Halo-lit letters and signs create a unique, eye-catching lighting effect that elevates the perceived value of both the sign and what it advertises.
光晕照明发光字可以展现出一种独特的、引人注目的照明效果，提升了整个标识和广告宣传的感知价值。
“We’ve done a lot with LED illumination and a combination rear glow and face glow to stand out from the sea of signs,” says Matt Shrode of Apogee Signs in Tallahassee, Florida. “We try to find other alternatives to be different, and find cool ways to give customers a modern effect.”
佛罗里达塔拉哈西Apogee标识制作公司的马特·施隆德说：“为了能在成千上万的标识中脱颖而出，我们在LED照明技术、标识背面和正面发光的结合方面，已经付出非常多的努力了。我们试图寻找其他与众不同的替代品，以及能带给客户现代感的酷炫方式。”
Halo Design
光晕设计
A good example of this is Apogee’s halo-lit creation for Smashing Olives, a boutique olive oil and vinegar tasting room. This sign is actually a combination of LED and fluorescent lighting in order to stay within the new business’ tight budget. Apogee built it in such a way, however, so that the fluorescent lighting can be easily replaced or upgraded to LED later.
Apogee公司为Smashing Olives制作的光晕标识可以当做一个很好的案例，Smashing Olives是一家精品橄榄油和醋的品尝室。由于新业务的预算有限，因此该标识实际上是由LED照明和荧光照明技术的结合而成。然而，Apogee公司的这种制作方式，使得荧光照明可以很容易地被替换或升级成LED照明形式。
“After the sign was installed, the owner called me at 10 that night and I thought, ‘Oh great; the sign’s not lighting for some reason.’ But she called to say how bright it was,” recalls Shrode. “At first we thought we would have to hook up a dimmer to tone it down, but she called back and said she loved it and not to change it. It’s a traditional cabinet—a hingeable Sign Comp cabinet—and we oversized the face where it gave us a ledge to mount the green LEDs from EGL around the perimeter of the cabinet. The letters are illuminated with fluorescents. We’re building a lot more cabinets with LEDs. It’s become a lot more economical with small and medium cabinets.”
施隆德回忆说：“将该标识安装完成之后，店主当晚10点打电话给我，我想，‘唉，这个标识肯定是由于某种原因不能照明。’但是她说标识非常亮。起初我以为需要连接一个调光器将标识调暗一点，但是她打电话回来说她非常喜欢这个标识，不需要任何改变。这是一个传统的可以连接电脑的灯箱，我们将其表面加大，以便能在其四周突出的部分安装EGL公司的绿色LED，标识上的字母是用日光灯照明的。我们现在大多用LED照明来制作灯箱，这样的话中小型灯箱就会更经济节省。”
Shrode adds that Apogee has been increasingly introducing signs into its market using 1/8” clear polycarbonate as a back plate for lighting on both the front and back of the sign.
施隆德补充道，Apogee公司使用1/8英寸的透明聚碳酸酯采光板作为底板，以照明标识的正面和背面，这种制作方式在标识市场中已经越来越受欢迎了。
“Sometimes we’re able to achieve different color mixes with this method. One of the franchises we work with is Guthrie’s Chicken, where we produced a blue rear wall glow, a red face plate and a secondary rear glow of white,” Shrode says.
施隆德说：“用这种制作方式，我们已经能够实现将不同的颜色混合在一起来达到理想照明效果。与我们合作的其中一个经销商是Guthrie’s Chicken公司，我们为其制作了一个背部发蓝光，在其底部墙板上安装红色的字母、字母背部为白光的标识。”
For halo-lit channel letter signs at Superior Wholesale Signage, Daytona Beach, Florida, the standard configuration is .090 aluminum faces with three-inch deep returns, which are welded to the faces with .063 aluminum and a 3/16” clear Lexan back.
佛罗里达戴托纳海滩Superior Wholesale Signage公司制作光晕照明槽形发光字的标准配置是.090型号的铝型材，表面焊接3英寸厚回程的.063型号铝型材，背部是3/16英寸的透明热塑聚碳酸酯采光板。
“We use an ultra-white bright paint on the inside for greater reflectivity and install LEDs on the clear Lexan back pointing into the letter, not into the wall, and the light bounces off the white surface of the letter. The letters are normally pinned off the fascia about an inch and a half or two inches. We furnish the letter, the installation pattern, UL labeling, the whole nine yards,” says Michael Florio of Superior Wholesale Signage.
Superior Wholesale Signage公司迈克尔·弗洛里奥说：“我们将超白亮漆喷涂在标识内部以达到更强的反射率，然后将LED安装在透明热塑聚碳酸酯采光板背面正对字母的位置，而不是墙壁上，这样就能将字母照射成表面为白色的形式。字母通常被固定在距离地板大约一英寸半或两英寸的位置。我们将九个院子都装上了标识。”
Halo Checklist
光晕选择清单
Of course there are a lot of variations to achieve different effects and color combinations, including animation, though local regulations are likely to restrict how far you can go with it.
尽管地方性法规可能会对发光标识制作有所限制，但是仍然还有多种选择来达到不同的效果和颜色组合，包括动态形式。
“We did some interior casino work where they wanted animation as part of the halo effect, so we used RGB LEDs to achieve that,” says Florio. “You could also have an h-type letter—a channel letter with a center baffle—and on the front side of the baffle you could have blue LEDs and blue faces, for example, and on the other side you could have green LEDs and a clear back for a green halo and a blue letter.”
弗洛里奥说：“我们为一些娱乐场所内部制作标识时，他们想要将动态显示作为光晕效果的一部分，因此我们采用RGB模式的LED来实现该效果。你也可以用一个中间有挡板的h型字母来实现，比如说，在挡板正面安装蓝色LED和蓝色表面，挡板另一面可以安装绿色LED、在绿色光晕的透明底板上安装蓝色字母。”
However the halo effect is produced, there are a number of important considerations that need to be taken into account before the sign is produced. First, halo-lit letters are typically 20 percent or so more expensive than internally illuminated signs, so they’re a great choice for customers looking to distinguish themselves with a high-end look.
然而光晕效果确定之后，在制作整个标识之前还有许多需要考虑的因素。首先，光晕照明发光字通常要比内部照明标识贵20%左右，因此它们对那些想要以高端外观区别于其他标识的客户来说是最佳选择。
The background on which the letters or sign will be installed is also important. If the background is too dark or too shiny (glossy), it could negate the effect you’re trying to create.
字母或标识安装的背景板也是非常重要的。背景板太暗或太亮都会削弱你想要达到的效果。
“A black or very dark wall will absorb a lot of the light, so if you can’t change the background for whatever reason, you can either cut vinyl or an identical set of white letters and install those on the wall behind the letters so the light bounces off the white background,” Florio says.
弗洛里奥说：“黑色或深色墙板会吸收很多光线，所以不管出于什么原因，如果你不能改变背景板的颜色，那么你就只能将剪切贴膜或一组相同的白色字母安装在墙上，这样的话光线就能反射出白色背景。”
For shiny backgrounds, the best bet is the use of some type of diffuser. Bob Hilde, owner of Sign America, Richmond, Ohio, recommends either a diffuser vinyl to block some of the light, or to sand the back of the Lexan.
对于亮色背景板来说，最好的办法是使用某种类型的柔光罩。俄亥俄州里士满Sign America公司老板鲍勃·希尔德建议，要么使用柔光罩来遮挡一部分光，要么用沙掩盖热塑聚碳酸酯采光板的背面。
“We use many different types of LEDs and different colors, including different temperatures of white,” Hilde says. “You can stand them off at different depths to create more or less of an outline. The farther off the wall you stand off a halo letter the more of a halo outline you get. However, if you stand them off too far, it doesn’t individualize each letter. Our standard is about an inch and a half; it just depends on what effect you want.”
希尔德说：“我们采用不同类型的LED和不同颜色，包括不同温度下的白色。你可以将它们安装在距离墙壁不同深度的位置，来创建不同的轮廓。距离墙壁越远，光晕轮廓越明显。然而，如果距离墙壁过远，就不会凸显出每个字母的特点了。我们的标准是大约一英寸半，这还是取决于你想要什么样的效果。”
Generally speaking, it’s best to face the LEDs toward the inside of the letter and not mount them too close to the wall to ensure a nice, smooth halo that doesn’t show the individual points of LED light.
一般来说，将LED安装在字母内部、距离墙壁不要太近是最好的，这样就可以创造出美观、顺滑的光晕。
“It’s hard to think of any reason to mount LEDs shining toward the wall. If you do, you need to use a diffusing material as a back to reduce that effect, like diffusing plastics and film, which adds unnecessary expense, instead of shining it from the clear back into the sign to diffuse the light,” says Morgan Crook of EGL. “You can also use a translucent vinyl on the back of the letter to create a different color for the halo. The only trick is after you get the vinyl on the back you need to run some opaque sealer around the edge because you can’t have any places where you didn’t get vinyl on it because white light will shine through and create white spots in your colored halo. Sealing the edges makes that problem go away.”
EGL公司摩根·克鲁克说：“很难找到在墙上安装LED发亮的原因。如果你遇到这种情形，你需要用扩散材料来削弱该效果，比如扩散塑料和贴膜。你也可以用一个半透明的贴膜贴在字母的背面，来创建不同颜色的光晕。唯一的方法是在你将贴膜贴在字母背面之后，你需要在边缘装上不透明的密封层，因为白光会穿过贴膜在彩色光晕上留下斑点。将边缘密封起来就能解决这个问题。”
For larger letters, Crook says there’s an advantage to using a larger, more powerful LED system, just as you would in a deep channel letter or cabinet. In the sample halo letter shown here with a 3” return and 8” stroke at 1 1/2” off the wall, you produce even lighting with either four feet of traditional circumference lighting (EGL V600), or a single stroke of LEDs you would use in a cabinet application (EGL BoxStar).
克鲁克说，对于较大的字母，采用更强大的LED系统是很有优势的，比如说用在深槽形发光字上或灯箱上。这里展示的光晕发光字是3英寸回程、8英寸冲程，距离墙壁一英寸半，你可以制作成四英寸的传统四周照明形式（EGL V600），或者用于灯箱中的单程LED（EGL BoxStar）。
Crook says you’ll use slightly less power overall, and labor and material costs will also be reduced when using the higher-wattage LED module. By the way, these dimensions are maxed out for a single stroke application; don’t go shallower than a 3” return or wider than 8” if you do use the normal circumference layout style.
克鲁克说，当你使用较高瓦特数的LED模组时，整个标识消耗的电力较低，并且劳动力和材料成本也会减少。顺便说一下，这些尺寸规格的LED模组最大限度地用于单程应用中。如果你要采用这种常规的四周照明风格，不要浅于3英寸回程或宽于8英寸冲程。
