J&B NEON SIGNS
With the onset of the Christmas season, J. Walter Thompson approached us with another booze project, this time for J&B. In collaboration with the agency, we designed the neon tubing graphics and the backgrounds on which they would be mounted for photographing. While the neon signs were to be made with one consistent tube diameter, the tubes would appear to have different thicknesses relative to their respective graphic in the final ad per the art director's specifications. Each "line weight" required its own sign, to be composited in post production. Since "Jingle" and "Bells" were to have the thickest line weights, they had to be the smallest signs so they would appear at the desired thickness after enlargement. This required rigorous experimentation in CAD.
I never came across a final cut sheet but the art buyer happened to see a billboard with the ad along a highway in South Carolina. (see introductory image below.)
Shop: The Group Y (formerly The Mark Yurkiw Group)
Ad agency: J. Walter Thompson
Neon sign fabricator: Midtown Neon Signs
Workflow design, painting and finishing: Bill Mulkins
Backer board assembly: Bill Mulkins, John Merritt, Kent Rogowski
Coordination with neon sign fabricator, CAD proportioning of tubes and boards: John Merritt
