Cre­at­ing an Envi­ron­ment & Enhanc­ing a Land­mark With Signage

When Com­mu­ni­ty State Bank (CSB) pre­pared to open its new head­quar­ters in Anke­ny, Iowa, they envi­sioned a cohe­sive brand envi­ron­ment that sig­naled sta­bil­i­ty and growth. Led by owner’s rep­re­sen­ta­tive Tay­lor REP and a mar­ket­ing and com­mu­ni­ca­tions team with a clear aes­thet­ic vision, the project required a part­ner capa­ble of trans­lat­ing high-lev­el design con­cepts into struc­tur­al real­i­ty. Lat­i­tude became their design-build sig­nage part­ner, man­ag­ing the plan­ning, design, man­u­fac­tur­ing, and instal­la­tion of a turnkey sig­nage package.

The Design-Build Impact

Tay­lor REP select­ed Lat­i­tude for this project because they were con­fi­dent the design-build approach would lend well to col­lab­o­ra­tion with CSB’s inter­nal mar­ket­ing team. They brought strong ideas to the table, which our sig­nage experts were able to devel­op into con­cep­tu­al designs, then pro­duc­tion-ready drawings.

By involv­ing Lat­i­tude a full year before the grand open­ing, CSB was able to offload much of the heavy lift­ing around sig­nage, includ­ing man­ag­ing the time­line and com­mu­ni­cat­ing with oth­er partners.

The Chal­lenge: High-Stakes Exe­cu­tion Calls for Close Collaboration

The CSB head­quar­ters fea­tures a mod­ern archi­tec­tur­al design with exten­sive glass mul­lions and open atri­ums. The sig­nage need­ed to be both func­tion­al and seam­less­ly inte­grat­ed with the building’s over­all design, incor­po­rat­ing cus­tom expe­ri­en­tial graph­ics and sig­nage that would cre­ate visu­al inter­est and spark conversation. 

Exte­ri­or Signage

• Two fab­ri­cat­ed logos on cur­tain walls: Engi­neer­ing and installing 63” (h) and 83” (h) fab­ri­cat­ed logos direct­ly onto the building’s glass mul­lions called for intense col­lab­o­ra­tion with Gra­ham Con­struc­tion (the gen­er­al con­trac­tor) and site elec­tri­cians to ensure struc­tur­al integri­ty and seam­less pow­er inte­gra­tion. Togeth­er, we designed pre­cise shop draw­ings indi­cat­ing where the elec­tri­cal team need­ed to pen­e­trate the mul­lions. The signs con­sist of 5” deep chan­nel let­ters with 3÷16” thick white poly­car­bon­ate with translu­cent dig­i­tal­ly print­ed vinyl to match. The logos are mount­ed to the mul­lions with knife plates, and race­way tubes are placed strate­gi­cal­ly for elec­tri­cal wiring.

• Two cus­tom mon­u­ment signs and direc­tion­al wayfind­ing: CSB want­ed all exte­ri­or sig­nage to extend the building’s archi­tec­tur­al aes­thet­ic. Wrap­ping the 32” tall mon­u­ment bases with the same wood cladding used on the building’s exte­ri­or accents pro­vid­ed a strong foun­da­tion for a cohe­sive cam­pus feel. The 46” (h) logo is 4” deep and is both face and halo-lit, while the 3” deep ​“Com­mu­ni­ty State Bank” let­ters are back lit.

Inte­ri­or Signage

• Cus­tom-designed ADA room iden­ti­fi­ca­tion sig­nage: With the design-build approach to sig­nage, even the most func­tion­al signs (restrooms, room num­bers, exit signs) can feel like a curat­ed part of the inte­ri­or design. These signs uti­lize tac­tile let­ter­ing and Braille with cus­tom fin­ish­es that match the bank’s inte­ri­or col­or palette. Using build­ing plans, sig­nage and loca­tions are mapped out based on ADA and code for the clien­t’s review before instal­la­tion. Alto­geth­er, 233 signs with tac­tile let­ters and Braille were created.

• Illu­mi­nat­ed signs: Wel­com­ing vis­i­tors as soon as they walk in the door, a mar­quee-style sign reads ​“Com­mu­ni­ty.” For the main con­fer­ence room, the CSB team want­ed their mantra, ​“Expect Great Things,” to be vis­i­ble to the Anke­ny com­mu­ni­ty from out­side the build­ing at night. Coor­di­nat­ing with elec­tri­cians and the gen­er­al con­trac­tor months in advance ensured the pre-wiring was inte­grat­ed into the closed-in con­struc­tion prop­er­ly. This ear­ly involve­ment elim­i­nat­ed the risk of exposed wires or sur­face-mount­ed con­duit that would have ruined the clean aesthetic.

• Ghost logo: On the sec­ond floor, a cus­tom alu­minum logo paint­ed the exact same col­or as the wall pro­vides a sophis­ti­cat­ed, sub­tle brand­ing moment that relies on shad­ows and depth rather than col­or. ​“Ghost” signs are becom­ing a favorite for high-end archi­tec­tur­al envi­ron­ments due to their subtlety.

• Board­room mill­work logo: A cus­tom mill­work logo for the main board­room was fab­ri­cat­ed with the same wood species and fin­ish as the board­room furniture.

Cus­tom Graph­ic Signage

• Anke­ny and Des Moines sky­line murals: Mas­sive vinyl wall graph­ics — each 120 ½” tall and 358” long — on the sec­ond floor fea­ture the Anke­ny and Des Moines sky­lines and mean­ing­ful quotes.

• Cus­tom pri­va­cy vinyl: The new head­quar­ters fea­ture many glass walls and doors, and pri­va­cy is a func­tion­al neces­si­ty for the bank. Rather than sim­ple frost­ed blocks, flu­id lines mim­ic­k­ing com­mon CSB graph­ic ele­ments mixed with clear glass stripes pro­vide the nec­es­sary pri­va­cy for sen­si­tive client meet­ings while main­tain­ing the open, light-filled atmos­phere of the building.

The Result: Design-Build Wins Again

In total, 339 signs were designed, fab­ri­cat­ed, and installed at the new CSB head­quar­ters. By start­ing the plan­ning process a year in advance, the bank was able to min­i­mize risk and col­lab­o­rate with Lat­i­tude on signage.

Man­ag­ing the mov­ing parts between the elec­tri­cians, the GC, and oth­er part­ners allowed us to exe­cute a com­pre­hen­sive sig­nage pack­age for CSB.

Have ques­tions about this project? Reach out to us at connect@​latitudesignage.​com.

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