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Time Machine

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SqueeGee

New Member
I've been thinking about the future of our company which requires me to examine the future of our industry. I've been around for 15 years and have witnessed amazing changes. 20 years seems too far to look out but 10 seems manageable. So...

You're transported 10 years into the future. It's now February 2021. You walk into a successful and thriving sign company. What are they doing differently now than in 2011? What equipment do they have? What kinds of products are they producing? What kinds of skills do their employees have?

Nothing's too far fetched. Please share what you envision.
 
AUTO-FX

AUTO-FX

New Member
I envision cut vinyl as being for special applications only. Same with solvent printing, having been nearly replaced with latex.
 
Fred Weiss

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
I think you will see a huge chunk of market go to the concept of "committed signage" with easily changed content. What mix of technology will best serve the easily changed content will have lots of competition from electronic, video, digital printing on banner faces and translucent plastics. The less it involves materials, the greener and therefore the better.

The committed signage is what will become more and more uniform and will be of a grade to last for decades while the content will be produced by feeding in some data or a video or printing a new insert with water based inks. Vehicle signage will follow the same path and will be something that can be salvaged and reused or sold when the vehicle is retired. Major sellers of vehicle signage systems will be the automobile manufacturers and their dealers. Auto dealers will become competition for the independent sign shop to supply the graphic content as will Kinko's, Office Depot etc.

Anything wasteful or environmentally unfriendly will fade into obsolescence.

Adhesive backed vinyl and other films will fall into disuse for both labor and environmental concerns.
 
CheapVehicleWrap

CheapVehicleWrap

New Member
We've all heard of it and it's bound to happen. You walk into a 7-11, they still have those hotdog rollers. You select one with only 130 miles on it. Grab a refreshment and a pack of condoms. Cigarettes are no longer part of society. You head back out to the car, but wait... you forgot your signage. Damn. No need to wait in line. You head back inside and there it is, right next to the red box. It's called "The Print Button". You insert a mere 500 Euros, hit the print button and wahlah! Your signs are dispensed laminated and all without outgasing and silvering. It would be the same across the US, except in Iowa on the Nebraska border the service would only be 75 Euros.
 
signage

signage

New Member
I see in 10 years we are all working for the Chinese, removing the signs we have created in the past while they use their new technology. This technology is a flat clear membrane that acquires its information from the main electronic control unit of the building.
 
A

andy

New Member
Or....

You'll be installing European style sign products and using the Euro... in the face of an economic tidal wave from the east the west may well circle the wagons and become the single economic block it probably needs to be... who knows, at some stage there might even be the United States of Europe & Northern America.

Being a second class citizen in a world dominated by the Han Chinese isn't all that appealing... perhaps single Western block really is the best way forward?!
 
Craig Sjoquist

Craig Sjoquist

New Member
Looks into my crystal ball 10 years from now.... ahhh such changes we have, most stores are now into video advertising people walk by a window and can inner react, LED, video, touch, motion, & smell tech is big, for those who have the money.
For those who are not rich they will be using vinyl still some what, but hand painted signs will be the main form of advertising, because as high tech grows so does low tech.
 
Letterbox Mike

Letterbox Mike

New Member
I don't think it's going to be drastically different. But I'd expect to see a significant increase in digital displays in retail environments, significantly more direct-to-substrate printing and significantly less self-adhesive vinyls used. I'd guess by then some new cheaper and greener ink technology will have seated itself as the new king (probably latex if it continues to grow teeth), and old-fashioned solvent and UV curable inks will be a thing of the past.

I also personally believe that as the sign buyers get more sophisticated and demanding and the economy rebounds, clients will demand higher quality than ever before, weeding out many of the fly-by-night shops producing sub-par work. I'm betting on this because I'm already seeing this trend in our market, and I really think it will continue.
 
S

Salmoneye

New Member
I see printers that are like automated car washes. You drive your car in and park it, the robotic arms that contain the print heads know the exact dimensions of the car and print the wrap directly.
 
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SqueeGee

New Member
As a successful sign company in 2021, I think we'll be thinkers or doers without very much else in between. Either we're designing dynamic displays that require a simple upload to our clients' server or we're building a custom sign that costs too much to ship that few others are capable of making in the area.

The cost of wide format printers, 3D printers, CNC's, lasers and the equipment to build signs have advanced so significantly that the cost to enter the market is insanely low.

Those that are successful have figured out how to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack by being ultra efficient and building relationships with their clients. Thriving companies will be successful in producing positive quantifiable results with their efforts while mediocre or failing companies will simply do what they're told to do.

Value is the key and 10 years from now, there will less ways to fake it. As a sign company, you'll either be following orders strictly as a fabricator(low return) or you'll be providing intelligent solutions as a problem solver(high return).

I think the sign company of the future has more to do with harnessing knowledge and relationships and much less to do with actual production & fabrication.
 
C

CentralSigns

New Member
Since the world will end as we know it by the end of this year, what is the future of signs. Will it be the dark ages again? Could it be a back to a hammer and chisel for rock or stone as the substrate. Paint may be the norm once we discover how to make natural ones. We should all learn the dying arts, Old Paint will be a Messiah in the new sign world. Dan Antonelli will be back to his roots, as electricity will be non-existent in the new world so will be computers. Don't they stop working after 11/11/2011 as some predict. As the internet remains down, signs 101 becomes a history book, and Fred sells Florida realestate, until global warming raises the ocean level above Florida, then he moves to Georgia or Alabama and retires. Maybe we will end up in the concentration camps they stick all the non conformers in, after the 2011 New World Order US, sorry Mosh. Maybe we should learn from our past to survive our future. Or will we even need signs again, as we know them. I'm not worrying about it now, life is for living.
 
Dan Antonelli

Dan Antonelli

New Member
CentralSigns said:
Dan Antonelli will be back to his roots, as electricity will be non-existent in the new world so will be computers.
Click to expand...

Computer or not, I'm always true to my roots. I always remember where I came from, and the principles I learned hanging off the side of vans lettering and study layout are principles still employed everyday.

And the vision I had some 15 years ago about what I wanted to offer small businesses, also is just as true today as it was then.

Life is all about picking an objective down the road, and working towards it. Otherwise, you're not running your life - your life's running you. Kind of like a ship without a rudder. Sure you might find a safe harbor, but more likely you hit a shallow reef on the way in and sink.
 
B-RAD Graphics

B-RAD Graphics

New Member
the world is coming to an end..did you guys forget this...it is self distructing b4 our own eyes...:omg: Maybe I have been watching to much History channel..:covereyes:
 
Tim Aucoin

Tim Aucoin

New Member
Signs will have fallen "victim" to the distracted driver laws and will be outlawed by then! :rolleyes: Won't matter anyhow. Store fronts as we know them today will not exist. It will all be done via internet. It will be illegal to walk the streets, as people walking will be a distraction to drivers too.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Signs, billboards, truck lettering and other forms of visual advertisements will be outlawed due to their overabundance, eye-sore tactics and free will. We will be programmed not to pay attention to anything as we will be programmed as to what we may eat, drink and do with any free time we might have based upon what the World Government will allow. The World Government will do all of our advertising.

Have you ever seen the sign work of third world countries ?? That's a lot like what we'll have.
 
M

mark galoob

New Member
i see the future and it is...

all signs will be on a liquid substrate that is based on some sort of nanobyte technology. this liquid will be applied to whatever surface you want to place your sign on, and the nanobytes will be able to "light up" and turn into any sign like a TV. this message can be changed by plugging into your tricorder and simply downloading the new sign. the sign can even be a "video" or commercial. it will know who is looking at it and scan the retina of the person, and be able to predict their buying patterns, and detail the advertisment toward that persons personal preference.

actually, i fully believe in the zombie apocalypce, in my store i have a glass display with a shotgun, machete, and ammo pack that says "in case of zombies, break glass"...lol

mark galoob
 
gnatt66

gnatt66

New Member
all this in 10 years? y'all need to come to new hampshire. i live in a "city" along the vt border. can't get dsl still, and break dancing/hammer pants JUST went out of style.

journey plays on every radio station during the lunch hour, as does .38 special. (like they just came out).

and you all talk of 5th element style lighted windows and all....pfffft.
 
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