DISTRICT DONUTS
promotional printing • fabricated signage • menu boards
channel letters • window graphics & decals
custom fixtures • fabricated wayfinding • large format printing
the client
District Donuts is a New Orleans original that’s been doing things its own way for over a decade: serving handcrafted donuts, fried chicken, and coffee with equal parts skill and attitude. Known and trusted for consistency, quality, and smart execution, the brand balances irreverent flavor ideas with intentional craft, earning its place as a reliable local favorite that still knows how to have fun.
the project
District Donuts originally approached OPA Signs & Graphics with a singular goal: increase brand visibility at its Elmwood Shopping Center location.
While halo-illuminated letters and handmade wood elements worked well at pedestrian-friendly, low-speed sites, the Elmwood storefront struggled due to its setback position and visual competition from bright national brands like Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, and Wendy’s.
To stand out and pull drivers in, District needed a literal glow-up.
Original sign at Elmwood Shopping Center
our challenge
In this fight, OPA Signs + Graphics and District Donuts were scrappy underdogs going toe-to-toe with corporate behemoths. The solution couldn’t just rise to the occasion. It had to outshine.
solution
We identified two clear areas of attack.
First: scale. The original District sign was undersized for both its façade and its competition. Determining how big we could go meant navigating not only Jefferson Parish regulations, but also the shopping center’s own restrictions and pushing right up to those limits.
Second: belonging, with a twist. Surrounding tenants relied on bright colors and illuminated channel letters as place-markers. We leaned into that visual language so the sign felt at home in its environment, executing the primary District lettering in thick, bright channel letters on a vivid blue background, cut to the shape of their banner logo. We then elevated the design and gave it a dose of District attitude by accenting the piece with loud blue faux LED neon trim. District was the first tenant to utilize faux LED neon, leaving them a clear standout in the shopping center.
The success at Elmwood has become a larger partnership, with OPA designing, producing and installing promotional graphics and permanent signage across the brand’s locations in Louisiana and Las Vegas.