If I get Fitch right here he started this thread to ask why so many refuse to learn the very basics of the trade they so proudly practice,...I have to say Craig here has the best approach to this concept thus far,...he may not claim to be the best,..but he went to school for what he does and has followed a proper discipline to achieve what he has achieved with no doubt about his direction. I see so many in this trade today(and whether you like the term or not it is and will remain a trade) who profess knowledge due to years of experience,yet so few have ever really even read the first book on the subject. There are and will remain many formal textbooks out there if you look hard enough that cover just about any aspect of our trade even the vinyl and digital side,yet I rarely if ever see them quoted in any debate. What if electricians depended on years of trial and error practice to wire your house and they became good at doing it the wrong way,..What if lawyers decided they could practice law by just showing up in court and hanging out a shingle(sign for those who don't know)then assure us they get us off scott free because they've been in court every day for ten years,..what if doctors decided to hang around the emergency room for four or five years and then suddenly decide that because they had been sweeping the floor they could invest in a bunch of medical equipment and start diagnosing people's ills?
To make my point I have spent my whole career working for other sign shops as a pictorial painter and contractor all over the southeastern United States and If I had a quarter for every time some shop owner tried to convince me how great and successful they were and how great the guy who taught them the trade was,... then go over to an easel and start to letter in a fashion that is condemned by every textbook I have ever read on hand lettering and sign painting( and I've read at least a good dozen or more on just sign painting and three or four college textbooks on lettering and the principles of typographical design.) and it looked great but it was done improperly. In essence they had become very good at doing something in the improper manner and or to put it simply the wrong way. The same goes for vinyl stickers or digital prints or wraps or whatever,....if you have learned your trade by trial and error it will be a very long time before you can call yourself a master (if ever at all) of it. what if our medical,legal,architectural,engineering,and or any other professional practices followed that procedure?
The very reason they are called professions, and not trades is the fact that our society does not allow them to operate in this manner. Many of the "trades" do not allow this approach either. However unfortunate it may be the sign industry does not regulate itself in this fashion,..,.yet there are some and those of us who have done our homework and paid our dues who can read between the lines here and see the difference in the attitudes of those uneducated individuals who have practiced their trade so blindly by trial and error. I'm not trying to say that just because someone went to school or read a few books,... or that they had to, in order to be good what they do for a living and or proficient at it. But i am trying to say If you follow society's rules and try to educate yourself in the basic disciplines of our trade, the odds are greatly improved for your chances of success,...every little aspect will help. That's why I admire the ideal of a this trade as a profession. If this trade were considered a profession and regulated as such anyone who practiced it would be REQUIRED to learn certain basic aspects of the practice of making signs,period.
What if a doctor were not required to learn the basics of diagnostics and medication prescribing and they could just get paid to guess our ills and society depended upon those who only had a talent for these procedures to guess the solutions to our ills?
Well lets put the shoe on the other foot,..We live in a society that says if our business is sick from lack of customers we can go to the cheapest guesser who was bought some brushes and a couple of cans of paint,and or was fortunate enough to have the money and or credit to invest in some digital equipment and has the fanciest buttons and latest software to go with them to fix the problem.We can rest assured he knows how to operate the equipment but we have no guarantee the way he or she does so will actually benefit us and or solve our problem.
Man I tell ya what,..I'm gonna go buy me a damned stethoscope,... tha guys who wear them make a helluva lot of money!!!!!!!!!
Whats wrong with this picture??????I know just about anyone can buy a stethoscope, and they are very simple to use,...the guys who use them make a buttload of money too!,...................................
Some things never change Fitch and no matter how hard we try we cannot change them,....My dad used to say,..you can lead a horse to water but ya can't make him drink it,....
Sounded impressive and they ate it up.
