As we look back on all that occurred in 2011, it is nice to reflect on the great people we worked with and the fun projects we worked on. Here are just a few highlights of INSIGNIA’s year:

Go Cupcake was a new curbside confection venture in Dayton in 2011. We designed a full vehicle wrap for the cupcakery on wheels. The Go Cupcake mobile can be found around town at various locations.

We have been thrilled to work with Cassano’s Trenton, Centerville and Kettering stores producing their interior store graphics including custom printed wallpaper and menu boards that were designed by U! Creative.

The whole INSIGNIA team got their hands dirty in the re-design of our office in late August/early September. We hosted INSIGNIA’s 2nd Annual Customer Appreciation Party, which was catered by BellyFire, in September for clients, family members and friends in our re-designed showroom. Thank you to all who attended, we had a blast!

When Cox Media Group Ohio merged locations with WHIO-TV, we were asked to create custom printed wall paper, interior signage and vinyl graphics which were designed by Nova Creative Group. One of our biggest projects of 2011, we developed approximately 3,000 square feet of digital wallpaper, 60 die-cut vinyl logos installed on glass walls, 1,000 square feet of digital vinyl graphics installed on glass walls, 75 recognition panels (PVC with digital graphics, installed on standoffs), and 8 4′x6′ timeline panels (PVC with digital graphics, installed on standoffs) along with various window and door logos and signage.

We work year round with Five Rivers MetroParks - a few highlights from the year include a new interior sign for the 2nd Street Market, new graphics for the rink, and GearFest signage designed by INSIGNIA, FRMP and The Agency Group.

We went Hollywood!  This ‘Lost’ watercolor paper print was designed by Jayson Weidel of Oo-De-Lally and the posters below were printed for Damon Lindelof, creator of the television hit Lost.

One current in-progress project is with SuperPetz. INSIGNIA designed and developed interior store graphics, including custom printed wall paper and vinyl graphics, perforated window film, and other signage. We will be working on interior graphics/signage for their new Miamisburg, Centerville and Troy stores.

The Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce ordered a custom printed portable backdrop that we designed with the DACC team. This backdrop was purchased for and first used at DACC’s Annual meeting where Speaker of the House John Boehner spoke.

Looking to dress up your fridge? As seen on the hit television show, “The Shark Tank,” INSIGNIA manufactures the magnetic graphics for Fridge Fronts.

We had great success at AAF’s Mercury Awards this year –  Elizabeth won Best Sign Company Rep, Best Exhibit Company Rep and Vendor of the Year.

We expanded our printing capabilities with a new printer, an Epson GS600. A few of the great benefits of this printer include:

• prints photo-quality graphics up to 5’4″ wide
• uses eco-friendly solvent inks for maximum durability and fade resistance without the environmental or health concerns of traditional solvent inks
• utilizes a revolutionary 8-color process ink system, using cyan, magenta, yellow, black, light cyan, light magenta, orange and green inks, producing the largest and most vivid color gamut of any solvent printer in the industry
• maximum print speed 340 square feet per hour

We got all tech savvy in 2011 by adding SignVox, a new cloud based production/shop management system.

By implementing this into our business, we hope to increase our ability to assist our clients, decrease production times and further streamline our processes internally. We are also making this effort as a green movement, because we will no longer have paper quote sheets, work orders, invoices, etc. Everything is done digitally from the time an order is placed, to the time the invoice is sent. We will have a digital monitor as a job board and each production employee will have an electronic tablet to read work orders, as Chip demonstrates.

We supported, in various ways (either through donations, discounts or volunteer time) the following non-profits: Humane Society of Greater Dayton, Ronald McDonald House, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Miami Valley, Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, The Encore Theater Co, AAF Dayton, Dayton Creative Syndicate, and more!

Our staff chose two local charities to support in 2012: the Humane Society (we will be donating a full van wrap to them for their animal cruelty vehicle) and The K-12 Gallery (we will be donating scrap materials to them all year for their kids to use in various art projects).

We also had a lot of fun along the way! We went to the Dragon’s game–it got rained out during that hurricane like thing that we had and we all ended up in the men’s and women’s bathroom; we dressed up for Halloween; we had a Thanksgiving carry-in; we had a Holiday/End of the Year Party at the FRMP skating rink and the Roost restaurant–where Michael actually hugged the chef because the food was amazing. We also celebrated birthdays and anniversaries with the company.

Here’s to a great 2012!