We take pride in our work with local charities and organisations, not only does it allow them to continue their hard work for admirable causes, but it also gives the Blaze Team opportunities to give back to the local community in effective and useful ways.

To kick off 2023, we were put in contact with the local charity East Kent Mencap through our Group IT Director, where discussions began about updating and refitting their current signage suite. In the tough financial period that has affected all of us in one way or another, it hits charities especially hard, and this is why they found it difficult to previously find the funding necessary to update their signage. Make no mistake, signage can be expensive, and when you’re facing a choice as a leader on whether you should have new signage or use them resources to help your local community, your lovely new signs suddenly become a hard sell.

Who are East Kent Mencap?

Before we get into specifics about signage, let us tell you some more about East Kent Mencap and their mission. East Kent Mencap is a charity that supports adults and children with a learning disability in the East Kent area to live as independently as possible and to achieve the things they want out of life. The area they cover reaches across the region of East Kent, including Thanet, Canterbury and Swale. Their mission is to provide opportunities in East Kent for adults and children with a learning disability, enabling them to achieve the things they want out of life.

It is also worth noting that although East Kent Mencap is affiliated to National Mencap, they are independently registered and governed, and self-financed.

To begin this project, we needed their brand assets and the sizes of their current signage layout, both of which were supplied by the helpful members of the East Kent Mencap team! Our incredible design team quickly got to work designing their new signage using these assets so Mencap could visualise how their new signage would look.

We were asked to provide signage for both the front and rear entrances to their building, which is situated in Margate, only a 10 minute drive from our head office and factory in Broadstairs.

The signage specification themselves were simple; single sided, non-illuminated dibond panels with digitally printed vinyl to the face, which is what gives it the East Kent Mencap branding and other details. Colours, design and layout were all signed off by the client prior to moving into production, using a photo visual to get a real grasp on the eventual look of the building.

Production and installation were straight forward and completed within a matter of days, to give us the final result, which you can see below.

It’s safe to say the client was impressed with the services we provided, so much so that they had this to say:

“Blaze signs designed, created, and delivered first-class signage for our East Kent Mencap Hub in Margate, which supports people with a learning disability.

The high-quality signage ensures that our Hub is easy for people with a learning disability and our visitors to find, and provides us with an impressive brand presence in a busy location.

We are very grateful to the wonderful Blaze team for their incredible generosity, amazing signs, and flexibility during the installation. Thank you, Blaze, from everyone at East Kent Mencap.”

Congratulations and a massive well done to everyone who was involved in the project, and a big thank you to East Kent Mencap for giving us an opportunity to use our manufacturing capability and in-house expertise for a truly admirable cause!