LED Chan­nel Let­ters For a Nos­tal­gic ​“Neon-Look”

What if you could get the look of neon with­out the tox­ic chem­i­cals and high price tag? Enter LEDs and cus­tom-designed chan­nel letters.

Every­one loves a neon let­ter sign. It’s cool, gives a retro vibe, and is instant­ly eye-catch­ing. But tra­di­tion­al neon signs are also expen­sive, have frag­ile com­po­nents, and poor ener­gy effi­cien­cy. What if you could achieve that same clas­sic ​‘glow’ with­out the tox­ic chem­i­cals or main­te­nance headaches?

Enter LEDs and cus­tom-built chan­nel letters. 

With their ver­sa­til­i­ty, ener­gy effi­cien­cy, and low main­te­nance require­ments, LEDs are the go-to choice replac­ing neon- and flu­o­res­cent-style light­ing for sig­nage. By craft­ing chan­nel let­ters with push-through acrylic, you can mim­ic the glow and look of clas­sic neon tubes. Your designs can even include strate­gi­cal­ly placed line breaks in the mid­lines to add authenticity. 

3 Rea­sons Push-Through Let­ters with LEDs Are a Great Alter­na­tive to Neon

1. Ver­sa­til­i­ty. LED mod­ules can be eas­i­ly cut and installed to suit spe­cif­ic sig­nage require­ments. Plus, you can get cre­ative with col­or. RGBW LEDs give you the abil­i­ty to match your brand col­ors or change them sea­son­al­ly just by adjust­ing the settings. 
2. Ener­gy sav­ings. Neon uses mer­cury and oth­er tox­ic chem­i­cals and has a low light out­put for the amount of pow­er required. LED tech­nol­o­gy offers up to 90% ener­gy sav­ings com­pared to tra­di­tion­al light­ing sources, result­ing in reduced oper­at­ing costs and a green­er foot­print. LEDs pro­duce more light per watt of elec­tric­i­ty than tra­di­tion­al light sources, result­ing in up to 7 times the ener­gy sav­ings com­pared to tra­di­tion­al lighting. 
3. Reduced main­te­nance costs. Neon’s glass tubes are extreme­ly frag­ile and come with high main­te­nance and instal­la­tion costs. LEDs are durable and more cost effi­cient to make, buy, install, and replace. Unlike flu­o­res­cent lamps that require fre­quent re-lam­p­ing, LEDs have a longer lifes­pan (up to 50,000+), min­i­miz­ing main­te­nance efforts and expenses.

“Neon-Look­ing” LED Chan­nel Let­ter Signs in Action

We know see­ing is believ­ing, so here are two great exam­ples of push-through acrylic tak­ing the place of neon in chan­nel let­ter signs:

1. Pick­le Palace. Pick­le Palace boasts 37,000 square feet of indoor and out­door pick­le­ball courts, duck­pin bowl­ing, a rooftop pub, restau­rant, and event spaces. The developer’s vision of a bold and whim­si­cal brand was brought to life with sky­line-defin­ing sig­nage and quirky inte­ri­or details. The LED illu­mi­nat­ed scaf­fold sign tow­er­ing above the rooftop con­sists of 42” tall chan­nel let­ters with push-through acrylic. The col­or-chang­ing sig­nage rede­fines the Cedar Rapids sky­line and instant­ly estab­lish­es brand pres­ence. Inside, 36″ ceil­ing-mount­ed open chan­nel let­ters with exposed incan­des­cent LED bulbs give a vin­tage vibe to the duck­pin bowl­ing area.
   Learn more about Pick­le Palace.

2. Kingston Yard. The archi­tects of the urban devel­op­ment want­ed to use a park­ing garage to attract peo­ple to the area with a bold, icon­ic land­mark sign, draw­ing on Kansas City Pow­er & Light Dis­trict and Seattle’s Pike Place Mar­ket sig­nage as ref­er­ences. Six-foot-tall red let­ters craft­ed with rout­ed push-through acrylic mid­lines mim­ic the glow and look of clas­sic neon tubes, with line breaks in the mid­lines to add to the retro neon vibe. The sign is visu­al­ly strik­ing from a great dis­tance, and it’s also durable and low-main­te­nance. Check out the pho­tos in this blog; more on this project is com­ing soon.

Like This Idea?

We’re excit­ed to bring more ener­gy- and cost-effi­cient push-through acrylic chan­nel let­ter signs to life. Reach out to us at connect@​latitudesignage.​com to start dis­cussing your sig­nage project.