Know your production limitations for channel letters

[Bradley D]

I recently did another article for signs of the times. I would love to get your feedback. The article discusses what jobs to take one as a sign company.

Know Your Production Limitations for Channel Letters

Stop the slop.

signsofthetimes.com

 

[StarSign]

This goes for more than just channel letters.

 

[Bradley D]

This goes for more than just channel letters.

Yes it does. I think the main issue with sign companies biting off more than they can chew is that your standard sign shop is expected to offer absolutely everything. I maintain my sanity by sticking to a fairly narrow field of work which is premium style trimless channel letters and also other specialty styles of channel letters.

 

[Bradley D]

photo from Signs of the Times article

 

[pro-UP]

I recently did another article for signs of the times. I would love to get your feedback. The article discusses what jobs to take one as a sign company.

Know Your Production Limitations for Channel Letters

Stop the slop.

signsofthetimes.com

One of the things I learned when I was in my college psychology class was that the youths believe themselves to be invincible because they don't honestly think they will ever die. They think they are invincible, will live forever, and are fearless in many ways. This was helpful to understand when I coached soccer and dealing with the kids. I think this can stay with us through life because we sometimes think everything will work out, even without a plan. Like hiking with no supplies or taking on jobs that may not make the most sense, lol.

We were working on a really large airport renovation project once and there were over 3000 signs. The client we were working with really wanted the job and wanted to bid but the CFO strongly disagreed. After doing some research into what the budget could look like, the types of signs, and the payment schedule it was ultimately decided to pass. It's always painful to see opportunities pass us by, but sometimes it makes sense to not lose everything on a gamble.

I liked your article, thanks for sharing it!

 

[Bobby H]

I first started designing channel letter signs more than 30 years ago, back when the primary illumination method was NEON. Back then it was of the utmost importance to be absolutely aware of letter stroke width minimums and various other issues. The shift to internal LED-based lighting has allowed a certain level of complacency, negligence and laziness to creep into the situation. Yeah, it's possible to get away with using somewhat smaller letters and/or more narrow letter strokes. Still, not all fonts can fly for channel letter purposes.

Speaking of "slop," so-called AI is yet another problem. A customer types a prompt into ChatGPT or whatever and it spits out some kind of pixel-based illustration of a sign design, but very often when you look closely at the image the AI-churned result is a bunch of impractical crap not attached to reality at all. Ordinary customers don't know that, but yet still expect sign companies to faithfully reproduce the "precious artwork" the AI gods delivered to them in the form of lighted signs, including channel letters.

I like the point in the article about jobbing out certain production tasks. Any sign shop can go through a period where they lose one or more key fabricators who generated good, clean quality work. No one can just hire a random person off the street and expect them to be fabricating flawless looking channel letters right off the bat. You end up having to get by with jobbing some production out to specialty shops that focus on channel letter work until your in-house crew can get their skills up to snuff.

 

[Bradley D]

One of the things I learned when I was in my college psychology class was that the youths believe themselves to be invincible because they don't honestly think they will ever die. They think they are invincible, will live forever, and are fearless in many ways. This was helpful to understand when I coached soccer and dealing with the kids. I think this can stay with us through life because we sometimes think everything will work out, even without a plan. Like hiking with no supplies or taking on jobs that may not make the most sense, lol.

We were working on a really large airport renovation project once and there were over 3000 signs. The client we were working with really wanted the job and wanted to bid but the CFO strongly disagreed. After doing some research into what the budget could look like, the types of signs, and the payment schedule it was ultimately decided to pass. It's always painful to see opportunities pass us by, but sometimes it makes sense to not lose everything on a gamble.

I liked your article, thanks for sharing it!

I appreciate your thoughtful response. Yes, we all find out how invincible we are as we age and our backs give out. I am encouraged by 2 Corinthians 4: 17 "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."

 

[Bradley D]

I first started designing channel letter signs more than 30 years ago, back when the primary illumination method was NEON. Back then it was of the utmost importance to be absolutely aware of letter stroke width minimums and various other issues. The shift to internal LED-based lighting has allowed a certain level of complacency, negligence and laziness to creep into the situation. Yeah, it's possible to get away with using somewhat smaller letters and/or more narrow letter strokes. Still, not all fonts can fly for channel letter purposes.

Speaking of "slop," so-called AI is yet another problem. A customer types a prompt into ChatGPT or whatever and it spits out some kind of pixel-based illustration of a sign design, but very often when you look closely at the image the AI-churned result is a bunch of impractical crap not attached to reality at all. Ordinary customers don't know that, but yet still expect sign companies to faithfully reproduce the "precious artwork" the AI gods delivered to them in the form of lighted signs, including channel letters.

I like the point in the article about jobbing out certain production tasks. Any sign shop can go through a period where they lose one or more key fabricators who generated good, clean quality work. No one can just hire a random person off the street and expect them to be fabricating flawless looking channel letters right off the bat. You end up having to get by with jobbing some production out to specialty shops that focus on channel letter work until your in-house crew can get their skills up to snuff.

We take on most any type of font with grand canyon hike enthusiasm. But, harder to fabricate letters are our strength. I frequently get asked for signs that stray from channel letters and although I'm tempted to quote them, especially if we are not busy, I will often just send a referral to a sign shop client that I know handles larger signs or bulk orders or whatever the job may be. I also get people who just want the absolute cheapest thing that lights up. I send those away as well. The advantage of my company is that I sell the signs and make them as well. I have a very good idea of what we can do and what we should pass up. A lot of salespeople would benefit with time fabricating to learn the ins and outs of what should be sold and what can be made.