Single-Sided Light Boxes: Your Full Brand on the Storefront, Lit Edge to Edge
A single-sided light box (cabinet sign) sits flat on the fascia above your entrance and faces the street. It carries your whole brand on one evenly lit face: logo, name, colours, even a photo or tagline.
It is the most common cabinet sign on Calgary storefronts and plazas because it is clear, practical and easy to update when your business changes.
- Free site visit & measurement
- Design included
- 2-year warranty
- Own workshop in Calgary
What a Single-Sided Light Box Is
It is a shallow cabinet with LED lighting inside and a translucent face on the front. The face is printed with your graphics, and the light from behind makes the whole surface glow evenly.
By day the face reads like a large printed sign; after dark the whole panel lights up, so your logo and colours stay visible on winter evenings. Because the face is one surface, it can carry far more information than individual letters, a strong advantage when your name is long or your logo is detailed.
Benefits for a Storefront
Your entire logo, exactly as designed
Gradients, photos and detailed artwork reproduce on the printed face. No simplification needed.
Even glow without dark spots
LED modules with optical lenses are laid out for the cabinet so the whole face lights uniformly.
Readable on a sign band
Plazas often have a defined sign band; a rectangular cabinet fills it cleanly.
Simple to rebrand later
A new face or new graphics can be fitted into the same cabinet when your branding changes.
Low running and maintenance costs
LED modules rated for up to 50,000 hours keep the sign running for years with little attention.
When Single-Sided Is the Right Choice
- Your sign is mounted flat on the building and people approach from the front
- You lease a unit in a plaza with a sign band above each entrance
- Your logo is detailed, colourful or includes a photo
- You want to be able to update the graphics without replacing the cabinet
If people mainly see your business from the side (walking along a street or driving past) a projecting double-sided light box may work better. If you want a more dimensional look, compare with channel letters in the guide channel letters vs light box.
How It Is Built
Cabinet
The cabinet is built to the size of your sign band or wall, with room for the lighting and access for future face changes.
Lighting
LED modules rated for up to 50,000 hours, with high-performance optical lenses. Their placement is planned for each cabinet to avoid hot spots and dark areas.
Face and print
Graphics are UV-printed directly onto milky acrylic or onto translucent film for backlit use, so colours stay vivid when lit. The guide light box graphics: UV print on acrylic or film compares the two.
Tested in the shop
The finished light box is lit and checked in our workshop before installation.
What Affects the Price
A new single-sided cabinet costs CAD $350 plus CAD $65 per square foot of the face, plus GST. For example, a 2 × 4 ft light box comes to about CAD $870, a 4 × 8 ft one to about CAD $2,430 and a 4 × 17 ft one to about CAD $4,770. That is the manufacturing price; installation is quoted separately (about CAD $100 per hour plus GST as a guide). If you already have a sound cabinet, a face replacement or graphics replacement can cost much less, and removal and reinstallation are included for those.
- Face size (width × height)
- Print coverage and colours
- New cabinet or reuse of an existing one
- Mounting height and access
See the light box calculator for a first estimate.
Have an old sign box above your unit?
Book a free site visit. If the cabinet is sound, you may only need a new face. We will tell you honestly.
Process and Timeline
Free site visit, design on the real face size, written quote, then production in about two weeks. We handle all the sign permit paperwork: we prepare the drawings, specifications and documents and submit the application on your behalf. If you prefer to apply yourself, you get the complete package from us, ready to submit.
We install the sign and it carries a 2-year warranty on the LED lighting, power supply, sign structure, materials and installation.
Single-Sided Light Box Questions
A new single-sided light box, 6 inches deep, costs CAD $350 plus CAD $65 per square foot of the face, plus GST. For example, a 2 × 4 ft light box comes to about CAD $870, a 4 × 8 ft one to about CAD $2,430 and a 4 × 17 ft one to about CAD $4,770. Installation is quoted separately.
A single-sided box is mounted flat and has one lit face. A double-sided box projects from the wall and has two faces, readable from both directions.
Often yes. We check the structure and lighting on the free site visit and recommend a new face or new graphics where it makes sense.
Professional UV printing is designed for long-term outdoor use and improved resistance to fading.
For a new cabinet it is quoted separately (about CAD $100 per hour plus GST as a guide). For face or graphics replacement, removal and reinstallation are included.