Graphic design V sign design???

[Marlene]

Nothing to brag about.. but unless everything you produce is stellar it's not something I would have picked to complain about.

there are signs out there that are just plain bad and the reasons why are clear. signs like this are bad because someone spent time on it and I would bet the customer was thrilled. it's for those reasons that it is bad and makes people cringe.

PS, I was forced to do a sign with diamond plate for a customer and I would, for the record, put that sign right up there with this one for being bad. people love the sign I did. I cringe and am ashamed to say I had anything to do with it.

 

[Dave Drane]

OK, most people agree that the "sign" or maybe design is not doing what it is supposed to be doing. Maybe some clipart of ladders chainsaws tools, etc may help but as it is, it is just a big pretty mass of shapes and colors gone wrong. If the people who read SignCraft would study the articles by Bob Behounek and keep studying closely his pencil renderings they will see what an "advertising sign" is. We all agree that every newbie should study "Mastering Layout" ON THE ART OF EYE APPEAL, and then stilll get carried away on the computer. Mike Stevens was a sign painter and as such when you sit down and lay out lettering and then paint it by hand you have time to feel the spacing and design of lettering and overall design of color importance and importance also of primary and secondry copy.
Computers are too quickly used to notice kerning etc. but hey! don't worry about things like that, because it makes it too slow to make enough profit because we did not put enough money on the job, and besides the customer would never notice anyway...
All I was trying to state is where does a "graphic Design" end and an "advewrtising sign" begin.. Lets go back and look at some real stuff from Bob Behounek, Chester Cunningham, Gary Anderson etc. etc. Even if you want to go further back then Ralph Gregory and L.A. Doust set good standards.
Today, Dan Antonelli and many others too numerous to mention have bought the trade up to the modern millenium, but old standards still apply.

 

[TyrantDesigner]

Definantly not the worst I've ever seen ... not the best by far. Diamond plate would have worked had it have been made to look like an actual plate on the print ... some false screw heads, maybe a "metal" frame ... or a printed element to look like one ... and probably having some sort of lettering more than just slapped on top would be better ... some cnc'd or gemini lettering with a candy apple paint job would probably have been awesome. ... as for the 'logo' ... really doesn't say much about the company ... probably relating the sign to the company would be better ... when I see diamond plate I think of a manufacturing company ... not a hiring place.

Edit: Crap where did that come from ... bad sign monkey bad! ... too many years doing storefronts in mall i guess. Ignore what I said.

 

[2 see signz]

what if that was the art supplied by the client, would you do it? or pass it on so you never had to look at it again?

if for instance the son designed it and the family business wanted to use it.... the next person to look at it, wont know that the sign shop didn't design it

BTW i didnt do it...lol

 

[2 see signz]

just re-looked at the pic...theres no phone number, is it just me that finds that strange not to have on there?

 

[Dave Drane]

what if that was the art supplied by the client, would you do it? or pass it on so you never had to look at it again?

if for instance the son designed it and the family business wanted to use it.... the next person to look at it, wont know that the sign shop didn't design it

BTW i didnt do it...lol

My pride would not let me accept the job, and I would let it slide rather than have them say I did it when someone said it looked atrocious! The going thing is that an upset client will tell 100 people who did it, but a happy customer will tell only 10?? And the answer to your other question is why would you waste space putting a phone # on a sign when it is right out the front of said business?? Let them walk inside to get it. This is what I mean about prioritizing copy to save valuable space on a sign.

 

[2 see signz]

My pride would not let me accept the job, and I would let it slide rather than have them say I did it when someone said it looked atrocious! The going thing is that an upset client will tell 100 people who did it, but a happy customer will tell only 10?? And the answer to your other question is why would you waste space putting a phone # on a sign when it is right out the front of said business?? Let them walk inside to get it. This is what I mean about prioritizing copy to save valuable space on a sign.

same here....

what about when the shop is closed? how does someone going past there get the details?

 

[S'N'S]

Want some cheese with that wine?
That's not prism, by the look of it it's supposed to be reflection.(like chrome)
I've seen hundreds of signs 10 times worse than that and maybe the design came from when they were a small company and kept it even though they are quite a big company now.... http://www.jchire.com.au/
And I bet that they will NEVER have a customer or whatever come in and say "gee that's one ugly sign you got out the front" because 99% of customers couldn't give a rats $rse about the sign.

 

[Dave Drane]

Want some cheese with that wine?
That's not prism, by the look of it it's supposed to be reflection.(like chrome)
I've seen hundreds of signs 10 times worse than that and maybe the design came from when they were a small company and kept it even though they are quite a big company now.... http://www.jchire.com.au/
And I bet that they will NEVER have a customer or whatever come in and say "gee that's one ugly sign you got out the front" because 99% of customers couldn't give a rats $rse about the sign.

Nope, they are not the big company now, (Coates) and I could not see the "reflection" just anothwer keyboard button. It still loks billious to me and it is the 3rd time in 3 years they have attempted to get a new look. If you look at one of the pictures you will see the last attemp that was 100% better than what they have now. I still stick by my original statement that so called "graphic" designs do not compete with an old fashioned design for legibility. The best signwriters started out as ticketwriters through knowledge of layout and not pretty pictures. How many times have you seen a vehicle go by that catches your attention, but you just don't get the message. Does the public know anything about signs?? They would not know poop from clay but at least a message should be able to be ingested. Go and have another beer gary. It's a bit more about pride, rather than take the money and run.:ROFLMAO:

 

[S'N'S]

I think this statement is the same as what I said "Does the public know anything about signs?? They would not know poop from clay but at least a message should be able to be ingested" That is why no one will ever say anything to the Company.

Havent drank beer for 25 years ...or was that a polite way to say get stuffed?:Big Laugh