visual Group offers concealed panel fasteners and can honor almost any hardware requirement, either to make the sign more robust or to keep the hardware hidden. The parts are cut in house on precision cutting machines held to strict tolerances, which is what lets a hidden mount sit flat against the wall.

A lobby sign is read by everyone who walks into the building, usually from about fifteen feet away and usually while they are still deciding what kind of company this is. In Nashville that lobby might be a bank branch in Brentwood, a tenant suite in a Peabody building downtown, or a church welcome desk in Antioch.

The hard part is not the artwork. It is choosing the build. A dimensional logo, an engraved room sign, an etched glass panel and a printed wall covering are four different products made on four different machines, and the right one depends on the wall, the lighting and how long the sign has to stay there.

The four builds a lobby usually needs

Most reception areas end up with some combination of these four. They are all part of architectural signage, which is the term for custom signs and sign systems that handle branding, identification and wayfinding at the same time.

Dimensional letters and logos. Letters and shapes with real depth, mounted off the wall behind the reception desk. This is the piece people mean when they say lobby sign, and it is the one that photographs.
Engraved and Braille signs. The small signs that identify offices, restrooms, waiting areas and conference rooms, plus executive nameplates, desk signs and room locators. They are the least glamorous part of the order and the part a tenant notices first when it is missing.
Etched glass. Logos and text etched into the glass of an entry door, a storefront window or a conference room wall. High-precision etching software holds text legible at small sizes, and the finish can be a frosted background or run with LED illumination behind it.
Printed wall graphics and wall coverings. The whole wall as the surface rather than an object hung on it. Temporary and permanent options both exist, so a seasonal message and a ten-year brand wall are different products, not the same product with different expectations.

Two more come up often enough to name. A video wall tiles digital displays into one large indoor surface, which suits a lobby that also faces the street. And building and monument signage is the sign people read before they reach the lobby at all, so it is worth specifying in the same conversation and matching to the same brand standard.

Eight materials, and what each one is doing on the wall

Big Visual Group builds architectural signage from eight materials: wood, metal, glass, plastic, acrylic, vinyl, foam HDU and photopolymer. The choice is not decorative. Acrylic and metal carry a crisp edge and a hard shadow line, which is why they dominate logo walls. Foam HDU gives depth cheaply at large letter sizes. Photopolymer is what regulatory signage is produced on, because the raised letters and the Braille are formed in the material rather than applied to it.

Finish is a second decision on top of material. Surfaces can be fire-rated or anti-graffiti where the building or the use calls for it, and shape is open: the design team will work to a custom profile rather than a rectangle if the wall asks for one. The practical move is to tell the designer what the space has to feel like and how long the sign has to last, and let the material follow from that.

Four numbers behind a lobby sign

What the Antioch shop brings to a reception area

These are the production facts behind the choice between a dimensional logo, an engraved room sign, etched glass and a printed wall covering.

8 materials

Wood, metal, glass, plastic, acrylic, vinyl, foam HDU and photopolymer, all worked in house.

3 presses

Wall coverings run on an HP FS 60, a Durst P5 and a SwissQprint Kudu, matched to the job.

4 stages

Design, fabrication, painting and install all happen in house in Antioch.

1 manager

One project manager owns the job, so the person who takes your call is accountable for it.

Source: Big Visual Group pages for architectural signage, production and fabrication, and printable wall coverings.

How it mounts is part of the design, not an afterthought

Ask about hardware before the design is signed off. A lobby logo can be stood off the wall on visible standoffs, which reads as deliberate and casts a shadow, or mounted with concealed panel fasteners so no hardware shows at all. Big Visual Group offers concealed fasteners and can honor almost any hardware requirement, either to make the sign more robust or to keep the mount hidden.

That choice only works if the parts are accurate. The letters and panels are cut in house on precision cutting machines held to strict tolerances, which is what lets a hidden mount sit flat against a wall that is rarely perfectly flat itself. If the wall is glass, stone or a specialty panel, say so early: the mounting method, not the logo, is what changes.

The signs in the lobby that are not optional

The branded wall is the part people plan. The regulatory signage is the part that gets added late and then holds up occupancy. Regulatory and ADA signs identify entrances and exits, restrooms, elevators, room numbers, parking spots and crosswalks, and they are a separate line on the order from the logo wall.

Big Visual Group produces regulatory and ADA compliant signs on photopolymer, so the letters and the Braille cannot be removed from the face. The same material and process are covered in detail in the guide to photopolymer ADA signs, and the broader rules are set out in ADA signage requirements.

Where the building is larger than a single suite, the room signs become a system rather than a list, and that is wayfinding and directional signage. The design, engineering and install team tracks current accessible-design specifications, and for new construction they will work to what the architect and the interior designer have already specified. Wayfinding signage in Tennessee goes through how those systems get planned.

Brand color has to survive the jump to the wall

A logo that looks right on a screen can land wrong on an acrylic panel, and in a lobby it sits next to paint, carpet and upholstery that were all specified from the same brand sheet. Big Visual Group is G7 Master certified for color accuracy and can match any Pantone color and most other paint systems, including custom painting done in house.

Getting that match starts with the file. The file submission guidelines ask for CMYK and Pantone Solid Coated values only, with spot colors left unconverted, because the print software reads Pantone Solid Coated fills and that is what holds the accuracy. Custom-named spot colors such as a company blue do not survive the trip. If the lobby is color critical, request an actual material sample or a Catzper color grid before production rather than after install.

Where a lobby sign fits in the schedule

Signage is usually priced from a drawing and installed into a finished room, which is why the site visit matters. The design team conducts an on-site survey, takes photographs and measurements of the space, then makes a recommendation against what you described. For a build-out they will sketch concepts and discuss fabrication options with your construction team directly.

After that the process runs discovery, on-site consultation, concepting and rendering with multiple rounds of refinement, pre-press, then production, through concepting and design and production and fabrication. One sales consultant manages it start to finish, and an online project management service carries the proofs, change requests and approvals, which is covered under consultation and management. The crew that hangs it has installed signs and graphics on floors, ceilings, buildings and buses, through installation and fulfillment.

If the lobby is one room inside a larger move, the sequencing question is worth reading on its own: environmental branding for a Nashville office fit-out covers what the general contractor and the landlord each need to see, and architectural signage in Nashville covers how a whole program gets planned, designed and fabricated.

When the wall itself is the sign

Some lobbies do not want an object on the wall. They want the wall. Printed wall coverings cover the full surface, and the work is unforgiving: color has to hold across every drop, panels have to align on walls that are rarely square, and the finish has to survive a commercial corridor for years.

Big Visual Group is an authorized member of the DreamScape Print Provider Network, which means printable wall coverings are produced on DreamScape’s media. Production runs across three large-format platforms, an HP FS 60, a Durst P5 and a SwissQprint Kudu, so the press is matched to the project instead of every job going through one machine. For smaller areas, interior signage trends for corporate offices covers the lighter treatments, and custom window graphics covers the glass at street level.

What to send when you ask for a lobby sign quote

Six things move a lobby sign from a conversation to a drawing.

The wall dimensions, and what the wall is made of.
A photograph of the space from where a visitor enters it.
The logo as vector artwork, with the Pantone Solid Coated values.
Whether you want visible standoffs or concealed hardware.
Whether anything needs to be illuminated.
The date the room is finished and the date you need the sign up.

Templates and the file guidelines cover how to set the files up, and finished art goes through file submit. Big Visual Group designs, fabricates, paints and installs from 5764 Crossings Blvd in Antioch, southeast of downtown Nashville, Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm. Request a quote or call 615-731-3700.

Frequently asked questions

What materials are lobby signs made from?

Architectural signage here is built from eight materials: wood, metal, glass, plastic, acrylic, vinyl, foam HDU and photopolymer. Finishes can be fire-rated or anti-graffiti where the building calls for it, and the design team recommends the material based on the look you want and how long the sign has to last.

Does a lobby need ADA signage as well as a logo wall?

Usually yes. Regulatory and ADA signs identify restrooms, elevators, room numbers, entrances and exits, and they are a separate item from the branded logo wall behind the reception desk. They are produced on photopolymer so the letters and the Braille cannot be removed from the face.

Can a lobby logo be mounted without visible hardware?

Yes. Concealed panel fasteners are offered, and almost any hardware requirement can be honored, either to make the sign more robust or to keep the mount hidden. The parts are cut in house on precision cutting machines held to strict tolerances, which is what lets a hidden mount sit flat against the wall.

Will the sign match our brand color exactly?

Big Visual Group is G7 Master certified for color accuracy and can match any Pantone color and most other paint systems. Send artwork in CMYK and Pantone Solid Coated values with spot colors unconverted, and for a color-critical lobby ask for an actual material sample or a Catzper color grid before production.

Start with the wall, not the logo

The lobby order that goes smoothly is the one that starts with a measurement, a photograph and a mounting surface. Material, hardware, illumination and the question of whether the sign hangs on the wall or becomes the wall all follow from those three answers. The artwork is the easy part, and it should be the last part.