I started ARTeffects (now ARTfx ) Jan. 1, 1983, primarily as a 2D-graphics business specializing in sign and billboard design. Shortly after, I purchased the second-ever Gerber Scientific Products Signmaker IV (serial #02). It was a novel piece of machinery for the time and the granddaddy of today’s automated sign equipment. Initially, I used the machine to assist with graphic layout, but its vinyl-cutting capacity steered me toward my company’s inevitable fate for the next 25 years to come – signmaking.
我建立ARTEFFECT（现在ARTFX）公司是在1983年1月1日，主要致立于2D图形业务，从事标识和广告牌设计。不久之后，我购买了第二个GeBER设备IV（系列第02）。这是一台新型的设备，是当今自动化标识设备的老大。起初，我用这台机器来辅助平面布局，但是凭借它在乙烯基切割强大的能力指引下，我的公司即将迎来下一个25年。
We have enjoyed the sign business, but felt the need to expand beyond its confines. In the past dozen or so years, ARTfx systematically ventured toward related forms of fabrication, including decorative architectural components, custom lighting and corporate art programs. As successes mount, our company continues the natural expansion of existing skills born within the sign trade and my fine-art background.
我们在享受标识事业的同时，也希望它能够有更远的发展，超越自我。在过去的十几年中，ARTfx赢得了众多的标识项目，包括装饰建筑标识项目、定制景观照明项目和城市艺术标识项目。随着成功的攀升，我们公司继续扩展现有的业务，在标识业务和新品研发方面再次取得提升。
EXTERNAL V. INTERNAL
内部与外部
Designing and manufacturing light fixtures particularly complements our sign work. Although we now build custom lighting for all purposes, we still focus on external sign illumination. We’ve built hundreds of internally illuminated signs, but we never hesitate to push external light sources. After more than 40 years in the sign trade, I increasingly find illuminating a subject from the outside enhances definition of form with pronounced shadowing and sets the stage for more dramatic dimensionality. Within this realm, we also use hybrid lighting sources – instances in which we mix two external light sources or an internal light source with an external light source. Using one light source in conjunction with another often requires prototyping on a smaller scale because the results can be part science and part surprise.
设计和标识光源，与我们的标识制造息息相关，我们现在拥有一套完善的配置光源体系，未来的市场竞争中，我们会更专注于外发光标识。虽然我们已经建造了数以百计的内发光标识，但我们毫不犹豫地推动外部光源。经过40多年的标识行业发展，我越来越发现以外部光源为主题，以明显的阴影增强形式的表现，在标识未来发展的领域中，会有更广阔的发展空间和市场需求。同时，我们也使用混合光源——我们混合两个外部光源或内部光源。将一个光源与另一个光源结合使用，这种通常运用在较小的标识制作项目，因为结果可能是部分受欢迎，部分客户还是不太满意。
For a variety of long-building mounted signs, we have replaced the classically clunky and often multiseamed 8-ft. fluorescent-strip light with LED-strip fixtures as thin as 2 in. (semi-circular, square and triangular in profile) and as long as 30 ft. without a seam. For freestanding signs, concealed wash lighting tucked tightly into a crown molding increasingly replaces exposed ground lights. Lawn mower disasters are eliminated. In northern states, where snow can bury ground lighting or snowplows can pluck them clean, worries subside when the light sources are removed from harm’s way.
对于各种建筑标识的安装，我们现在主要采用薄的2英寸的LED条灯具，取代了传统上笨重且常常是多缝的8英尺荧光条灯。（半圆形，方形和三角形的轮廓），长30英尺，无接缝。对于独立的标识，隐藏的洗墙灯紧紧地嵌入建筑墙体，杜绝暴露的地面灯。有利的规避割草机带来的隐患，同时，在北方各州，冬天大雪可以掩埋地面照明设备，当光源从含有隐患的的路面移开时，担心自然也被平息。
Jenkinson’s – 3000K reflected lighting off canopy interior
詹金森-3000K屋檐照明
In time, methodical experimentation will lead sign manufacturers toward practical and pleasing solutions in the art of external lighting. Decisions such as how far to place a light fixture from the subject matter, or what width of beam to use or how to employ the proper light color will become routine. ARTfx has developed a variety of proprietary techniques for lighting signs externally. Each one of them has been carefully derived through time-honored trial and error. We’ve also made our share of humiliating mistakes, too.
最终，有条不紊的实践将引领标识制造商在外部光源艺术领域寻求实用和令人愉悦的解决方案，诸如：将光源放置在离主题物多远、使用多宽的光束，或者如何使用适当的光色之类的决策经验。ARTFX已开发出多种专有的外部标识光源技术。他们中的每一个都是经过长期的反复试验而得到的。当然，我们也犯下不少的错误。
Basic lighting considerations include:
基本照明包括：
• Kelvin light temperature: This scale ranges from 1000K (warm amber) to 10,000K (frosty blue white). 5000K is generally considered the most basic white light. For years, the sign trade almost exclusively depended on 6500K as the “go to” white because of its perceived ultra-brightness – almost like laundry detergent that bleaches whites beyond white. I prefer 3000-5000K because the color rendering is truer to the spectrum mix of natural light – the hues of the sun from dawn until dusk. Additionally, studies have shown that the warmer portion of the color spectrum is more uplifting to the human psyche.
开尔文温度：这个范围从1000 K（暖琥珀色）到10000 K（霜蓝色白色）。一般认为，500K是最基本的白光。多年来，广告标识、店铺招牌几乎完全依赖于6500K作为“超”白色，因为它的感知超亮度-几乎像洗衣粉，漂白的白色超过白色。我更喜欢3000-5000K，因为颜色渲染比自然光的光谱混合更真实——太阳从黎明到黄昏的颜色。此外，研究表明，光谱的温暖对人们心理更为振奋。
Today’s lighting designers favor specifications hovering around 2700-3500K. So, if you come into a situation involving a knowledgeable lighting consultant calling the shots, you better have informed reasoning to suggest 6500K – a shtick to which the sign industry has blindly resorted for far too long.
如果你遇到一个在标识领域知识渊博的照明顾问，他会告诉你，今天的照明设计师青睐的规格在2500 K—3500 K之间，你最好有推理的建议6500 K---------标识行业盲目地利用了太长时间。
• Luminosity: Measured in lumens, the brighter the light, the higher the lumen rating. In the world of LEDs, far less power is required to produce lumen levels previously limited to incandescent, fluorescent, neon, cold cathode and HID light sources. For general reference, a 100W incandescent light bulb or its LED equivalent yields 1600 lumens. A 3 x 3-ft. sign panel can be properly lit from a 2- to 3-ft. distance using a narrow flood 60W LED equivalent depending on beam width and angle.
光度：在流明中测量，光越亮，流明等级越高。在LED光源产生以前，光源只局限于白炽、荧光、氖、冷阴极和HID光源，LED比起上述光源所需的功率要少得多。一般来说，100W白炽灯泡相当于 1600流明的LED光源。根据光束宽度和角度，3x 3英尺的标识面板利用60WLED光源就可以满足2到3英尺空间、距离上要求。
As a basic rule, the farther a light source is located from its subject matter, the greater the luminosity required. However, it is important to light the subject matter in a method producing a beam focused to its form and in a manner that will not “bleed” light beyond its edges. In the instances of double-sided roadside monuments or post and panel signs, it is extremely important to consider oncoming traffic. Drivers passing by a sign should not be confronted with errant, blinding light coming from its opposite side.
一个基本的原则，光源越靠近标的物，所需的光度就越大，重要的是，注意采用聚焦光束的方法，因为这样不会“漏光”超过标识边缘来照亮主题，这样才是完美的契合。在双面纪念碑标识或柱子、面板标识的情况下，考虑迎面而来的车辆是非常重要的。杜绝路过路标的司机面对对面的标识牌产生眩目的光。
Over-lighting is probably more endemic to the sign trade than under-lighting. Both result in legibility problems. Additionally, you must be careful when using glossy or reflective backgrounds. Glare is a problem that can be controlled with lower-luster surfaces.
对于光源的控制可能比制造标识本身更具重要意义，你要考虑到标识的易读性问题。另外，控制标识的亮度问题以及背景光源必须注意，如果产生眩光，那么你需要控制好标识自身表面选用材料和工艺的问题。
• Color Rendering Index: Lighting consultants can rub your face in this bit of technicality, but simply put, the color rendering index, or CRI, is a 1-100 measuring system that rates the level of correct color a light source brings to subject matter. If an apple looks purple with
颜色渲染指数：光源顾问在这种技术性方面发挥重要的作用，比如一个苹果看起来很紫，你是不是觉得很奇怪，颜色渲染指数即CRI，是一个1-100的测量系统，用来评估光源会给主题带来的正确颜色的级别。
green highlights under a particular light source, that light source will get a very low CRI. The sun rates 100 and is considered the truest light source within the CRI measuring system. On the contrary, some fluorescent lights come in at a dismal rating of 50. They render garish, undesirable hues.
绿色强调在特定光源下，光源将得到非常低的CRI。太阳的速率为100，被认为是CRI测量系统中最真实的光源。相反，一些荧光灯的亮度达到了50。它们渲染花哨、属于不合意的色调。
I learned a valuable lesson firsthand many years back when we blindly installed neo-blue argon tubing around the bar at a popular local eatery. Shortly after, the restaurant owner complained that his steak sales had fallen through the cellar because the meat looked green under the eerie blue argon. In a swift and costly response, we changed the tubing to warm pink.
很多年前，我在一家很受欢迎的当地餐厅安装了新蓝氩气管，这让我学到了一个有价值的第一手经验。不久之后，餐馆老板抱怨说，他的牛排销量已经下滑，因为肉在可怕的蓝色氩气下看起来是绿色的。随时我们付出了惨痛的代价，立马把光源换成了温暖的粉红色。
Oddly, the CRI does not completely correlate to the Kelvin scale. In the same way a painter can mix up a specific shade of brown using many core color combinations, two light sources identical in hue can be derived from totally different color ancestry. And while one rates a 90 on the CRI scale, the other can come in at a lower 75.
奇怪的是，CRI与开尔文表并不完全相关，同样地，画家可以使用许多核心颜色组合来混合特定的棕色色调，两个相同色调的光源可以来自完全不同的颜色祖先。当一个CRI比例为90时，另一个可以降低到75。
• Beam Angle: Picture a spotlight on a sole performer in a play or at a concert. The beam is 100% targeted due to careful shuttering. This is not easy to do with stock fixtures, which is one of the major reasons we began making our own. In the early days of LED diodes when the beams were never much greater than 90°, traditional light sources continued to dominate. Argon tubing, cold cathode and fluorescent produce 360° beams, which for years generated tons of ambient lighting. Today, many energy-conscious critics consider that ambient lighting nothing more than wasted energy. By contrast, certain LED diodes can now generate very close to 180° light beams, most of which are scientifically targeted. The diode lenses are designed to skew much of the light away from the center and toward the sides, producing uniform spreads of light in confined spaces.
光线角度：在戏剧或音乐会上把聚光灯投射到唯一的表演者身上。由于仔细的模板，光线的目标是100%。这是不容易做到的，在LED光源发展的早期，在光束从未远大于90°时，传统的光源继续占主导地位。氩管、冷阴极和荧光灯产生360°光束，多年来包揽环境照明市场份额。今天，许多有意识的用户认为环境照明只不过是浪费能源。相比之下，某些LED光源现在可以产生非常接近180°的光线角度，LED透镜被设计成使大部分光偏离中心和偏向侧面，在有限的空间中产生均匀的光传播。
On the flip side of the LED spectrum, narrow-beam diodes, particularly those focused 40° and under, can wash objects with light by merely glancing their surfaces. These narrower beams can also light up condensed areas at great distances without substantial beam spread. We use a gamut of beam angles depending on the intended purpose.
在LED光源的另一面，窄光束角度，特别是聚焦在40°以下的LED，仅仅通过扫视物体表面就照亮整个物体。这些较窄的光束也可以在很大的距离上照亮目标，而不产生实质性的光束扩展。我们选择光束角度取决于项目本身的需要。
When Kelvin temperature, luminosity, CRI level and beam angle merge harmoniously, the results are self-evident. For the best and easiest way to achieve success, please consult one of the larger LED manufacturers now featuring their own pre-engineered external light fixtures. I would highly recommend purchasing those stock fixtures whenever possible to control labor costs. Good luck!
当开尔文温度、亮度、CRI水平和光束角度和谐地融合时，结果是不言而喻的。为了获得成功，最好和最简单的方法，请咨询专业的LED制造商是聪明之选，我强烈建议只要有可能就购买固定购买这些专业供应商的LED光源，来控制人工成本，来降低业务风险！
