The brief
A multi-location fitness & wellness franchise in the United States was opening a new club and rebuilding its front-of-house experience. The front desk is the first thing a member sees and the place where every visit begins, so the brand wanted the check-in wall to carry the club identity properly — not a flat printed panel, but a genuinely illuminated logo wall that holds up in a bright, heavily glazed gym interior.
Two elements were in scope: an illuminated logo wall behind the front desk, and a set of 3D backlit channel letters marking the entrance to the studio floor. Both had to be built to the same brand standards — one logotype, one colour reference, one minimum clear-space rule — and both had to live in a working gym, where dust, cleaning products and constant foot traffic are part of daily life.
What we built
The front-desk logo was produced as 3D chrome mirror acrylic letters, mounted so the logotype sits proud of the wall surface with a clean backlit glow lifting it clear of the finish. The letterforms were cut from the client’s own vector artwork rather than redrawn, so the proportions stay exactly as the brand team specified.
For the studio floor entry we built a matching set of 3D backlit channel letters in stainless steel with white acrylic faces and a crisp backlit glow. The two walls share one light treatment and one colour temperature, so a member walking from the desk to the studio reads a single, continuous brand.
- Logo letters: 3D chrome mirror acrylic lettering with premium depth and an indoor display finish
- Channel letters: stainless steel returns with white acrylic faces and high-brightness LED backlighting
- Brand plaque: a smaller stainless steel back-lit wall sign with an electroplated finish and precision seamless edges, for the reception counter return
- Illumination: backlit halo treatment using SMD 2835 / 5050 LED modules rated for more than 50,000 hours
- Power supply: MEAN WELL™ constant-current drivers, 12V/24V DC
- Rating: indoor IP20 — correct for a climate-controlled club interior
- Mounting: flush wall mount on concealed stand-offs, supplied with a 1:1 paper template, wiring diagram and installation notes per wall
How the project ran
Signage is a physical product, so the process is deliberately front-loaded. The client supplied the logotype as vector artwork, the brand colour reference and photographs of both walls with rough dimensions. We returned scaled letter layouts drawn onto those photographs so the design team could approve proportion and clear space against the real front desk before anything was cut.
Because the two walls are read from different distances — the logo wall from across the entrance, the studio letters from a few steps away — we specified two letter depths rather than one. Depth is the variable that decides whether illuminated letters look considered or clumsy, and it is far cheaper to change on paper than after fabrication.
A single prototype letter was produced and shipped ahead of the main run for sign-off on the chrome finish and the glow. Once approved, the full sets went into production together so the front desk and the studio entry would be colour-matched from the same LED batch.
Delivery and installation
Each wall was crated separately and labelled, so the fit-out contractor unpacked one crate at one location rather than sorting a mixed shipment on site. Every set shipped with its own 1:1 mounting template, wiring diagram and installation notes, plus the stud bolts, washers and nuts needed for the concealed stand-offs.
The franchise’s own fit-out team carried out the physical install from our drawings, keeping site access and scheduling under their control, with our team available for questions through to commissioning. Both walls were powered up and checked before the club opened to members.
Outcome
One production specification now covers the club’s illuminated identity: the front desk and the studio floor entry read as the same brand, from the same logotype, at the same colour temperature. Because both sets were built from a single set of approved files, the franchise can roll the same specification into its next club opening — or replace a single letter later — without reopening the design.
