Frequently asked questions

Less than most teams expect, if it is planned. We sequence installation by floor or department, work off-hours where noise or access requires it, and keep temporary identification in place so nothing is unsigned during the changeover. Most interior sign installation is quiet work with hand tools, and a typical floor can be completed without moving anyone.

Yes, and it is one of the most useful tools in a workplace. Frosted, gradient, and patterned films give conference rooms and offices privacy while carrying the brand's pattern language, and they satisfy the visibility markings that glass walls require for safety. The film is designed to the glass elevations, produced to fit each panel, and installed after the glazing is complete.

By putting the organization's values, history, and voice on the surfaces people see every day — the arrival, the collaboration spaces, the corridors between them. Done well it reads as belonging to the architecture, not as marketing on the walls. We design workplace graphics as a system with a permanent layer and a changeable one, so the space can carry a new message or a new team without a rebuild.

For people moving fast in groups, reading at a distance, and deciding at every portal. Large-format section and level identification, overhead directionals visible above a crowd, a color and numbering system that survives a quick glance, and exit routes that are legible under event lighting all matter more than in any other building type. We test sightlines in the venue and mock up critical signs at full size before fabrication.

Yes. Sponsorship deals close late and the opening date does not move, so the package has to be designed, engineered, fabricated, and installed in a fraction of the time a normal scope would get. At Moody Center that meant working through design iterations with Gensler, navigating approvals across the architect, contractor, operator, promoter, and university at once, and mobilizing our full fabrication and installation capacity to meet the opening night.

Yes. Unit identification, amenity rooms, and common-area signage in multifamily buildings are permanent room signage under the ADA Standards and, in most jurisdictions, Fair Housing accessibility rules. Tactile characters, braille, contrast, and mounting are all required, and they can be met within a design that suits the property. We check the code during design so the signs you approve are already compliant.

An entrance identity, usually a monument; vehicular and pedestrian wayfinding through the site; building and unit identification, which carries ADA requirements; amenity identification; parking and regulatory signage; and often leasing and branded graphics in the arrival sequence. The identity sets the tone of the property before anyone reaches the door, and the wayfinding decides whether a guest, a delivery, or an emergency responder can find a unit.

Yes. The design and documentation can cover the whole program while fabrication and installation are phased by priority — code-required and wayfinding signage first, identity and recognition as funding allows. Because the standard is set in the first phase, later phases match without redesign, and a capital campaign can fund a named element on its own schedule.

As part of telling the mission, not as a list of names. The most effective recognition explains what the giving built and invites the next gift, so we design the wall together with the story of the organization — its history, its impact, its people — and give the names a place within it. The system is built to grow with future campaigns, and the plate specification is documented so additions match years later.

By giving the shared spaces a system of their own. Retail, office, residential, and hospitality uses each need their own identification, but the arrival, the parking, the public routes, and the district identity belong to the whole project. Waterline holds a hotel, an office tower, residences, and public space in one 74-story landmark, and the approximately 5,500 signs across those four environments were designed as one program so the building reads as one address.

We write them. A tenant sign criteria document sets the allowable sign types, sizes, illumination, mounting, and approval process for every retail and restaurant tenant in the project, so the development keeps one identity while each tenant keeps theirs. It also gives the landlord a standard to enforce and the tenant's own sign company a clear set of rules, which shortens approvals for everyone.

Closely, and early. In hospitality the signage shares surfaces with millwork, wallcovering, art, and lighting, so we work from the interior designer's finish schedule and FF&E package, coordinate mounting with the trades, and build samples in the actual finishes. At 1 Hotel Austin within Waterline, 252 hotel room signs were designed to the interior's natural-materials palette rather than as a separate product.

Yes. Guest room identification is permanent room signage under the ADA Standards, so it needs raised tactile characters, Grade 2 braille, proper contrast, and correct mounting at the latch side of the door. That is compatible with a distinctive design — material, form, and finish are open — as long as the tactile and braille requirements are met. We design the room sign as part of the brand and check the code in the same drawing.

Yes. Flagged hotels arrive with brand standards manuals, and independent properties arrive with an identity that has to be built into the space. In both cases we design within the standard where it applies, extend it where it is silent — wayfinding, amenity identification, regulatory signage — and coordinate with the interior designer so the signage reads as part of the guest experience rather than as a requirement bolted onto it.

In phases, department by department, on a schedule set with the facility. Our installers work under the hospital's infection-control and access rules, off-hours where patient areas require it, and with temporary wayfinding in place so no route is ever unsigned. Each phase is inspected and closed out before the next begins, which keeps the disruption small and the program on schedule.

Yes, if the materials are chosen for it. Non-porous substrates, sealed edges, finishes rated for hospital-grade disinfectants, and tactile elements that do not trap residue are all specified during design. We ask facilities and infection-control teams which cleaning products they use before finishes are selected, and we test samples against them, so the signs still look right after years of daily cleaning.

The people reading it. Patients and families are often stressed, unfamiliar with the building, and moving under time pressure, so the wayfinding has to work for someone who is not paying full attention. On top of that sit code requirements, infection-control expectations for materials, and the reality that a hospital never closes for installation. We design for all of it, and we have replaced signage across 16 hospitals for Medical City Healthcare while the facilities operated.

Yes. Donor walls, named-space plaques, halls of fame, championship displays, and athletic branding are a natural part of campus programs, and they benefit from being designed within the same standards as the wayfinding so the campus does not end up with a different visual language in every building. We design the recognition system to grow with future campaigns and document the plate specifications so additions match.

Yes, with planning. Most campus programs are phased around the academic calendar — exterior and public-space work in summer, interior building work during breaks, and smaller scopes on nights and weekends. We schedule around access, noise, and safety requirements set by the institution and coordinate with facilities so classrooms and routes stay usable throughout.

As one system applied over years. A campus rarely resigns everything at once, so we develop a standards package — sign types, materials, nomenclature, and placement rules — that new buildings and renovations can be held to as they come online. The result is a campus that reads as one institution even when its buildings span a century, and a facilities team that can order the same sign in ten years and get the same sign.

Signage should be in the drawings before the TI is bid, so wall backing, power for illuminated elements, and glass film are coordinated with the trades rather than discovered at the end. Fabrication overlaps with construction, and installation lands in the final weeks after paint and millwork. Brought in late, signage becomes the last item on the punch list and the first thing a tenant sees. Brought in early, it is simply finished when the space is.

It depends on how often it changes and who maintains it. A digital directory suits buildings with frequent tenant turnover and a management team that will keep the content current. A static directory with changeable inserts suits buildings where the roster is stable and the architecture calls for a permanent material. Many Class AA lobbies do both: a permanent architectural element for identity, and a screen for the roster.

With a standard that belongs to the building, not to any one tenant. We design a suite identification and directory system with fixed materials, sizes, and mounting, then document tenant sign criteria so every new occupant's identity can be added within it. Property management gets a system that stays consistent through lease turnover, and tenants get a clear path to being on the building without negotiating the design each time.

By treating accessibility as the baseline rather than a compliance layer. That means ADA and local accessibility standards designed in from the first drawing, multilingual messaging where the community calls for it, high-contrast and large-format identification, and a nomenclature simple enough that someone under stress, in a hurry, or new to the language can follow it. A civic building that is easy to navigate for everyone is easier to run.

Yes. Public work brings bid documentation, prevailing-wage and insurance requirements, submittal and inspection processes, and sometimes domestic-sourcing conditions on materials. We design and document to those requirements from the start, and we match fabrication — domestic and international, from our own shop and from specialist partners — to what the project specifies rather than to what is convenient.

Yes, and it is a large share of our work. A retrofit starts with an audit of what is there, what is missing, and what contradicts itself, then a program that can be installed in phases without closing the building. Medical City Healthcare replaced signage across 16 hospitals and multiple clinics this way, each site coordinated through its own municipal permitting process while the facilities stayed open.

By designing from the decision points, not from the floor plan. We walk the routes a first-time visitor would take, identify every point where they have to choose, and place exactly the information needed there and no more. Full-size mockups are installed at critical locations before fabrication, so message size, mounting height, and sightlines are tested in the real space rather than assumed on paper.

An analysis of how people move through the building and where they make decisions; a nomenclature and numbering system; a family of sign types from exterior identification through directories, directionals, room identification, and regulatory signage; a message schedule listing every sign and what it says; and location plans showing where each one goes. The signs themselves are the last and most visible part. The system is what makes them work together.

By engineering them as building elements, not artwork. Sun, water, wind load, vandalism, and cleaning all get designed for — material selection, finishes rated for exterior exposure, structural attachment, drainage, and access for maintenance. Our in-house engineering team reviews the concept before it is fabricated, and we build samples of any finish that has to survive outside, because the difference between a ten-year installation and a two-year one is almost always in the details no one sees.

Developers and property owners establishing a new district or destination, cities and public agencies activating civic space, venues and campuses building identity into the arrival experience, and institutions marking a founding moment. At Moody Center the commemorative plaque of Matthew McConaughey's original napkin sketch is a small example: authentic Austin storytelling built into the building rather than hung on it.

Placemaking is the deliberate design of a space so that people recognize it, gather in it, and remember it — through art installations, large-scale graphics, sculptural identity elements, lighting, and the moments along a route where a building or district reveals what it is about. It overlaps with public art and with signage but is neither one on its own. The measure of success is whether people describe the place by name and meet each other there.

They should. For most visitors the garage is the first interior they see, and a well-designed level system — color, large-scale numerals, supergraphics on columns and walls — does double duty as orientation and as the first expression of the property's identity. It also has a practical benefit: people remember a color and a large numeral far better than a small sign, which means fewer lost cars and fewer calls to the front desk.

Yes. Garages carry ADA requirements at accessible stalls, elevators, and stairs; fire and life-safety signage at exits and standpipes; clearance signage at every entry; and municipal requirements that vary by city. We fold all of it into the same program as the wayfinding so it is designed once, documented once, and installed in one mobilization rather than as a punch-list item at the end.

Entry and clearance signage, level identification, vehicular directionals, regulatory and life-safety signage, pedestrian wayfinding to and from elevator lobbies and stairs, and the color, numbering, and supergraphic system that ties the levels together so a driver can find the car again. The package is designed as a sequence of decisions made in motion, which is why a garage cannot simply reuse the building's interior sign types at a larger size.

It depends less on fabrication than on three things around it: permit review, the foundation and site work, and the availability of the material. Natural stone and custom castings carry lead times that fabricated metal does not. Because a monument usually sits in a landscape and needs power, we coordinate with the civil, landscape, and electrical scopes so the foundation is poured and the conduit is in place before the sign arrives on site.

Yes. Height, sign area, setback from the property line, sight-line triangles at drives, and illumination are all regulated, and the rules differ between cities and sometimes between zoning districts in the same city. We check the code before concept design so the monument you approve is one that can be permitted, and we manage the permit and any engineering the jurisdiction requires.

Stone, cast concrete, brick, fabricated aluminum, and steel, usually with dimensional or illuminated letters and often with landscape and lighting designed around them. The material should come from the architecture it introduces. At Waterline the monument is a 12,000-pound piece of limestone because the tower's ground floor is limestone; a glass office campus would call for something else entirely.

Almost always with LEDs, either behind a translucent face, from behind the letter as a halo against the wall, or both. Non-illuminated letters can be lit externally by the building's own fixtures. Illumination decides the letter construction, the depth, and the electrical coordination with the building, so it is settled in design — not added to a letter after it has been drawn.

Yes. Exterior signage is governed by the municipal sign code, and often by landlord or district criteria on top of it — allowable area, height, illumination, and placement. We review those constraints during design, prepare the permit drawings, provide engineering where a jurisdiction requires it, and manage the submission. Permit review time varies by city and is usually the longest single item in an exterior schedule, so we start it early.

Face-lit and halo-lit channel letters, reverse-lit letters, flat-cut and fabricated dimensional letters, pin-mounted letters, cabinet signs, and custom logo forms in aluminum, stainless steel, acrylic, and combinations of them. The right type depends on the building's material, the viewing distance, the lighting conditions at night, and what the landlord or city allows. We design to those conditions first and choose the construction second.

Yes. Large-format printed graphics, painted murals, dimensional wall elements, glass film, and applied patterns are all part of the discipline, and often they do more for a space than a sign does. We design them to the architecture, specify materials that hold up to the building's use and cleaning regime, and coordinate the installation with the finish trades so the graphic goes on a surface that is ready for it.

During design development, alongside the architecture and interiors. That is when wall surfaces, glass, ceilings, and lighting are still open decisions, and it is when a graphic element can be built into the architecture rather than applied to it afterward. Programs that begin at construction documents can still succeed, but the options narrow to what the finished surfaces allow.

Signage is one output of environmental graphic design. The discipline also covers the things that are not signs at all — wall graphics, glass film, dimensional elements, murals, material and color decisions, and the placement of identity within architecture — and it treats all of them, signs included, as one system developed against the same decisions about hierarchy and movement. A signage package tells people where to go. An environmental graphics program also tells them where they are and who the place belongs to.

Yes. A screen or touch display can sit within a permanent wall to carry stories, campaign progress, and recognition that changes too often to fabricate. The question to settle early is who maintains the content, because a digital wall with stale content undermines the permanent one beside it. We design the hardware, the enclosure, and the physical integration, and we help specify the content system so the two layers work together.

Metal, glass, acrylic, wood, and stone are the most common, often in combination, with dimensional letters, etched or printed graphics, and integrated lighting. The choice follows the architecture and the tone of the institution — a children's hospital and a university library call for different materials even when the gift levels are the same. We build samples before fabrication so the finish decisions are made on real material, not renderings.

By designing the wall as a system with room to grow. Names are carried on individual plates, tiles, or panels that mount to a base structure, so a new gift means a new element rather than a rebuild. We plan the layout for the campaign you expect, not only the one you have, and we document the plate specification so additions match years later. For programs that change often, a digital component can carry the most current recognition alongside the permanent one.

Current floor plans and elevations, the brand standards you have, and a conversation about how the building will be used. If the project is under construction, the architectural drawing set and the schedule matter most. If it is an existing building, a site walk with us usually replaces a lot of documentation. Everything else — nomenclature, sign counts, material preferences — comes out of the programming phase, so you do not need to have answers before we start.

Yes. Design-only engagements end with a complete documentation package — sign type drawings, message schedule, location plans, and specifications — that can be bid and built by others, which is common on public projects and on programs with an existing fabrication relationship. We can also stay involved through shop-drawing review and installation inspection so the intent survives the handoff.

Programming, concept design, design development, and construction documentation, in that order. Programming establishes what the building needs to say and where — the sign types, the message schedule, the location plans. Concept design sets the visual direction. Design development resolves materials, dimensions, and code. Construction documents are the drawings a fabricator can build from and a jurisdiction can permit from. Each phase closes with a review and approval, so nothing reaches fabrication that you have not already seen.

With a documented standard. For multi-site programs we produce a signage and graphics standards package — sign types, materials, finishes, typography, message rules, and mounting details — that any location can be built from, whether by our own shop or by a fabrication partner closer to the site. Medical City Healthcare's program spanned 16 hospitals and multiple clinics, each through its own municipal permitting process, and the standards package is what kept the result consistent.

Yes, if it is designed for that from the start. We separate the permanent layer — architectural elements, dimensional letters, base systems — from the changeable layer, such as printed graphics, glass film, inserts, and digital content. When a message or a sub-brand changes, only the changeable layer is replaced, on the same mounting system, without rework to the building. Tell us early which elements you expect to change and how often, and the system will be built to accommodate it.

A branded environment is a space designed so that the organization inside it is visible in the architecture — through graphics, materials, dimensional elements, lighting, and signage that work as one system rather than as decoration added at the end. A logo on the lobby wall is a sign. A branded environment is the lobby, the corridors, the meeting rooms, and the exterior arrival all saying the same thing in the same voice.

Yes, and most of our projects run that way. Architects and interior designers set the intent for a space; we design the signage and graphics to belong to it, then take responsibility for what the drawings do not settle — engineering, code, mounting conditions, fabrication, and installation. On Moody Center, for example, we worked through multiple design iterations with Gensler to make high-concept sign proposals buildable without losing the design integrity the venue demanded.

Earlier than most people do. Signage is often specified near the end, when budget and conditions are fixed and the options have narrowed. Involving us during design lets wayfinding, code requirements, and mounting conditions be resolved in the drawings rather than discovered on site.

Both, plus documentation, permitting, and installation. Some fabrication happens in our own shop and the rest goes to specialist fabricators we have worked with for years, selected for the material. In every case the team that set the design intent stays accountable through installation — a model our founder named the "Creative General Contractor."

Signage is the physical object. Wayfinding is the system of decisions behind it — where information is needed, in what order, and how much of it a person can absorb at a given point. A building can be full of signs and still be difficult to navigate. Wayfinding is what makes the signs work together.

Environmental graphic design is the design of the visual information inside and on a building — wayfinding, identification, regulatory and ADA signage, branded interiors, and experiential installations — developed as one coordinated system rather than as separate pieces. It sits between architecture and graphic design, and it is concerned with how people find their way and what a space communicates about the organization in it.

Yes. Every interior signage program we design meets the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design — raised tactile characters, Grade 2 braille, non-glare finishes, adequate contrast between character and background, and correct mounting height and location at the latch side of the door.

Compliance is a design input for us, not a final check. Permanent room identification, restrooms, elevators, exits, and areas of refuge each carry their own requirements, and the expensive mistakes happen when signage is specified late in a project, against a deadline, by someone reading the standard for the first time. We review code during design and document it in the drawings you approve, so the package that reaches fabrication is already correct — including on projects where a local jurisdiction or inspector applies the standard more strictly than the federal baseline.

ADA rarely arrives on its own. It is usually one requirement inside a larger wayfinding or identification scope, and we design it as part of that system rather than as a separate line item.

Most of our work is done in Texas, including Austin, DFW, Houston and the surrounding areas. However, we have the ability to deliver and install anywhere within the continental U.S. and abroad through our vast network of fabrication and installation partnerships.

Getting started is simple.

1. Connect with our team
Email info@buildingimagegroup.com, call 512-494-1466, or select Get in Touch.

2. Share your project information
To help us understand your project and get started efficiently, provide any available materials, including:

• Project name, location, and address
• Brand guidelines
• Architectural plans
• Landlord signage criteria
• Elevation drawings

Don’t have everything yet? That’s okay. Send us what you have, and our team will help identify what’s needed to move your project forward.

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Building Image Group provides comprehensive architectural signage, environmental graphics, and branded environment solutions. Our services include:

Placemaking & Experiential Art · Exterior Logos & Letters · Parking Garage Signage · Monuments · Environmental Graphic Design · Donor Recognition Walls · Design Services · Branded Environments · Signage & Wayfinding

From concept and design through fabrication and installation, we help create cohesive, functional environments that strengthen identity, guide people through a space, and elevate the overall experience.

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Since 2000, Building Image Group, Inc. (BIG) has been serving clients across the nation as what our founder coined the “Creative General Contractor.”

We combine architectural branding, commercial signage, specialty fabrication, project management and installation to deliver tailored solutions from concept through completion.

Our expertise extends beyond ADA compliance and wayfinding. We work closely with developers, architects, general contractors and design teams to solve complex challenges, preserve design intent and execute custom architectural elements with precision.

At BIG, quality, service, attention to detail and integrity guide every project. We believe in doing the work right, standing behind what we build and creating lasting partnerships with clients who expect exceptional results.

Innovative design. Bespoke fabrication. Exceptional execution. Done right.

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Your Account Executive will advise you of a proposal turnaround time once the initial consultation is complete and all required information has been received and reviewed by our project team.