IF function with conditional formatting

I have been asked to prepare a table where values who surpass a threshold (1800) or equal to it are to be highlighted, as well as have any value less than 1800 to be represented as <1800 while still keeping empty blank cells blank. I know conditional formatting can easily get the 'highliting' I need but since I need to format the < into the cell, would it still be doable? 

From my understanding I need to use a IF funtcion to get IF('data'[value] < 1800, "<1800", 'data'[value]), would that work? Or would I need to also mention the empty cells? And how would that affect the IF function? As the data would be refreshed