Chatterbox INTERIOR SIGN for lobby

[Salmoneye]

Hey Old Paint, I was really happy that Chatterbox was even willing to come back on here and try to answer the valid question that I was asking. If my proof template looked more like his I think that my salesman would have a much more professional presentation to our clients. Let's not run him off with a few peoples circle jerk o' hate before before I find out how to easily do those call outs and dimension boundaries.

 

[vid]

Great spec sheet!


Reading the details from your design thread, I could almost get there on the exuberant construction. I'd think the lighting is going to play a role in how well that works. ..It really looks like a planned fabrication and use of found material.

I went through an eerily similar dimensional sign with an architect --- black acrylic, brushed aluminum, painted FCOs. It was painful to spec ...and it had to retro fit on to an existing structure, too. But it was going to be a cool fabrication. Of anyone in the shop, I was the most patient and could interpret the customer's vision so that it could actually be fabricated. But it got to the point that it seemed the only people that could visualize the completed sign were me and the architect. It was a poor decision on my part to let it get as crazy as it did. It probably rates at the top of my most inappropriate use of time list. ...and frankly, it lost the focus of what the sign was supposed to do. I tried to reign in the customer. His micro management tweaks attempted to make it an art piece, (very liberal use of the term) and my simplifications tried to keep it a sign.

He walked. In my mind, it was a good thing. In the boss's mind, I'd be working some hours gratis.

I tell that story, because the epiphany on what happened to me, reached back to a college art class.

There was one guy that had a vision in his drawings. It was a touch overwhelming and the theme had been played better. His Pit Bull defense of his vision was polarizing. In one critique, Arie, an east coast guy with an opinion, finally called his work “Visual Self-Gratification” there was a different word used, but similar meaning. And you had to be there to revel in the New Jersey accent. ...But, I had become that guy with the architects sign. The only one happy with the sign was me. Welllllllll, I did stroke the architect’s ego. BUT THAT’S JUST DIRTY AND SHAMEFUL!

It appears that this piece is suffering a similar critique.
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FWIW, my take on the piece is that it’ll probably make a fine display of capabilities in fabrication. The layout and design could probably be more effective.

• “Publishing, Inc” doesn’t relate to anything other than it’s on the same structure as everything else. Neither the type or material is consistent with the rest of the piece --- distracting the eye from a cohesive investigation of the sign.
  
• The subtext of “ Sign Design, Consulting, Instruction, and Branding” gets interrupted by the six-seven other elements for the eye to see and interpret — Chatterbox, left screw cover, CDP Logo, Publishing, Inc., right screw cover, gradient band, triangle. But the dimension may help to sort that out mmmmmmaaybe?
  
• The subtext also gets lost with the horizontal bars (H) that take the eye off the edges of the sign. The triangle compounds the eye leaving the sign because of it’s similar material construction and points away. Its one less side, than the rectangle the subtext makes, raise questions about what it relates to.
  
• These horizontal (H) bars also distract from the focus of the gradient band (B) because they are the same length.
  
• The left and right screw head covers (F) pull the eye away from the Chatterbox FCOs and seem to be visually uncomfortable to the edges. Same with the clear subtext rectangles.

It’s been my experience that this kind of stuff is fun to look at once. After that, it tends to get overlooked because it’s so flamboyant.

My quick fix changes would be:

• make the black plex two smidges taller – to pick up more reflection and increase some negative space for the subtext
  
• make the triangle into a square - to relate to the subtext.
  
• shorten the brushed aluminum bars – to push the focus to Chatterbox
  
• bow the gradient band out another 1/4” in the center to splash a curvy reflection on the black plex
  
• make the screw covers smaller and move away from the edge to be less distracting
  
• concede that “Publishing” is just going to be awkward...
  
• and I’d think about putting it on a 1/2 PVC backer to pull it off the wall and give it some mass and a shadow line.

But I don’t have your resume and I draw cartoon pigs.




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[vid]

If my proof template looked more like his I think that my salesman would have a much more professional presentation to our clients...

Not only that, but when you pull archived art to recreate/change/replace something that the shop made, there's convenient documentation on what materials were used. While it does have it’s presentation benefits, it’s my opinion that it’s mandatory for the shop to know what they “L” they’re doing for efficiency in production.

The shop I work at has a 12-13 year history of archived jobs from simple banners to monument signs. The early years are brutal to read with specs like “red and blue vinyl” --- but it is documented and I’m familiar enough with the workflow of the “old” shop employees that I can guess with a fair amount of accuracy what was used.

Now however, we have a custom spot color palette of most of the vinyl colors we use embedded in each file. The callouts we do use are more specific --- CB’s are great and I’m likely to start integrating some of that style. We don’t use letters, but rather document the features in a specifications list. We use callouts sparingly when it’s a more complex fabrication.

Rick had posted a link a while back that introduced me to CADtools. It’s the bomb for Illustrator. It's also with his recommendation that I’ve considered the purchase of CB’s book. ...and if he’s generous enough to become a Signs101 Merchant Member and offer a modest discount to Premium Members – I’ve got a card that needs some more burnt off it’s magnetic strip ​

...and yes, it is a PITA to do. But it can be shamefully embarrassing and expensively confusing not doing it. ...and it's required for permits.






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