Sign for Massage Therapist, critique please

[AmyW]

Here's a few versions of a sign for an RMT who works out of her house and wants to be sure her clients know they're at the right home. She is in a busy neighborhood, so I figured it is worth having her phone # so potential clients have a way of contacting her.

My preference would be to do the top left one as a sandblasted cedar sign with a nice routered edge so I can play with some new equipment. I'm not 100% happy with the fonts though and was thinking it would look good in A&S Old Glory for "Massage Therapy" but I don't want to buy the font if the design sucks or she doesn't like it. (I'm just starting out so my font budget is verrry limited right now)

The bottom left was inspired by a design on the A&S site, but I don't think it's her style at all so that one's more a design exercise for me I guess.

The ones on the right are based off her requests, and again I'd love to use better fonts like A&S Cardiak, Bogie, or Snapper Script. The top one is because as one of her requests she wanted to incorporate a tree, and the bottom right is me trying to make her initial sketch work.

Please critique away, I love learning from the amazing talented designers here (and hope one day to become at least a little bit like you).

 

[AmyW]

Forgot to add, she wants it ~ 1.5' x 2' as it will be hanging from the cedar trellis work above their garage door

 

[Gino]

They all seem to suffer from the same symptoms...... weak fonts and lack of balance.

None of them will do well as a sign on a busy street. Far too much going on with all the doo-dads and such. You might want to keep the feminine look you have started with, but you’re gonna go down a road of a disgruntled customer, when everyone says….. ya can’t read a blasted thing…. it’s too frilly and full of too much information.

Trees, hands [that look like legs] and conflicting fonts are just too much for this little sign.

 

[AmyW]

Exactly what I was expecting to hear, thanks Gino for taking the time to spell it out. What fonts would you reccomend?

 

[Marlene]

have to agree with Gino. the balance is way off. the oval you liked is OK but needs work. I hate the way the do dad looks under the letters as it only makes the balance seem worse. (see red arrows). when running text along the edge of an oval, it looks off to have two different sizes in the same lien of text. the one with the sharp things is not good at all for this as it looks painful and just not right for this type of business. the sharp things run thru letters making them unreadable. the other two are horrid. they have way too much going on in them and are unreadable at best.

 

[SignManiac]

They all look more like business cards than signs.

 

[Gino]

Exactly what I was expecting to hear, thanks Gino for taking the time to spell it out. What fonts would you reccomend?

I'm not a font giving kinda guy.......... If I or anyone else makes the suggestion and you go forward with it..... what did you learn ??

You're here to learn and with the many members here giving their 2¢ and 3¢, you should learn at a pretty good clip.

Think about it from an advertising point of view and not a personal feel kinda thing. What kinda fonts work well ?? Big, bold, thin, fat, serif, non-serif, cursive, decorative, casual, old, new age...... ?? You said it was a busy neighborhood, so you need something to catch attention quickly and be read from some distance. You do the math and let us know what you come up with. As far as all the frilly stuff, does tree limbs and hands help find her ?? Probably not, so think again about the 'cutesie' stuff.... it just takes up valuable space. What's the meat and potatoes... and one side dish of the whole thing and try to stay to one main font and possibly a second for whatever else might be needed.

 

[AmyW]

I'm not a font giving kinda guy.......... If I or anyone else makes the suggestion and you go forward with it..... what did you learn ??

You're here to learn and with the many members here giving their 2¢ and 3¢, you should learn at a pretty good clip.

Think about it from an advertising point of view and not a personal feel kinda thing. What kinda fonts work well ?? Big, bold, thin, fat, serif, non-serif, cursive, decorative, casual, old, new age...... ?? You said it was a busy neighborhood, so you need something to catch attention quickly and be read from some distance. You do the math and let us know what you come up with. As far as all the frilly stuff, does tree limbs and hands help find her ?? Probably not, so think again about the 'cutesie' stuff.... it just takes up valuable space. What's the meat and potatoes... and one side dish of the whole thing and try to stay to one main font and possibly a second for whatever else might be needed.

Point taken, thanks again.

Am I wrong in thinking that the point of advertising is to create a feeling? That's how I understand it so for massage therapy I'm looking for a font that feels relaxing and professional which to me is a bolder scripty/elegant font, paired with a simple, super easy to read font for the phone # and her name. I think the A&S fonts I mentioned (Old Glory, Cardiak, Bogie, or Signwriter) would fit, but I don't have the $ to buy them and play around with them, so I was kinda hoping you (or someone else) would tell me if one of them would be good. Or point me in the direction of another website with quality fonts to choose from.

 

[Gino]

If I think of massage and wellness places, I think of soothing, feeling better and kooky music in the background with a cup of herbal tea when you leave. Trying to climb in every passer-by's eye/head and give the illusion of this with fonts, is probably a waste of your time and money..... especailly if you don't have a large arsenal of fonts from which to choose already.

Think about soothing and a feeling of wellness can be achieved far easier with your choice of color. Try making the sign become therapeutic and keep the copy strong and bold. You don't want letters falling over themselves because they give YOU a feeling of relaxation. You want them to be strong and standing tall and straight to be proud on the sign they've been designed to fulfill. Have your sign make the statement by using balance, elements, composition and subliminal things, which can cover a broad area from color to halftones or even subtle icons.

Oh... and lose the phone number. Who is gonna stand outside of her house and call her if she ain't home ?? People driving by will never be able to see it, so again, stop wasting valuable real estate to unnecessary stuff.
​

 

[AmyW]

Is this any better?
Can the tree idea work as a faint background like this or is it still too busy?

 

[bob]

...Am I wrong in thinking that the point of advertising is to create a feeling?...

The point of advertising is to sell the product. If you buy why would anyone possibly care how you feel?

Your efforts, all of them, are a classic example of an MSWord wrangler working at full capacity. If you want to be in this business, invest in a decent collection of sign fonts. Including some basic serif and sans serif faces along with all of the possibilities for specimen faces. Lose the dreck that came with MSOffice, Corel, Adobe, or whatever you're using.

And just what is that black thing on the lower right panel? It loos like the tail of a mutant seal.

 

[AmyW]

The point of advertising is to sell the product. If you buy why would anyone possibly care how you feel?

Your efforts, all of them, are a classic example of an MSWord wrangler working at full capacity. If you want to be in this business, invest in a decent collection of sign fonts. Including some basic serif and sans serif faces along with all of the possibilities for specimen faces. Lose the dreck that came with MSOffice, Corel, Adobe, or whatever you're using.

And just what is that black thing on the lower right panel? It loos like the tail of a mutant seal.

Mutant seal ?!?!?! thanks for the laugh Bob

I must be really missing an important concept, was thinking people buy because of how something makes them feel and the sign should at least hint at that feeling. Thanks to you and Gino I'm learning a lot today.

You are absolutely correct, I'm using all the fonts that came with my computer. If you want to point me in the direction of a gorgeous collection of fonts that will make my work look at least a hint professional (and not MSWord wrangler crap) please do.

 

[omgsideburns]

Bangma massage therapist? You bet I would.

 

[John Butto]

for Bob

This is tail end of advertizing.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Here's an A-Frame we just finished for a massage therapist here.

 

[AmyW]

Here's an A-Frame we just finished for a massage therapist here.

Thanks for sharing. I didn't even think of the A-frame option. Will chat with her about that too.

 

[Gino]

Thanks for sharing. I didn't even think of the A-frame option. Will chat with her about that too.

Before you chat about that, make sure codes will allow her to put such a sign out.... as this 'A' frame.... in fact, is she allowed to have the one you are designing ?? You shouldn't go around designing signs which may or may not be accepted by the local authorities. Even if other people have signs out, that does not make it legal. There are a number of reasons for codes.... make sure you are not breaking any of them. You might not be responsible for pulling the permit, but you certainly need to know the laws in your area pertaining to signs.

 

[AmyW]

Tried fixing up the oval one. Am I on the right track?

 

[AceSignsOnline]

Tried fixing up the oval one. Am I on the right track?

It definitely gets the point across better than the initial examples. Don't forget that your job is to help your client advertise a service. It's your client's job to invoke the "buying emotions", so to speak. Obviously, there are exceptions and grey areas when it comes to that, but it's just my opinion.

Good luck!

 

[Marlene]

the design in post #10 wasn't that bad. get rid of the shadow as it makes me feel like I have double vision. again the balance on that one is way off. it looks like you centered the top but then center the bottom copy to each other but put that off to the left along with the faded tree thing so what was up with that? either center all the copy or balance out the bottom by putting the lettering to the right and the treee thingy to the left (as it is)

the re-do of the oval is not better. again the shadow looks like a double strike, not a shadow. the do dads look thrown in to fill space and that isn't what they should be used for. are these done on black & white for layout but will be colored when finished? if not, work the soft soothing feeling of a massage not only with fonts but with color. a nice green background, pale tree thingy, very dark green letters or brown. earth tones are good, blues are good