Blog
October 19, 2026
Print and Glowing Letters on One Small Board: How We Built Kay Bee’s Hybrid Lit Name Board
Most name boards are either a print or a set of letters. This one is both: a lit picture panel and raised gold letters with a soft halo, all on one small acrylic plate. Here’s how we built it for Kay Bee Bio-organics, and the glass-like posters that went with it.
Three ideas, one plate
Most boards do one thing. This one does three.
Some sign makers make a printed light box. Others laser-cut acrylic letters. Others put LEDs behind raised 3D letters. For Kay Bee Bio-organics’ ROC Mycorrhiza Production Unit we put all three on one board about 3 ft wide and 18 in high.
On the left, their logo and a seedling glow in a printed picture panel. On the right, the unit’s name stands up in gold, with a warm halo round every letter.
Size
About 3 ft x 18 in
Base
3 mm white acrylic
Letters
8 mm translucent + 3 mm gold acrylic
Light
Warm LEDs under the letters, bright white under the picture
Most boards are either just a print or just laser-cut letters. Here we've got both on a small acrylic board with a small footprint, and we've managed to pull it off.
How it is built
One plate, three kinds of acrylic, two kinds of light
The plate, the letters, the gold and the picture panel are all acrylic, cut on our own laser. What makes it work is how the layers sit on top of and inside each other.
1
The plate
A 3 mm white acrylic base plate with rounded corners. We laser-cut the shape of every letter out of it.
2
The letters
Each letter is laser-cut from 8 mm translucent (040) acrylic and pressed into its cut-out: 3 mm sits inside the plate, 5 mm stands proud.
3
The gold
A second letter of 3 mm gold mirror acrylic, the same shape, goes on top. The letters now rise about 8 mm above the plate.
4
The picture panel
The logo and seedling are printed on backlit film on our Mimaki, pasted behind clear acrylic and framed in a rounded white rim.
5
The light
A black box behind the plate holds the LEDs: warm white under the letters, bright 6000K white under the picture.
The idea in one picture
Front view, and a cut through the letters
The letters sit in the plate and rise above it. The gold on top blocks the light at the front, so it leaks out of the sides.
Illustration, not to scale.
The halo
Why the letters glow from the sides
Gold mirror acrylic doesn't let light through, so nothing shines out of the front of a letter. But the 5 mm of translucent acrylic under the gold does, and the warm LEDs behind it push light out of its sides. You get a soft yellow halo on the white plate at night, and a crisp gold sign by day.
Up close
Warm light escaping round the gold letters onto the white plate.
From the side
The glowing translucent layer under each gold letter.
Real photos of the Kay Bee board in our studio, only light and colour corrected.
The picture panel
A print that glows like a light box
The left side is a small light box. The picture is printed on backlit film, pasted on the back of clear acrylic (we call this reverse printing), so you see it through a shiny, glass-like face and the print itself is never touched.
Its own rounded white rim makes it taller than the plate and lifts it a little proud, so the picture reads as a separate panel.
Two kinds of light
Bright 6000K white for the picture, so the colours stay true; warm white for the letters, to match the gold.
Readable from across the room
The picture glows from the front while the letters glow round their edges.
Any picture
Your logo, a product, a photo: if we can print it, it can glow.
Protected print
The print sits behind the acrylic, so it is wiped clean without being scratched.
Behind the board
What you never see
Behind the plate sits a black box about 2 inches deep that holds the LEDs, with a deeper box behind the picture panel. The back of the plate is painted black, except behind the letters, so no light bleeds through the white. The box is set in from the edges, and the slim power supply sits in the space beside it.
The cable ends in an ordinary plug: fix the board, plug it into a socket and it lights up. It is made for indoor use.
Neat from every side
Black on the back, white at the front, no wires on show once it is up.
Plug and play
An ordinary plug; no electrician needed if there is a socket nearby.
Indoors
Made for receptions, offices and production units.
Off the wall
Standoff mounts hold the plate about 2 inches off the wall.
Fixing it
Stud caps and standoffs
Four steel stud caps on standoff mounts hold the board at its corners. Kay Bee’s own team drilled the wall and fixed it: we shipped it ready to go.
Stud cap
A steel stud cap on a rounded corner of the plate.
Standoff
The standoff mount from the side.
Real photos from our studio.
The same order
Process charts that look like glass
With the name board, Kay Bee ordered a set of standard operating procedure charts for the same unit: more than five posters, each 3 ft x 2 ft. We printed them on clear film backed with white ink on our Mimaki, pasted the film behind 3 mm clear acrylic that we laser-cut to size, and drilled the corners.
From the front they look like back-painted glass: deep, glossy, and every step of the procedure stays crisp. The kay bee logo on each one stands up from the surface, laser-cut from 3 mm white acrylic and fixed with 3M two-sided tape. We added the logos free.
Look closer
Sharp text, a raised logo, a plain back
The whole idea of a reverse-printed poster is how crisp the picture and the text look behind the acrylic. These are real close-ups.
The chart
One full process chart: inoculation and incubation.
Raised logo
Laser-cut white acrylic logo standing off the poster.
The text
Step icons and text stay sharp behind the acrylic.
The back
Plain white backing, with holes for stud caps.
Real photos of the Kay Bee posters in our studio, only light and colour corrected.
At a glance
The hybrid name board: specifications
Size
About 3 ft x 18 in
Base plate
3 mm white acrylic, rounded corners, back painted black except behind the letters
Letters
8 mm translucent (040) acrylic set into the plate, 5 mm proud, with 3 mm gold mirror acrylic on top
Picture panel
Backlit-film print pasted behind clear acrylic, in a rounded white rim
Light
Warm white LEDs under the letters; 6000K white under the picture; LED box about 2 in deep
Power
Plugs into an ordinary socket; power supply hidden behind the board
Fixing
Steel stud caps on standoff mounts at the four corners
Use
Indoors
What it cost
Prices: this job and today’s rates
Here is what this order cost in April 2026, and our current rates for the same kinds of work. Every board is different, so a new one is quoted on its own size and design.
Kay Bee hybrid name board (April 2026)
₹12,000 + 18% GST
Each 3 x 2 ft reverse-printed poster (April 2026)
₹2,400 + 18% GST
Reverse-printed acrylic poster panels
₹400 per sq ft + 18% GST (3 mm)
Backlit acrylic logo letters on a base plate
₹2,000 per sq ft + 18% GST
Good to know
Why the board cost more
At about ₹2,670 per sq ft it is above our standard backlit letters, because it combines three kinds of acrylic, two light colours and a light box.
Minimum order
₹3,000 + GST per order; one 3 x 2 ft poster on its own is below it, so posters go as a set or with other work.
Outside Pune
Acrylic is fragile: we pack it carefully and ship it with the shipping charged extra, confirmed before dispatch.
Time
This order took about three days after payment.
Want a board that is part picture, part letters? Send us your logo and the size on WhatsApp.
Questions people ask
Hybrid name boards: FAQ
Can the letters glow from the front instead?
Yes: without the gold layer, the translucent letters glow from the front too. The gold is what turns the light into a halo.
Can it go outdoors?
This board is made for indoors. For a sign outside, see our 3D LED glow sign boards.
Do I need an electrician?
Not if there is a socket nearby: the board comes with an ordinary plug.
Can you fix it for us?
In Pune, yes. Outside Pune we ship it with the stud caps and standoffs, ready for your team to fix.
How is this different from a channel letter?
Channel letters have metal sides. These are solid acrylic, so the sides glow. More in how lit 3D letters are made.
Is the print on the front?
No. The picture is printed on film and pasted behind clear acrylic, so the front is smooth and the print is protected.
Made in Pune
A small board with a lot going on
We made the board and the posters together in our Pune studio, packed them and shipped them to Kay Bee’s production unit near Thane, where their team fixed them. If you want a name board that does more than one thing, talk to us. Our printing and laser-cutting machines are all in-house.
See more
Our work
The Kay Bee posters and name board
Every photo of the posters and the lit name board.
See the job →Product
Reverse-printed acrylic poster panels
Glass-like posters for offices, factories and receptions.
See the product →Your turn
Want a name board like this?
Send us your logo, the picture you want and the size on WhatsApp. We'll tell you how it can be built and what it costs.
Looking for any specific product?
Drop us a line. Send us your query. And we’ll get back to you with solutions and answers.
Mitesh Sanghani
Mitesh lives, mostly for Saturdays.
But when forced to work, you’ll find him heading Orchid Digitals – a printing press in Pune.
If it’s an emergency, try looking for him in the hills behind his house. You’ll almost certainly find him… lazing under a tree, with a book in hand.
