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Would your business survive?
- Thread starter round man
- Start date
round man
New Member
Never claimed to be a great journalist here ,...I guess the reason I kept adding the "hand" before lettering was the fact that the only place I've seen any info on letterforms and basic layout was in hand lettering books,....anyone out there have any good books on typography that addresses the basics of letter forms and layout they can suggest other than the ones already for sale in the sign mags?
Patrick46
New Member
I will say this in defense of RM...
Many of today signguys do NOT understand things like the way a nicely done hand done letter flows.
Yes, you can by some lovely vectoirzed versions from some very good sources...but the ability to do them brings an understanding of what & how a nicely done letter should look. (I've seen a signs that were completely hand lettered in Helvetica, that were simply lovely to look at.) Sure, we all have Helvetica on our computers, but the way it was done had such a nice quality to it.
Am I making any sence here??
So I guess my point is that someone who has worked his way up through the ranks of hand lettering (and learning what serifs were, correct spacing and the lot...), and moved on to using vinyl, may have a slight advantage when it comes to correct font useage.
(Heck, I have days where I just start brousing through my font files until I find something that just happens to catch my eye...weather or not it may be correct for the job at hand.)
But back when I was strictly hand lettering, I did not have the luxury of perusing 100's of type styles at the press of a key. I had to make each typestyle fit the particular job at hand...or I don't think I wouldda lasted too long in this business otherwise.
(I still skrewed a bunch of those up anyway.)
I do know this though too...
I am NOT very adept at using my computers and plotters to their best potential. I use it as just another tool in my shop. I cut ALOT of paint masks and friskets on it.
Some folks (like ME) simply don't understand the ways & means of what makes a computer tick. I've taken a few classes on computer use...but somehow I can't seem to get it thorough my concrete brain on how these things work...and I DO believe that this lack of understanding is a shortcoming to my future in this business. (Ya gotta be able to compete to stay alive ya know.) Of course, there ARE some guys (& gals) that can do some AMAZING things with computers & vinyl out there...but I'm not one.
Oh, I can get online and piss people off alright. I can purchase things online that I really don't need, over on e-Buy, and I can e-mail people to a limited degree. But me and computers are NOT the best of friends.
Thank God my son is coming on board with me in business...and he (like all young folks) is a whizzz at this computer stuff.
Many of today signguys do NOT understand things like the way a nicely done hand done letter flows.
Yes, you can by some lovely vectoirzed versions from some very good sources...but the ability to do them brings an understanding of what & how a nicely done letter should look. (I've seen a signs that were completely hand lettered in Helvetica, that were simply lovely to look at.) Sure, we all have Helvetica on our computers, but the way it was done had such a nice quality to it.
Am I making any sence here??
So I guess my point is that someone who has worked his way up through the ranks of hand lettering (and learning what serifs were, correct spacing and the lot...), and moved on to using vinyl, may have a slight advantage when it comes to correct font useage.
(Heck, I have days where I just start brousing through my font files until I find something that just happens to catch my eye...weather or not it may be correct for the job at hand.)
But back when I was strictly hand lettering, I did not have the luxury of perusing 100's of type styles at the press of a key. I had to make each typestyle fit the particular job at hand...or I don't think I wouldda lasted too long in this business otherwise.
(I still skrewed a bunch of those up anyway.)
I do know this though too...
I am NOT very adept at using my computers and plotters to their best potential. I use it as just another tool in my shop. I cut ALOT of paint masks and friskets on it.
Some folks (like ME) simply don't understand the ways & means of what makes a computer tick. I've taken a few classes on computer use...but somehow I can't seem to get it thorough my concrete brain on how these things work...and I DO believe that this lack of understanding is a shortcoming to my future in this business. (Ya gotta be able to compete to stay alive ya know.) Of course, there ARE some guys (& gals) that can do some AMAZING things with computers & vinyl out there...but I'm not one.
Oh, I can get online and piss people off alright. I can purchase things online that I really don't need, over on e-Buy, and I can e-mail people to a limited degree. But me and computers are NOT the best of friends.
Thank God my son is coming on board with me in business...and he (like all young folks) is a whizzz at this computer stuff.