Featured Project: A Fine Sign to Anchor a Building

Stow, Ohio-based Mactac, a manufacturer of pressure sensitive films, recently had its film used by Lexington Park, Maryland’s Barefoot Graphics, a full-service printing and graphics firm, who was hired to install interior window graphics at the Naval Air Warfare Center in Patuxent River, Maryland.

According to Mactac, the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division had changed its logo a few times over the years, but it wanted to find a way to solidify its brand identity by settling on a new logo and installing it on the front of their Patuxent River headquarters.

The Naval Air Warfare Center hired Barefoot Graphics to install the new sign on the front entrance of its building, which is three stories high and features floor-to-ceiling windows.

Barefoot Graphics suggested installing the media on the inside of the windows so the graphics could be visible both inside and outside the building. Because Barefoot Graphics doesn’t have a printer that can print white ink, they recommended installing a white translucent film behind the clear media to provide the white color to the graphic.

After considering several options, Barefoot Graphics owner Josh Frauenfelder selected Mactac’s IMAGin B-free Clear Window Film. B-free Clear Window Film is known for its ability to apply quickly and easily while eliminating any graphic wrinkling or bubbling, which was important for this installation since employees who worked on the second and third floors of the center would see the graphic up close. In addition, B-free Clear Window Film can be installed dry, which allowed the logo to be installed with no mess and virtually no disruption to the Naval Air Warfare Center’s employees, the company says.

The finished graphic was 33′ x 27 ½’, reverse-printed and installed with a butt seam. Barefoot Graphics had to build custom scaffolding for the project since the building had its own scaffolding structure in front of the windows. The installation took 16 hours to complete.

“The customer was ecstatic,” Frauenfelder says. “The admiral was very pleased, employees were amazed by the graphic and it brought immediate recognition to their division building location. It looks very natural, almost like stained glass instead of a decal.”