Graphic design V sign design???

[Dave Drane]

I finally got around to photographing this "signage" this morning even though it was raining. I almost vomit every time I go past this crap. Did the "designer" have any special effects buttons left over after he/she produced this rubbish? Check the tryout at prizmatizing the main copy, to say nothing of the way the negative space was utilized.
In my mind this signage does absolutely nothing at selling the clients product but that is just me and as an old time signwriter I am past my time, and maybe the general public thinks it looks good??? It has become their logo and is all over their trucks and equipment.
Sorry for the rant..

 

[CanuckSigns]

it's far from the worst i've seen! Not saying it's great, but it's far from horrible.

You did touch on a pet peeve of mine though, customers taking a sign layout and deciding it's their new logo, and they use it for business cards, shirts, print ads, etc.. completely ignoring the fact that IT'S NOT A LOGO!!

 

[Dan Antonelli]

May be a dumb question, but what exactly do they do? Do they hire diamond plate cutters or something?

 

[Salmoneye]

I was going to stop by and get me some 'Hire' till I saw they was locally owned.

 

[GAC05]

I was going to stop by and get me some 'Hire' till I saw they was locally owned.

Heh,
That would be a long drive for you.

Bad layout most can agree on but we need Dave or one of his countrymen to translate the sign from Australian to English before the rest of us can judge the context of the message.....

wayne k
guam usa

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

The only thing I see is dimond plate pattern in that sign.

The way you told it sounded like there are a million & 1 elements on the sign.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Heh,
That would be a long drive for you.

Bad layout most can agree on but we need Dave or one of his countrymen to translate the sign from Australian to English before the rest of us can judge the context of the message.....

wayne k
guam usa

It's a tool rental shop, the aussies and the brits use "Hire" where we use "Rental", hire car, tool hire etc..

 

[GAC05]

It's a tool rental shop, the aussies and the brits use "Hire" where we use "Rental", hire car, tool hire etc..

"JC Rental"
With that it does make more sense.
We have an "East-West Rental" company here that does the same thing.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Salmoneye]

I didn't see where it was from, that does make a lot more sense now. I think the diamond plate works with the type of business but I don't think you should ever use a background as part of a logo; how are you going to make that work on your invoices that you run through your copier? I totally agree though that high schoolers with photoshop are killing this business. Customer love these effects on screen or a printed proof and then they look like crap on a sign. Simple, legible, stylish and contrasty seems to work every time. Magazine ad design and signage design are not one in the same.

 

[HulkSmash]

To be honest i've seen MUCH worse.

 

[2B]

the diamond plate should be reduced/eliminated and that would help a lot.

but this is the NOT worse sign I have seen

 

[SignManiac]

I am unanimous in my opinion that good designers are fewer and farther between. Ugly signs are the Armageddon of this century. My eyes weep tears of blood.

 

[tsgstl]

Its easier and easier for the customer to assist in the designing process. You can try to guide or educate but you can only hold there hand so far. It seems like I get more and more "web designers" sending me what their sign should be. Companies replace a graphic department with a couple of 20 year old web geeks (no offense to web geeks)
Even signs is becoming a loose term. 50% of what I do since I got a printer wouldn't be called a sign.

 

[Bobby H]

I don't have as much a problem with the diamond-plate background (probably Alien Skin filter generated) as I do the horrid composition of type. Very bad use of space.

I'm not even all that bothered by the cheesy inner bevel effect. At least the "designer" didn't run the bevel all the way to the center of the stroke the way I see some hacks do. Ugh. Such things look AWFUL since computers cannot properly do prismatic effects around corners and joins without the effect bowling out in very stupid looking ways.

On the bright side, the "designer" didn't squeeze or stretch the type. And the type wasn't set in Arial Bold or Arial Black! (the type looks like Frutiger Next)

There is no shortage of signs in the United States with type set in Arial and distorted to make an already ugly typeface even more ugly. IMHO, I consider the use of Arial on signs to mostly be an act of sheer laziness. Since it begins with "A" it's near the top of the font menu. Why bother installing some natively compressed or extended typefaces? Why bother scrolling farther down the font menu for common Windows fonts like Impact or Haettenschweiler? It's just faster selecting Arial whatever and distorting it to fit any space.

 

[Jillbeans]

My eyes weep tears of blood.

Mine too.
That thing is a hot mess. What crappy spacing!
Not the worst I've seen, to be honest.
But every day, with every poorly designed "sign" I see out there, something in me dies a little.
Love....Jill

 

[Salmoneye]

Uh oh! I have a couple of signs done in Arial Black (seriously). I had better go add a few sculls and flames to them before anyone notices. I still prefer it to Old English (all caps of course).

 

[SignManiac]

I honestly can't remember the last time I used Arial on a sign. Or brush script, old english, or murrey hill.

I've probably spent as much on good fonts as some have on their sign software over the years. And I can't wait to buy more

 

[Marlene]

needs skulls, flames, fake rips and a tribal tat looking thing to really make it a "show piece"

 

[omgsideburns]

It's not pretty, but it's far from the worst.. It looks like a cheesy photoshop layout, minus out of gamut greens/pinks that printed way off, and rough masked images that don't blend with the background.. plus no papyrus/comicsans/petpeevegothic/whatever font other than some helvetica derivative.

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

 

[genericname]

Like the others say, faaaaar from the worst I've seen, and crappier signs can even learn a thing or two from this one, but... is that an Apple candy button effect on the billboard sign? Why didn't the designer just put an orbital around the type and call it a day?