July 16, 2020

Egham based Signbox overcame a range of challenges to deliver a branded transformation for its client IAG…

IAG, International Airlines Group, is among the world’s largest airlines conglomerates and parent to several leading UK airlines including British Airways. The organisation recently underwent a rebrand, that included its cargo operations. Egham based Signbox had its tender to roll out a world-class signage and branded ambient decor scheme across the group’s workspaces at Heathrow and in Dublin and Madrid accepted.

Signbox is no stranger to transforming spaces and places. The company is founded on competencies in architecturally-led design and is among the longest established signing and graphics designers and manufacturers in the UK. Design and engineering excellence, and the interplay between truly aspirational signage and the environments it transforms define the works that Signbox delivers to its international clientele.

When confronted with tired workspaces, the implied need is to bring them to life. The explicit requirement in any brief directing the intended effort is that the works reflect and help amplify the client’s brand and values without straying into the realms of the gratuitous or indulgent. Satisfying those needs at scale requires a deliberate approach that’s bound by robust processes, and yet able to leverage creative intuition.

The works that Signbox has delivered in the thirty years or so that it has been practicing speak as much for the company’s reputation as they do for the interests of the company’s clientele. Its work for IAG continues in the same light.

In delivering the IAG project, the Signbox team met and overcame many challenges. Much of the work delivered was ‘air-side’ and so subject in terms of access to very strictly policed and enforced security measures. Work at extremes of height was required to install newly branded external signage and the prevailing weather was far from cooperative with the ‘Beast from The East’ sinking its teeth into anyone operating outside. With a scant, seven week window available to deliver the finished project, time too had its say in the run of events delivering the Heathrow elements of the project, and the management of the Signbox teams abroad.

As the installation clearly illustrates though, the plan came together. Manifestation elements both ground and continue the use of colour to punctuate spaces without materially impeding the flow of light to once dreary interior spaces. Impressive external signing towers into the sky and radiates its message and, in places, educates and informs the observer regarding the scale of the operations the signs and graphics identify. Wall graphics abound, but don’t intrude, into reimagined spaces that now promotes human comfort and that radiate the essence of the IAG brand. Taken as a whole, the project fully delivers its designers’ aspirations. It takes IAG’s brand forward and advances the art of the modern, working interior too.

Signbox used Metamark materials in depth across the IAG project. Print receptive Etch effect window films deliver every detail and subtlety intended. Exterior elements were constructed with Metamark MD-Class digital materials and laminates. Internal signing was printed on HP Latex hardware using Metamark MDP-H with proprietary high-tack adhesive ensuring reliable adhesion and consistent colour fidelity across the project.

Transformation that takes a branded asset out of a passing era and forward to a new brand-epoch is a complex matter that requires a cross-disciplined approach if execution is to proceed without impediments to its progress. Having the requisite skills in-house and available to deploy when needed, confers a deep differentiator on Signbox. When capability counts, Signbox is not found wanting.