December 1997 - storage.googleapis.com

PORTFOLIO ’97Sign Business

December 1997

December1997

In This Issue:

Portfolio ’97

Scanning for Digital

The Neon Effect

14 January 1998 • S IGN BUSINESS

About the author: David and Robin McDonald own and operate AvilaSign & Design, a custom sign shop in Grover Beach, Calif.

IT’S A WONDERFUL THING living within walking distance from theArroyo Grande Village; I appreciate it more and more as days go by.

Robin and I purchased a home there about a year ago on ThanksgivingDay, 1996.

We really like the area and so do our children. The village offers restau-rants, a coffee house, an assortment of antique shops and much more.

The village mainly occupies one main street, which is lined with somevery nice architecture; some of the buildings date back to the late1800s and early 1900s.

Despite this period of architecture the storefronts of the buildingshave, for the most part, a very modern look. Robin (my business partnerand wife) and I have always thought it would be nice if the look of thevillage could be changed back to its roots. We have only done a few signsin the village but we hope to be involved in many more projects in thefuture.

HOLLYWOOD GOES WESTI believe the building that Wilderness Outfitters occupies was built

in 1904. Next door to it is the Café Andreini Coffee House, for whichwe did the signs and gilded the windows about a year ago. It was from doing the Café Andreini packagethat we acquired the Wilderness Outfitters job.

The owner of Wilderness Outfitters called Robin andexplained that they had been running their business at thatlocation for two years, and since we had done the sign nextdoor for the café they could see the difference in traffic gen-erated from that type of quality signage. They were wonderingwhat we could do for them.

The last time the storefront had been remodeled was fora movie production that was shot on location in this area. Itwas fine for the movie, I guess, but it didn’t do the storefrontmuch good, at least not for these new tenants (see the“before” photo).

SHOW ME THE MONEYThe owners of Wilderness Outfitters explained to Robin

that they wanted people to see their business while drivingor walking by. They felt because the storefront was so smallpeople couldn’t find them very easily.

While on-site, Robin listened to the client’s needs andoffered this suggestion — to treat the whole storefront witha wilderness look, therefore giving them a lot more attention.

Before and after — making a difference withcolor and theme.

PICTURE PERFECTBY DAVID MCDONALD

Preparation and the ideal client help create the ultimate sign and storefront project.

CONTINUED

Reprinted from Sign Business magazine • January 1998

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Robin told the clients that consid-ering the speed of traffic going by andbecause the storefront was so small andnestled between other storefronts withlarge awnings, to just do a nice sign wasprobably not going to be enough to com-mand the attention they were looking for.

The owners of Wilderness Outfitterscould absolutely see the benefits of hon-oring such an undertaking to better theirbusiness. So, with deposit in hand westarted the design phase of the project.

A FOREST OF IDEASWhen I’m designing a project like

this, I find it easier to start with the mainsign. In this case it would fit in a givenarea of 6' x 6'. It would be very dimen-sional in character, utilizing Sign Foam®

high-density urethane (HDU).


Beginning stages of the main sign. Applying cut-out shapes for added dimension.

The only criteria I was given was tohave mountains and the name W ildernessOutfitters. From this sign design I couldderive a logo, depict color to be incor-porated for the new building colors,address the storefront windows and anyother embellishments that would follow.

The main sign went together verywell. First, I put together the lettering forthe word Outfitters. For this I used oneof David Butler’s letter styles, whichseemed to work very nice.

Outfitters was encompassed in a panelof timbers tied with leather straps. Theword W ilderness was carved in a log andset over this panel to tie the messagetogether.

Next, I designed a panel to be setbehind the main message, which is wherethe mountainscape would be placed.

I needed to come up with somethingon the bottom half of the sign to fill upthe space, but still be appropriate. That’swhen I came up with a slogan for them,

The storefront was first painted with the base colors. Wewould come in later and apply glazes for an aging effect.

“Not once while Iwas building thesign did they comeby and check onour progress, andwhile we weredecorating thefront of theirbuilding they wenton vacation.”

CONTINUED


“Gear for the Outdoors” (of course Ihad this approved).

At this point I was falling short at thebottom part of the sign; it was feelingtop-heavy. I had utilized earth, plant andan over-all outdoorsy kind of feel and Irealized I was missing the animal part ofthis formula.

Fishing was a large part of the storefocus, so with that in mind the fish wasadded with a little water embellishmentto set it into the format. I chose to fill inthe bottom panel with manila (hemp)rope. This would be a nice texture andwould stay true to the theme.

SETTING UP CAMPA scale drawing was done of the store-

front, from which copies were made.Then I made copies of my drawing of thesign and pasted the sign to the drawingof the storefront. This way I could makecolor renderings very easily and discardthem if they didn’t work.

When I was happy with the colors ofthe sign it became obvious to me thenew storefront would be comprised ofgreen with an earthy brown as a com-plement.

Robin had the idea of replacing thelattice up above with decorative glass; Ithought this was perfect. The glass wouldreinforce the vertical rhythm of the store-front, and stay true to the early 1900sinfluence. The glass would frame thesign with a little sparkle and add morelight to the store. I designed the twoglue-chipped glass panes and they wereadded to the scaled drawing.

The raised panels at the bottom of thebuilding are all original. I designed iconsto depict the contents of the businessthen they were set in geometrical dia-monds and pasted onto the scaleddrawing. It was obvious to me at thispoint in the design the two steel columnsof the entryway should be wood grained.This would reinforce the Western her-itage.

Now all that was left to complete therendering was the window treatment tocatch the attention of the sidewalk traffic.This was easy; I would refine the designthat would become the logo. This logowould be placed as mirror images onboth sides and would be gilded and


Glue-chipped glass addedheight to the storefront andreinforced the main sign.

Pinstripes and pinecones were cut in vinyl and applied to thewindows for an added embellishment. Wood-graining thepoles was an obvious choice with this western theme.

A gilded address above theentry door added a littlesparkle and color.

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Brown, rouge and a buff color were blended to complement the greenand push the sign forward.

Picture PerfectCONTINUED

CONTINUEDReprinted from Sign Business magazine • January 1998

painted. The slogan, “Gear for theOutdoors,” would be placed on a stripeof green vinyl under these logos, whichwould lead you to the entry door.

The windows would be finished withan almond-colored pinstripe cut in vinylwith decorative pinecones in the cor-ners as added embellishments.

After completing the new renderingof the storefront to work from, a separateprint-out was made of some of thesmaller details, such as the logos for thelower windows in full color, the stripingdetail and decorative corners for samewindows, the icons that would go aroundthe base of the raised panel and the gildedaddress to go above the entry door. Wewere now ready to make a presentationto the client.


Clip-art silhouettes cutin vinyl shouldlead customers

to the door.

I gilded and reversed painted two logos as mirror images for the sidewalk traffic.

The fish icon was created with scrap SignFoam, an aluminum leaf base and air-brushed transparent color glazes to achievethe “wet” look. The fish’s spots were spat-tered on with an old fitch and the point of aliner to create the illusion of random spots.

CONTINUEDReprinted from Sign Business magazine • January 1998

S IGN BUSINESS • January 1998 21

The main sign and theglue-chipped glass would bepre-finished in the shop,ready to install.

I mixed a base coat forthe building (green andbuff), which the clientswould paint before wewould get started on thebuilding. We rented ascissor-lift for two days, inwhich time we would plan toglaze over the green color

of the building and use removal tech-niques for an antique appearance.

Over the buff color we could blend arouge and brown color to age those areasand set the main sign in. While we hadthe lift the window glazier was sched-uled to install the glue-chipped panes ofglass and we installed the main sign.

The two columns were glazed andwood-grained, then all the vinyl treat-ment for the lower windows was com-pleted. The next two days were scheduledfor the window signs as well as the addressabove the entrance door. Everything wentvery smooth, thanks to a lot of good pre-planning, which takes time, and whichpays off in the end.

MODEL CLIENTSAfter the presentation

approval was given to startthe project. Not one changewas made. I’m not statingthat to brag. Quite frankly, Iwas blown away by this.

In all my years in the signbusiness I’ve never experi-enced clients who were thistrusting with such an enor-mous project.

Usually, there’s alwayssome pinstripe the wrong color, a letterstyle change or they’ll say, “Gee, couldyou make this 10 percent larger?”

I’m sure you know what I am talkingabout… Been there, done that, right?Well, it gets better…

Not once while I was building thesign did they come by and check on ourprogress, and while we were decoratingthe front of their building they went onvacation. Somebody slap me! I can’t bethis happy!

These clients, Pete and Suzanne,deserve to be in the Customer Hall ofFame; they were picture perfect.

REAL-WORLD PLANNINGWe scheduled the job to be done in

this order…

The rendering and a printout of elements to be incorporated on the storefront were all thatwere necessary to sell this job.

SB

Circle Reader Service No. 56Reprinted from Sign Business magazine • January 1998

About the author: David and RobinMcDonald own and operate Avila Sign &Design, a custom sign shop in Grover Beach,Calif. They may be found on the Internet atwww.avilasigndesign.com.

WHAT CAN BE ROLLED UP, put awayfor later use, reused again and

again, can fit behind the back seat of apick up truck, and can be very profitablefor both you and your customer? Inmost areas of the country this type of sig-nage falls into the temporary category,usually exempting it from the local signcode!

Do you give up? It’s a banner! Yes,that friendly substrate that can be pre-pared to accept vinyl and paint, as well asa RIPped, digitally-printed image.

It can be ordered in a lightweightmaterial or heavy weight with lots ofchoices in between. A banner can beordered with a hemmed edge and pep-pered with grommets wherever you

54 March 1998 • S IGN BUSINESS

specify. Banners can also be ordered in amultitude of colors.

I’ve talked to some folks who stock aroll of white banner material and justwhack off the length needed (there can bea lot of situations for this type of use).

There was a time when I was doingmy fair share of banners at a fair price (forboth our shop and the customer). Theaverage price per square foot for ban-ners has been pushed way down in recentyears and the competition for sellingthem has grown (while the price hasdecreased) by leaps and bounds.

If designed well a banner should givea potential customer a whole lot of bangfor the buck and the return of that invest-ment will show itself in a very short time.

SMOOTH COMPOSITIONFresh fruit smoothies— given this copy

and a 3' x 8' format to work with I startedoff with some quick thumbnail sketchesand came to like the formula of splittingthe format to hold separate information.

I don’t like to break the format exactlyin half, because the whole compositiontends to look better when you go 60-40or even 20-80. This is a great opportunityto incorporate the use of other colors, aswell as maybe a reverse panel to helpbreak up the monotony of the wholeformat.

The font I chose for the word smoothieswas a stove pipe-type letter style. Thiscondensed style would allow for a lot ofpunch and legibility for this banner todraw attention.

The copy fresh fruit looked goodstacked using the same letter style, thiswas placed in the panel that was on theleft side of the banner.

The fresh fruit panel started out as arectangle on the thumbnail sketch and Ieventually turned this into an arrow thatpointed to the word smoothies; this trickhelps lead the eye trough the composition.

After being sure this was the directionI was going toward with the design, I

After a few thumbnail sketches it was easy to transfer this idea to the computer where colorsand manipulation are much easier (note the use of the dimension tool for registration pur-poses).

BY DAVID MCDONALD

Making bannersjuicier by applyingsome simple tech-niques.

One Smooth Customer

Reprinted from Sign Business magazine • March 1998

S IGN BUSINESS • March 1998 55

CONTINUED

The tools used to make this custom banner. To achieve a smooth surface to work with, we like to secureour banners with screws.

Working from the computer print-out, registration is a breeze.

Taping off the panel to receive paint. (Hint: On banners, donot stretch the tape.)

I used three rollers, one for each color to fill in the pouncedlines. Speed was more important here rather than detail.


could now set it up and choose my colorson the computer much faster.

COLOR ME SMOOTHTo redraw this design in my software

was a snap, and within a few minutes Iwas assigning color. I liked the purplefield and the yellow sub-panel. I couldhave reversed out the lettering on theyellow sub-panel but I liked the com-manding contrast between the yellowand black.

At this point I could have put a lot ofemphasis into the cup that was createdfrom the letter T. I chose instead to keep

this element simple and mix some fruitycolors throughout the rest of the let-tering for the zip that was needed.

A black outline around this would tieeverything together as well as crisp thingsup a bit. Note: The outline was keptloose to aid in the speed of productionand would also lend itself to a moreorganic look.

SMOOTH PRODUCTIONWhat I find really useful about sign-

making software is that you can printout an exact copy with accurate mea-surements to work from when doing the


actual production, whether it be applyingvinyl or registering a pattern to paintfrom. In this example we will be doingboth.

First, I perforated a pattern with my15'' plotter for the word smoothies. Becausethe lettering was larger than the plotterthis needed to be done in two pieces thatwere then taped down the middle.

The banners we ordered for this jobwere enamel-coated, hemmed and grom-meted, from Best Buy Banner. Then theywere secured to our banner board usingdrywall screws. This helps keep the ban-ners nice and tight while they are beingworked on.

Next, the sub-panels were taped offusing Fineline tape. For this step Ireferred to the measurements on theprint-out, and as I mentioned earlier thismakes the process very forgiving and fast.

After applying and pouncing the pat-tern with white chalk the banners wereready to receive paint. Three colors weremixed with lettering enamel and I wouldneed a roller for each color that wasmixed.

I like using the 3'' rollers you can buyat your local hardware store; they reallywork well for this type of work. To elim-inate any fuzz and or loose debris, run theroller across the sticky side of sometransfer tape.

For a good, quick way to clean themout after they are used we squeeze themout in our thinner bucket till they’re fairlyclean. Then with an air compressorcranked up on high reach down into a

One Smooth CustomerCONTINUED

For a clean line between yellow and white on the cup I used a brush.

Brushing a black outline to crisp up the lettering, an irregular edge makes fast work of thisstep.

Cleaning out your rollers is a snap with alittle paint thinner, air pressure and a con-tained space. Note Robin’s spent smoothiecups — believe me, these were not set up asprops.

CONTINUEDReprinted from Sign Business magazine • March 1998

garbage can and run the air along side ofthe roller (use a solvent-resistant pair ofgloves as well as a respirator). The rollerwill spin at such a rate you will be sur-prised at how clean the roller willbecome. This method is fast and therollers always seem to work better thesecond and third time around.

I painted the yellow sub-panel first,then painted the appropriate yellow let-ters and cup with the 3'' roller; this wasa very crude and fast application. I con-tinued with the green and lavender colorsas well (the white at the top of the cupwas cut in with a brush).

After the paint was dry enough I reg-istered the pattern once more andpounced the entire image again. Using a1'' flat brush I outlined the lettering andthe cup. Now all I had to do was cut theblack vinyl for the words fresh fruit andapply them — job complete!


One Smooth CustomerCONTINUED

POWER OF SUGGESTIONAs I worked on this banner project, my

mind focused on the copy and wanderedto what you could call fads or the powerof suggestion.

As in our case, Smoothies. What’s upwith that? When I was growing up theywere called Slurpies or Icees. Maybebecause the ingredients used are, as theysay, “Good for you”. Would this warrantthe use of a new trendy name likeSmoothies?

It does all seem to be in the name ofgood health, or is it? I would put mymoney on the idea that good health is amatter of balance within your life,including but not limited to, a moderateamount of exercise for your cardiovas-cular system.

My wife goes to the juice bar mostevery day and has a shot of wheat grass,which is supposed to be equal to eatingtwo and a half pounds of green vegetables.I tried it once and it was like drinking abale of hay.

So what does this have to do withmaking banners. Not a darn thing. I saybe happy, enjoy life and strike that balancethat you find comfortable. You will prob-ably live to enjoy Smoothies into yourgolden years (if they aren’t found to causecancer or something by then).

Applying vinyl is a snap with guidelines marked for proper registra-tion.

Marking the panel to receive vinyl. Once again, this is where the com-puter print-out is very helpful.

The finished banner, installed and ready to do its work.

All I had to do wascut the black vinylfor the words freshfruit and apply them— job complete!

SB


About the author: Steve Atkins is the ownerof Sign-Corp in Greenville, N.C., and hasbeen active in the sign industry since 1964.He has written hundreds of articles on sign-related topics.

IHAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED with the signbusiness for over 34 years; most ofthose years have been spent in the

electric sign industry. A few years back,awnings were awnings and signs weresigns, and the two industries were distinctand different.

However, with the advent of new syn-thetic materials, someone discovered thatawnings, light and signage made a goodcombination. For that reason, someawning companies have ventured intothe sign business and vice-versa.

Awnings can be divided into two majorcategories — traditional and backlit.

Traditional awnings are usually non-lighted and produced using a canvas-likematerial as a covering. These are usuallysewn together, and stretched relativelyloosely over a round tubing frame.

Backlit awnings are commonly con-structed using an extruded aluminumframe that is either welded together, orassembled using a number of fasteningsystems. I have found that backlit awningscan be a major enhancement to thebottom line of a sign company’s profit-and-loss statement.

Your involvement can be as little assimply installing an awning that you hada wholesaler build, to getting completelyimmersed in the entire manufacturingprocess.

IMPROVISEGetting started in almost any phase of

the electric sign business can be a majorundertaking. Most of the equipment, likesheet metal brakes and welders, can addup to big bucks.

However, if you’re already set up tobuild electric signs, the only additional

tool you may need is an air-powered sta-pler. Even if you don’t have those tools,some advertisers boast that all you needto assemble one of their kits is a screw-driver and a pair of pliers.

There are other tools that you couldbuy, like a tubing bender, but you couldimprovise here until you made enoughmoney to invest in one.

EXTRUSION SHAPESAlthough there are many extruded

awning shapes on the market, the twobasic shapes that I use are shown inFigure 1. With these, I can build almostany awning that I want.

The main ribs are formed from ShapeA in Figure 1. The bottom of the awningis formed from Shape B if the bottom isto be shielded with a plastic egg-crate dif-fusion lens.

I don’t have a tubing bender, so I hadto come up with a way to bend the ribsof the awning. Figure 2 shows a jig thatI made that makes 18'' radius bends.

The extrusion (I use the MillikenProfile, which is licensed to several dis-tributors) is placed in the jig and manu-ally bent around the form slightly beyondthe 90-degree mark so it will spring backto the proper angle.

A little trial and error will perfect theprocess. Using one of the ribs as a pat-tern, multiple ribs can be bent to matchthe first one.

The bottom rails are a little more dif-ficult because of the flange on the extru-sion. A series of notches will enable youto make radius bend with that.

Figure 3 shows a cross-section of atypical awning, utilizing the egg-cratediffusion panel. The egg-crate panelscan be bought at most building supplycompanies.

ASSEMBLYI usually start the awning by cutting

the flanged extrusion to length for the


Simple stepsfor buildingand fabricatingawnings.

BY STEVE ATK INS

Figure 1: Basic awning shapes forthe staple system.

Figure 2: Simple homemade jig tobend extrusion.

Figure 3: Cross-section detail ofan awning truss.

CONTINUED

Awnings for Everyone


bottom back. Then, I cut and bend thebottom, front and sides also using theflanged extrusion.

Now, I have a foundation on which tobuild the rest of the awning. Using theShape A, as shown in Figure 1, I bendthe back piece.

At this point, they can all be weldedtogether. My welder is a Miller 250 Migwelder with a wire-fed spool gun. It doesan excellent job, but there are othersthat do as well.

After bending and cutting all of theribs, they can now be welded to thebottom and back of the awning. Takecare to properly space and position eachrib before welding. A good practice is tolightly tack the entire awning togetherbefore the final welds are laid down.

Figure 4 shows the completed framefor an awning. Although it is difficult tosee in this photo, the front ribs are mod-ified to be inset about 4'' in the areawhere the sign panel will be to allow forproper light diffusion, and to preventshadows from the ribs. Any necessarycross-bracing should also be installed atthis point.

ATTACHING THE FABRICFigure 5 shows the basic tools and

components necessary to build anawning. The most important specialtytool is the air stapler. You can purchasethese from your extrusion supplier.

The fabric is cut about 6'' oversize toallow for gripping to stretch it over theframe. Most companies that specialize inawning components can supply you withstapling procedures that minimize wrin-kles and puckers.

The basic premise is that you startwith a few staples in the top-center area,a few more in the bottom center, someto the left and right, then work your wayout to the corners, much like you wouldstretch silk-screening fabric over a frame.

Minor, less-tensioned areas can betightened by applying heat from a heatgun. One has to be careful, however, notto over-tension the fabric, since it willtend to tear away from the staples.


Figure 4:Frame is ready

for attachingfabric.

Figure 5: Basic tools for building awnings.

Figure 6:Brackets forattaching theawning to thewall.

Figure 7:Installing anawning issimple andquick.

Awnings for EveryoneCONTINUED

CONTINUED


Awning Success StorySign and Awning Systems was incorporated in 1994 by two veterans of the

sign industry, Mickey Hodges and Mike Godwin. Both had been involved insigns for over twenty years.

In just under four years, they have built a multi-million dollar business thatthrives near Interstate 95 near Dunn, N.C. They focus their attention along the

I-95 corridor from Virginia toSouth Carolina.

Derrick Stewart, shopforeman in the awning depart-ment, has helped that phase ofthe business to produce over$500,000 in awnings per year.

Using the staple system,they build both backlit andtraditional awnings. Their shopis a collage of shapes and colorsmost of the time.

Mickey says that the awningbusiness has a lot lessheadaches than the sign busi-ness.

“For example,” explainsMickey, “we were not able toget one foundation in or oneinspection today for signs.However, we did install fiveawnings.”

The day I spoke to Mickeyit was raining cats and dogs, which normally causes a problem with traditionalsign work, but not with awnings.

Sign and Awning Systems’ largest portion of the awning business comes fromrestaurants. After that, convenience stores and motels bring in a good quantityof business.

“We’ve also recently seen a large increase in business from churches,” saysMickey, “and, surprisingly, we are now getting a lot of awning jobs for residences— particularly the roll-out type awnings fordecks and patios.”

Mike and Mickey findthemselves blessed withalmost more businessthan they can handle —of course, that is typicalthese days if you offer aquality product.


Air pressure at the staple gun is afactor, too. Low air pressure will preventthe staples from properly penetrating theextrusion, making it impossible to insertthe vinyl beading that finishes the job.

Too high of an air pressure will tearthrough the fabric. Blair Milliken ofMilliken Industries says that 40-psi atthe gun is about right.

VINYL BEADING & INSTALLATIONThe final step in building the awning

is inserting the vinyl beading. The vinylbeading is pressed into the extrusion pro-file where joints in the fabric are made.

This can be done manually with ahammer, but a neater job can be donewith an air hammer designed specificallyfor this purpose. It is available from some

awning component suppliers for about$200. The air hammer produces a rapidsuccession of blows, which enable theoperator to quickly and neatly insert thebeading. Beading is available in manycolors to either match or contrast thefabric color.

The installation of a backlit awning isrelatively simple. Brackets are madespecifically for this purpose (see Figure6). Most awnings are lightweight andcan be installed with a minimum amountof effort. I always place a couple ofmounting brackets on the wall at the top,hang the awning on them, mark the posi-tion for the others, drill the holes, thenre-hang the awning.

Once it is positioned properly, therest of the brackets can be installed andtightened (see Figure 7). You will findthat awnings are quick to build, easy toinstall, and profitable —three good thingsfor any sign person to encounter.

Awnings for EveryoneCONTINUED

You will find that awnings arequick to build, easy to install,and profitable.

The automated tubing bender allows the operator toenter a radius, guarantying accuracy.

The Sign and Awning Systems’ shop is a collage of shapesand colors.

SB

Reprinted from Sign Business Magazine January/March 1998

©1998 National Business Media, Inc.All rights reserved

Please visit the Sign Business Magazine web site.


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December 1997 - storage.googleapis.com