Lend a Hand Award

Cheryl Long O’Donnell, and the Visual Communications team, was recently recognized by the Midway Chamber of Commerce for their volunteerism. This new award, the Midway on the Fairway ‘Lend a Hand’ award, recognizes hard working volunteers and will be given out each year starting in 2011. We are thankful to be recognized for our hard work and look forward to remaining active in the Midway Chamber of Commerce. We have found our involvement in this group to be most rewarding.

Skyline Parkway...The signs they are a-changin'

For well over a century, Skyline Parkway (or Rogers Boulevard, as it was originally known) has been a popular attraction for tourists and Duluth residents alike. All they have to do is find it — and try to stay on it. “It doesn’t always follow the main routes. It twists and turns,” said Laura Stahl, who got lost on her initial hunt for the roadway when she first moved to the area a dozen years ago and still has trouble finding it. “Some parts of Skyline are so bad you wonder, ‘Is this really where I’m supposed to be?’” More about Visual Communicatons' design: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/199151/

United Hospital Interior Signs Featured in TwinCities.com

Congratulations to Allina United Hospital who just opened the Peter J. King Emergency Center through an extensive addition to the facility. Visual Communications designed the interior sign system throughout the hospital and are proud of the signs featured in this article.

Lost? Historic Skyline Parkway Will Soon Have Signs

http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/Cant-Find-Your-Way-Skyline-Parkway-Will-Soon-Have-Signs-118624899.html

WDIO.com Suggestions Wanted: New Signs for Skyline Parkway

http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/S2034648.shtml?cat=10335

The Hang of It: A Century of Stories

by Steve Aust

Visual Communications and Archetype sign help a community college celebrate its centennial

From medieval times, when warring clans used animal blood and vegetable dyes to decorate flags before heading into battle, banners have served as a visual-communication. They’ve perpetually loomed as a cornerstone for signshops that emphasize vinyl fabrication. According to the 2009 Commercial State of the Industry Report (see ST, August 2010, page 62), 92.8% of shops that produce non-electric signs fabricate banners, and banners represent 19.9% of all commercial sign sales (among high-volume shops that gross more than $500,000 of sales annually, that percentage grows to 23.8%). Ever-improving materials, inks, RIPs and color profiles have enabled providers to deliver more vivid, crisp prints that can be installed in more varied environments.

Sure, there will always be a market for 4 x 8-ft. “Sale Today” or “Grand Opening” banners designed with black, Helvetica letters. Such a job’s price point is simply what fits some customers’ modest bottom lines. However, some customers thankfully take the maxim, “A business with no sign is a sign of no business,” to a higher level with dynamic, soft-sided signage – often well integrated with broader environmental-graphic programs that feature signage, wayfinding and other signage elements.

Visual Communications (St. Paul, MN) created a banner and signage more

Major renovation and expansion in 2008

Hennepin County Medical Center is in the midst of an $80 million renovation and expansion of its downtown Minneapolis hospital and community clinics.

Inpatient capacity and critical care are the first areas of need to be addressed with the construction of a new observation and recovery unit and all new intensive care units in 2008.

The new 5,500 square foot, 15-bed outpatient observation unit opened this spring on Red 5 for patients who need to be observed for conditions including chest pain and following interventional procedures. This will, in effect, add 16 medical/surgical beds by freeing beds that were used for
observation and former Cardiac Short Stay unit rooms.

This fall, the first phase of the new 60,000 square foot, 48-bed critical care floor and intensive care units will open. This will replace the medical and surgical intensive care units and feature the latest technology and patient and family amenities. Twelve additional rooms will be available
in the current MICU 1.

Two new clinics will serve the growing primary care needs in the community. A purchase agreement has been signed on a block north of Lake Street in the Whittier Neighborhood for a clinic to replace Family Medical Center, which is currently over capacity. Sites are also being reviewed for a new clinic in Brooklyn Park. The first phase of the master facility plan also includes purchasing land for a new outpatient clinic and education facility in downtown Minneapolis.

Other recent improvements at the medical center include renovation of existing inpatient psychiatric
units, including the addition of 15 new inpatient psychiatry beds; renovation of the inpatient
Pediatrics unit; construction of a new express care team center in the Emergency Department; and
renovation and expansion of the mental health crisis center.

Signs of the times

New signs are being installed around campus over the next eight weeks. More than 25 new signs will be installed as part of an exterior signage plan created to help patients, families, and visitors get to where they are going. There will be new entrance signs, traffic control signs, and landmark campus signs. Some will replace current signs and others will be new. Along with improving wayfinding by helping people get to the right main entrance, the new signs will have the updated logo and address information and increase the general visibility of the hospital to the thousands of people who drive by and walk through the campus every day.

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