Gilmore Bank
Project Vision
The Gilmore Bank is an almost fifty-year-old, family-owned, hometown bank in the middle of a city. Moved twice in the past five years, the bank now occupies a street front portion of a new building with an architectural style that is elegant and simple, retaining visual elements from its handsome original building. The design challenge for the exterior graphics and signage was to create a sign visible from a busy street, extend and strengthen its graphic identity, and harmonize with the exterior architecture. The location for the large blade sign was limited to a two-story vertical strip on the street-facing elevation of the three-story building. It could project no more than eight feet, so the letters had to be stacked. The word “bank” is set smaller and horizontally to enhance readability. To compensate for the difference in size, the letters are dark gray against a white background. Another challenge was to enhance the bank’s freestanding ATM kiosk in the middle of a nearby busy parking lot into a handsome and memorable structure. Newsom Design chose to emphasize the bank’s friendly personal service by wrapping the structure with a photograph of the neighborhood people.
Project Details
The degree of simplicity and understated excellence are what make this project an award-winner. The signing harmonized with the architecture, use of materials, and integration of the large letters to the concrete – all exceptional. The color palette and materials usage is consistent throughout. It is a truly elegant solution!
Design Team
Carol Newsom, Lucy Gonzalez
Design Firm
Newsom Design
Fabricators
Neiman & Company, Continental Signs, AAA Flag & Banner