Mt Albert Grammar School
New exterior and interior signs reflect the school’s heritage and pride.
Client Background:
Founded in 1922, Mount Albert Grammar School offers a high quality of educational opportunity amidst the strong traditions of one of the oldest and best schools in Auckland.
The Project:
During the initial Sign Audit, Corporate Signage found a series of gold leaf Honours Boards which had had work done on them by various sign companies since the school’s founding in 1922. Lettering sizes and fonts differed between boards and even within the same boards.
Exterior signage was also requested, including two large 3D crests and improvements to wayfinding.
Creative thinking:
Corporate Signage set out to offer the school a far superior finish to the refurbished Honours Boards. This involved developing a careful technique of printing a black outline on gold vinyl and then precision die-cutting the small lettering.
By offering a more efficient layout, the space on each board was maximised. The refurbishment was also an opportunity to amend previous spelling mistakes and inconsistencies. All details were checked by the school archivist and then rechecked by Corporate Signage before being added to the Boards.
Making it happen:
Two crests were created, for opposite ends of the same refurbished school building.
Creating a 3D school crest for the exterior required hand carving a 1.8m high mould, from which a concrete and resin crest was produced. A full size wooden template was also supplied to the building contractors to align with the stainless steel mounting rods.
The other crest, also 1.8m high, started with a hand carved prototype in polystyrene sheet. This enabled a mould to be made in reinforced fibreglass mesh and resin. This was painted to match the school colours, and the details carefully added. Both crests were professionally installed, leaving no visible fixings.
For the school hall interior, existing gold leaf Honours Boards were stripped, re-varnished and gold leafed, with a coat of clear varnish over the completed panels to protect the new text and surface. Existing vinyl Honours Boards were stripped, and then all graphic layouts were revised to achieve better spacing.
Since this project, Corporate Signage has further developed their expertise in gold leaf and hand lettering techniques and has been sought after by schools wanting a superior finish in their signage.
Corporate Signage provides us with outstanding service and product that reflected the school’s values of excellence and quality.
