― William Feather
SAFETY SHIELD Our new Safety Shield provides cost-effective and friendly protection for your participants as well as your support staff. The universal fit will adapt to any canopy set. Affordable. Clean. Friendly. Contact info@mpagraphics.com for pricing and more information.
Face Masks While mandated masks aren’t pleasant to wear, they speak volumes from a distance. MPA Graphics can custom print reusable fabric face masks with your logo or URL to help spread your brand while preventing the spread of COVID-19. 50 full digital custom face masks: $405 plus shipping100 masks: $675 plus shipping Please allow…
Separate, But Together Although it may feel as if the world has stopped, athletes, trainers and Event Directors have found ingenious ways to continue to make a difference virtually. And we at MPA Event Graphics — because it’s what we do — have noticed that this new normal could use some branding. If you are coaching…
This is no April’s Fool joke, in addition to 10% off all orders for the month of April, we are also offering free shipping on our canopy sets and flags. Working on future events is giving us hope and a sense of purpose during this isolating time. Sending our best wishes out to all of our…
I have been struggling with mile markers for years. No one sees the damn things. I’ve had client race directors try flags, inflatable arches, 12-foot-tall towers, A-frame signs, you name it. Former Olympic pole vault gold medalist and race director Bob Seagren sent me a photo one year of him standing inside a frame he’d…
So why in the world would a signage guy be talking about race announcing? It’s simple really: as an event signage supplier I’m more accurately in the athlete experience business. What my company does can have a lot to do with how participants feel about a race. And like signage, what an announcer says, and…
Inflatable arches elicit some of the strongest opinions, both pro and con, of all the major elements of event infrastructure. They’re easy to use (flip a switch and stand back) and relatively low cost, but are they too informal? They can be difficult to use in windy conditions, but are far more versatile on uneven…
I spoke recently to a group of multisport sponsors at the USA Triathlon Partner Summit in Tempe, Az. As you may know, USAT is making an all-out effort to reverse a flattening of the registration curve the sport has experienced in recent years. The same flattening trend has been noted in distance running, to an…
People ask me, “Where can I best spend my limited signage budget?” I’ve arrived at a quick two-part answer. The first place is wayfinding. Directional signage. You can’t have too much. In a time of too many races and too many athletes, customer service can be enough of a differentiator to keep your athletes not…
I don’t need to go on for too long here, other than to say this is a really good piece that will help you understand a bit more about color. We spend a lot of time on this topic here at MPA Event Graphics, usually because it’s so hard getting good color information from our…
It will be some years before even the largest and best-funded events that we typically work with will switch to LED signage and away from traditional signs and banners. Some minor inroads in the form of digital track boards have been made, but the current economics of the industry make a broad, widespread switch unlikely…
I recently spoke on the topic of event signage being more than just a profit-gobbling line item at the Road Runners Club of America National Convention in Washington DC. (https://www.rrca.org/) There’s no doubt race directors are evolving on this issue. While some event pros still part grudgingly with signage budgets, it was good to see…
Wayfinding signage plays a key role in keeping your customers happy For race directors willing to get into the weeds on directional signage, The New York Times recently published a terrific piece: “Lost in Penn Station? Amtrak Has an App to Guide You.” The topic is “wayfinding”, the term industry professionals use for pointing people…
There is no form of mass communication with more raw, elemental impact than signs and banners. Slicky produced or crudely drawn, they get the message across simply, quickly, inexpensively. Commercial signage has been a multicultural mainstay as long as cultures of one kind or another have existed. For the same basic reasons — simple,…
“When you’re asking for money, always be the best-dressed guy in the room.” — Mark McCormack, founder, IMG I walked into a pre-race expo a few years ago, and the first thing I saw from across the parking lot was a printed canopy that looked as it had survived the Battle of Baghdad. Legs askew, filthy…
I was chatting with a client recently and the topic of barricade safety came up. It’s not really an issue in running, but metal barricades can be a hazard to competitive triathletes and cyclists — especially on loop courses and criteriums that feature racing at close quarters, amplifying the risk of crashes. Few would debate…
It’s human to take the most common things for granted. For an event professional, banners are one of those things. And they shouldn’t be. If you’re managing an outdoor event, banners are your public face; they speak quickly and loudly about what kind of operation you’re running. So banners are important. They deserve your attention…
When you’re truly into signage as I am, you tend to notice the incredible creativity ordinary folks apply to public communication. Give a smart person a Sharpie or a piece of chalk, and magic happens. I’ll be sharing occasionally some of this impromptu brilliance, as I have below. I hardly think a caption is required.…