Just because you're an Artist doesn't mean you're a Sign Maker

[CES020]

I saw something yesterday on a trip to see a client that caught my eye and made me take notice. I was at a stoplight and I was 1 car from the entrance to a couple of stores that share a parking lot. I think one is wheels for cars and one is a floor place. Sitting at the entrance by the road is a sandwich board. I'm maybe 2 cars from it. I'm trying hard to read what it was. I honestly can't read it. I'm squinting, staring, trying to figure it out, since it looks out of place for the wheel store and the lumber store. It's an airbrushed sandwich board. Not only can I not read it, but I can't tell what it even is.

So the light changes, I roll up a little and I'm still trying to figure it out. I'm still not getting it, and then I pick up on one word. "Tattoo". Ahhhhh, it's a tattoo shop. It looks like some great airbrush skills, and I bet the thing looks awesome standing in front of it, but from a sign perspective, it gets a major "fail".

It made me think because so often we hear that you have to have artistic talent to be great at sign making (which I don't have), but I think it's much more than being an artist. While I might not have the artistic talent that person had, I can promise you one thing, I can design and make a sign that would help customers find him. I might not win an award for my design skills, but he isn't going to win an award for his sign skills either, because you can't read a roadside sign from 15 feet away. It was just an interesting experience for me, for some reason. I don't know exactly why, but it was.

I'll swing by there in the next day or so and see if it's still out there. If so, I'll snap a few photos and see if I'm on target of off the mark.

 

[Graphic Destruction]

Tattoo artists tend to have the worst signs IMO. Most of them want them to look like a tattoo, which translates to ineffective advertising.

 

[TheSnowman]

I agree with this even in the digital world. I've had multiple "designers" that I work with send me files and they always have a bleed, they didn't convert fonts to outlines, or they didn't scale it properly, or they don't know how to use a clipping mask, etc. When I get their files, it's a wreck and I have to spend time correcting it, after I told them EXACTLY what I needed. They may be able to design decently, but they have zero clue how to follow directions for some reason and output a file that works as anything other than a JPEG in the end.

 

[CrabbyOldGuy]

One of my favorites is someone who has only designed for either newspaper ads or worse magazine ads. When they send you a file it has like 8 different fonts and they are all very light weight. Then they put it all on a light background with a white stroke around the letters that is nearly the weight of the letters themselves. It doesn't look that good at a magazine size but when you are making a roadside sign, it really looks bad. You cannot explain it to them because they are artists. They know what they are doing.

 

[Gino]

Being an artist of seascapes, landscapes, portraits or a still life of a bowl of fruit on a table with a drape behind it, simply means you have good eye hand coordination. You can hone those skills, just as you can lettering skills. Natural talent, practice, lessons and just doing it makes one better at whatever they tackle in life.

Coming from the fine arts side of things and then getting into the sign business meant I had to re-think a lot of my approaches to things, but the basic fundamentals are still there.

Whether you're an artist or a sign maker, you still need balance, composition, negative space, light direction, foreground/background, perspective, art theory, color theory and most of all the feeling of wanting to do well. This sounds like it pertains to signs with a paint brush or a software package. Nope, it filters into neon, directionals, channels, sandblasting/carving and when getting into electric signs... an all new knowledge of what backlit illumination will do to the copy and/or graphics. Light will play tricks on the eye differently from 1/4 mile away vs. looking at it from 10' away.

So, while you don't need to have any artisitc talents, it can help with one's layout/design in the long run. Otherwise, you're counting on luck giving you a good product every time.

 

[Jillbeans]

A lot of artists can't design a sign, or hand-letter, or even use a computer mask without it looking like crap.
Signs are a completely different animal.
As sign people, I think we are kind of like the jack-of-all-trades.

Being an artist can give you an eye for balance, but an eye for clean design is something that comes with experience...knowing the rules and following them.
Contrast, trying to not overdo effects and things, etc.

I go to a lot of pinstriping events. I can't pinstripe. But a lot of those people can't letter and it drives me batsh!t crazy. I finally spoke up to someone recently who was lettering using a mask...squishing or stretching things to fit, using Brush Script etc. Their pinstriping is excellent but their lettering needed help.
I am so pleased to see them lettering by hand, and doing it well, after only a few weeks.

A lot of tattoo guys can't letter, either...another pet peeve.
Bad script permanently scribed into someone.
Love....Jill

 

[d fleming]

Website designers make the worst sign designers. That's right, I said it.

 

[Mosh]

"YOU SHOULD HIRE MY SON, HE CAN DRAW REAL GOOD"....you know how many times I have heard that?

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

Kapow ... This is the reason I've been so frustrated with most of the vinyl shops, well at least in this area, & also why I still get work.

I am no studied artist myself, but did study by going to school for signs & then reading & so forth, so all this is learned as you progress & willingness to learn & get better.

It has been frustrating because seeing shops buy all the fancy stuff & with high school & Youtube knowledge they are a pro sign shop & now after almost 30 years many are still doing the same things & the younger set sees it as ok.

Customers also see this & still have no idea what advertising really is, only a few really understand because they have made all the errors before.

Best you can do is use poor advertising as fuel for your ventures, take before & after pictures, & do not make negative sales.

 

[Phil Swanson]

This has been one of the biggest problems for sign makers... I ALWAYS cringe when I hear the dreaded "Oh, my (fill in the blank) is an artist and he,she is designing a sign for you to make for me. NNOOOOOO! and then they want it for less because you don't have to design it!!

 

[Baz]

Just because you are a doctor does not mean you can perform brain surgery.

Same thing for artists. Each has their own specialty.

I love the look on "artists" faces when i tell them they don't know jack about designing outdoor signage or vehicle graphics.
Some do but they are few and far between.

My main pet peeve is when i see triple or more outlines to make something stand out ............................................................

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

Signs are a completely different animal.

You got that right! When I got out of tattooing after 13 years and into sign making a few years ago, I figured "Design something as simple as signs? S**t, that will be easy!" Boy was I way wrong. I've learned a lot in the last three years, mostly the hard way through trial and error, but I've got many more years to go to even get anywhere close to mastering the design aspect of signs and branding.

And you're right on point with the jack of all trades comment. Nothing is more true.

 

[OldPaint]

got say this.........as an artist.....not something i ever really had to work at, as far back as i can remember i was always drawing something. i was exposed to art early by a deaf mute guy where i lived. we had a grocery store so lot of different people came there. this guy was awesome to a 5 years old. he alway had a pad and pencil as this was his only way to communicate. he wrote words but had this uncanny ability to look at something....and draw it EXACTLY.....which he did for me, and tried to show me how to do this. i guess i got some of it....cause when i went to 1st grade(6 yrs old)the teacher was amazed because i was drawing things at 4th 5th grade level. she told my parents they had an artist on their hands.......and so the stone was cast. anytime there was stuff for school plays, or holidays the things i did were always way ahead of the other kids. i hit 8th grade and it was in the same school has 9,10, 11 & 12th. and in 8th grade we had to take mechanical drawing, which was one of the A+ classes i pulled off. liked it so well i took it as an elective class the next 4 years. art, mechanical drawing, shop......was all A+ grades, math, english, history....not so much)))) i filled the school tablets with "big daddy ED ROTH" RAT FINK, AND WILD CARS from memory!!! i had a drawing i did of a 1963 corvette(very close to its design)in 1958!!!!! entered the GM design projects. was exposed to SIGN PAINTER, at 10-12 years old, the guy taught me and gave me my 1st set of quills........graduated high school went to school for drafting......then into the military, didnt finish the school cause of the draft.....in the military, they found out the talent i had.........and got me out of a lot mundane work......and got a lot of things for doing charts and graphs for squadron commander))))) plus all the logos and for different squadrons....did sign off and on most of my adult life till i was 42..........feed up with JOBS...picked up my quills and went looking for work......best thing i ever did. as far as the people in this business today with no talent.....if your doing it right good fer ya, but there are so many INEPT individuals doing this now.................i look at signs i see and can tell the level of talent of the maker of the sign.