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Out with the old . . . in with the new

phototec

New Member
First, when I read “beveled look”, I thought you were referring to the outline being beveled. There was recently a lengthy discussion on another forum regarding the name of the letter style you displayed. I have known that to be called a convex letter.

I am a big fan and use convex letter styles often. That was not the look they wanted.

I don’t want to pick apart your portfolio. I too have been ridiculed here over customer dictated artwork.

I do however, want to offer some constructive criticisms. The following comments are based on the two samples you posted here.

I realize it is ultimately about taste and what appeals to you, as having been mentioned in this thread already. The general rule of thumb I follow, is when highlighting or shadowing fonts and such, the natural light source comes from the top. Both of your samples convey a light source from the bottom and for my taste that is “naturally” wrong.

There is a guy in my area that is constantly using a convex font with either a shadow or outline / shadow combo where the light source for the letter is from the bottom while the light source for the shadow is from the top. This in my book is just wrong. I realize it can be a rookie mistake but this guy is no rookie. He either doesn’t care or based on other work he does, doesn’t understand good layouts and doesn’t have the where with all to know or execute simple basics when designing.

Back to your thoughts on this design needing to be” fancied up” with 3-D looks or gradient fills; as I mentioned, I don’t have to look too far to find examples of what you are talking about and most are overdone and / or illegible.

For the most part I have built a reputation on providing clean legible layouts . . . I’ll just keep doing that.:smile:

Jeff - You are 100% right on the light should be coming from the top, I learned that in art class back in the 60's, anyway, back on subject of the convex fonts, I remember a while back you presented some work you had done, and if my memory serves me right, one was the rear window of your truck. And some of that work had convex fonts and it looked great and we all thought it was printed, but NO, you said you made the sign with layered cut vinyl, it had many layers, I was impressed. Do you remember those posted graphics?

Anyway, I remember they were great and could not believe they were cut vinyl.....oh, as I stated before, the police car looked great...:thumb:
 

Jeff

New Member
Jeff - You are 100% right on the light should be coming from the top, I learned that in art class back in the 60's, anyway, back on subject of the convex fonts, I remember a while back you presented some work you had done, and if my memory serves me right, one was the rear window of your truck. And some of that work had convex fonts and it looked great and we all thought it was printed, but NO, you said you made the sign with layered cut vinyl, it had many layers, I was impressed. Do you remember those posted graphics?

Anyway, I remember they were great and could not believe they were cut vinyl.....oh, as I stated before, the police car looked great...:thumb:

Thanks for the positive comments !

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?113216-Shop-truck-magnetics
 

phototec

New Member

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James Burke

Being a grandpa is more fun than working
Yippee, now I can see it.
I think it's a vast improvement, except for one thing. The 'Call' being in a casual, just takes away from the fact that it's an emergency number.

And to a literalist, it's only an invitation to dial 9-1-1.
 

player

New Member
I think everybody has valid points, but when discussing using the text-forum medium little ideas or thoughts get taken the wrong way or blown out of proportion. Then the responses can go another step in the wrong direction. Add to the mix a group of alphas, (just remember I am the true alpha), smart guys and a touch of troll and things start going off the rails.

Nice cop car.

Cheers.
 
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