Artistic Large Foam Letters
Case Study: Building Cisco 'Imagine' Conference Artistic Foam 3D Letters
Table of Contents
3D Large Letters for Cisco
WhiteClouds created 14 geometrical letters (2 sets of 7) spelling out the word “imagine” to be used at a Cisco Live event. Each individual letter was designed with unique geometrical shapes and was finished as an artistic masterpiece, fully fabricated from foam. Cisco Live is a networking event where tens of thousands of IT and communications professionals attend to learn more about Cisco solutions and innovations.
The Cisco Live theme was “Imagine” – imagine letters and logos were everywhere. These 14 letters fabricated by WhiteClouds were built to withstand attendees climbing on them and bumping into them. The letters were also designed to provide the backdrop for attendees taking selfie pictures. These letters were very large, over 7′ tall and 36″ deep.
The design was a repetitive process of finding the right balance of geometrical shapes that could actually be fabricated with foam and were still cost effective. The design for the letter “m” was the most complex to build from a labor perspective, with literally hundreds of individual pieces forming this single letter. Another challenge was to make sure that the finished product could handle the logistics of being shipped and installed without any damage to these complex letters. Some of the lighter letters weighed 50 pounds, while some were giant goliaths weighing in at 250 pounds.
Each letter was a unique and individual fabrication process. There were two letter fabrications for each letter.
- The letter “I” had one design with long cylinders attached together. The other design had circular cavities throughout the letter.
- The letter “M” was the most difficult. One version had hundreds of protruding pegs while the other version was using a slanted design.
- The letter “A” had a stacked version with two-tone paint. The other version looked more like a treehouse in the shape of the letter.
The letter “G” had two unique versions – one was a stacked cylinder approach, the other was two-toned circular tubes forming the letter. - The letter “I” was made to look like tilted 3D circles stacked on top of each other. The other version had flattened tubes stacked on top of each other.
- The letter “N” versions were similar, but still very different. One version had circular cutouts and the other version looked like attached triangles.
- The letter “E” versions were basically identical with different types of cylinders attached together. This letter was the most difficult to build from a structural perspective and needed internal supports built within the structure.
The Imagine letters had to be rugged to withstand attendees climbing on them, sitting on them, hugging them, etc. Before painting, each letter was coated in Polyurea to give the letters a strong coating. This Polyurea created the protection each letter was going to need for the unexpected. The painting varied in complexity for each letter. Each letter started off with a heavy duty primer to help smooth out the effects of the Polyurea. Many letters had multiple colors. The colors were defined with Pantone codes supplied by the customer. A few of the letters were extremely challenging from a masking perspective, especially with a few hundred indvidual pieces that had to be masked-off in hard-to-reach areas. But, our masterful painter was able to pull-off the impossible in finishing these masterpieces. The entire project, from start to finish, took about 3 months.
To learn more about all of the possibilities with large letters, go to our large letters page.
Gallery of Cisco 'Imagine' Conference Large Letters
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