Light box signs, when one lit panel beats separate letters
Send the artwork and the position
Two things decide a light box quote: what is printed on the face, and where the box is mounted. Send your artwork with a photo of the wall or ceiling position, and we will come back with dimensioned drawings, single or double sided as the position requires, and a firm price.
Send my artworkNo cost, no obligation. If your sign criteria require channel letters rather than a box, we will tell you before you spend anything.
Opening on a fixed date? Check it before you design
A box is faster to build than a set of letters, but outdoors the permit still governs the timeline and that is set by your municipality, not by us.
- ✓Fabrication and shipping runs up to 30 days from drawing approval
- ✓Exterior signage needs a permit; interior boxes usually do not
- ✓A projecting box may face extra rules for overhanging the pavement
- ✓Installation has to be booked, and is not included
Permit timelines are set by your municipality and are outside our control, so treat this as a planning guide rather than a commitment.
Four decisions before you order
The first one is whether a box is the right construction at all.
Light box or channel letters
A light box is one lit panel carrying your whole design. Channel letters are individually fabricated letters with the wall showing through between them, which reads as more considered and is why retail landlords often prefer them. The box is cheaper, simpler to install, and lets you print artwork a bent letter cannot reproduce. Neither is better; they solve different problems.
See the cost and permit trade-off →Single sided or double sided
Flat against a wall, one face is all anyone sees. But a box mounted perpendicular to the wall, or hanging from a ceiling, is read from both directions and needs two printed faces. Corridors, drive-thrus, pickup counters and shopfronts on a street corner are where double sided earns its cost.
Where it hangs changes what it is
Flush to the wall is the standard storefront position. Flag mounted, projecting perpendicular from the facade, catches people walking along the pavement rather than facing it. Ceiling hung works over a counter or a pickup zone. Tell us the position before the size, because the position usually decides the size.
A box still needs a permit outside
Being simpler to build does not make it exempt. Exterior illuminated signage needs a permit in most municipalities regardless of construction, and a projecting box may face additional rules because it overhangs the pavement. Interior boxes over a counter usually skip all of this.
What the permit involves →
