Sign design

[randydimmette]

Going to be making a new sign for a church and would like some ideas, criticism on my layout. The shape of the sign is what the church wants.
I will be carving a wood grain background. The sign will be 44" wide x 72" tall. Thanks in advance for any help.

[Chuck Keysor]

Randy, a couple of quick reactions: The sign is very legible, which is worth a lot. But it does seem stark and in-inviting. And the wood grain in and of itself won't fix those issues. I would work on the design, and then in simulation carefully turn on and off the wood grain to see if it is improving the over-all feeling of the sign or not.

But with the large size, unless you are FAR away from the road, you should have a lot of opportunity to reduce font size to reduce the crowding and get a little more artistic.

Congratulations on taking on a big sign! Chuck

[bobmoore]

remember Randy when the sign is built the design becomes yours. People will ask who built the sign, not who is the pastor. I think I would put the service hours on separate signs hanging from the posts. Service hours can change then what? Posts look a little spindly to me and I would beef them up to make a more solid looking base. Bob

[RossMosh]

Double check the size of the letters vs distance chart. My gut says this sign might not be effective.

[joe]

Randy,

Congratulations of your latest commission.

Please take the following suggestions in the warmest of intentions. The layout as it is now looks like an advertisement for the city. Perhaps Missionary Baptist Church should be celebrated. Information which will change can be done on removable panels. That makes for easy changes.

Designing a sign around a shape makes the work twice as hard. Start with the letters first. That way you can choose a beautiful font style. Then build the sign shape around the lettering. That way you're less restricted leaving you to become more creative.

I'd put the directional arrow below the sign. Perhaps a separate panel.

On the Church of Christ sign I pocketed the lettering. That always adds quality.

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=29892&stc=1http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=29893&stc=1

Joe Crumley
www.normansignco.com

[Brian Harnett]

I would put the posts on the outside of the sign, it gives presence like Joe's sign.

[joe]

For anyone interested this is a double sided PVC sign. The woodgrain comes from one of my redwood sandblasted signs. I haven't been comfortable trying to get the effect from flat jpg photo's. However it probably could be done.

Joe

[randydimmette]

Thanks everyone for all the help, I appreciate it. I made some changes according to the input that everyone gave me, thanks again.
It didn't show up, but i plan to put service times on a removable panel
http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=29915&stc=1

[blackhawk]

Adding the space between "Baptist Church" and "services" looks better. I would also suggest making "services" in a different font and possibly underlining.

[tri4sale]

It didn't show up, but i plan to put service times on a removable panel


Might be good to put the pastor's name on removable panel too, if that can potentially change. Not Baptist so not sure how often they move pastors around, but raised catholic and they move priests around a lot.

[joe]

I agree with Daniel with regard to the pastors name.

Attached is one idea of how changing the font style and color can make for better visibility.

Joe Crumley

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=29923&stc=1

[joe]

It would help to check the spelling as in "Bellview" then get it all centered up.

Joe

[randydimmette]

Thanks again for all the input. The pastors name will be on a removable panel. The church wants the sign to be black and white. I had not thought about running the wood grain vertical, but I do like that.http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=29942&stc=1

[Indigenous]

Joe

Are you saying that you carved the sandblasted look into PVC?

[joe]

Pat,

Yes. I've been carving wood grain in PVC and HDU for several years. Please look at the front end of this post for an example of what it looks like.

Joe Crumley

[EricSchimel]

How are you achieving this on your ShopBot Joe? What CAM software are you using?

[joe]

Eric

Here's the way it goes today at my shop.

Most of the work done is PVC and Rough Cedar. When I started out, before any computer, the graining was done by sandblasting. This was done on clear heart redwood. To maintain this look I switched over to HDU using Aspire software. The update has been to PVC as we lost too many HDU signs to hail.

A couple of years ago Ron, my favorite employee, opened up his own routing service. I sold off my router and send the work to him. That's been an excellent business decision for both of us as this free's me up for sales, design and finishing. As everyone knows 3d work is time consuming and comes at a price. For that reason we don't see many small shops going in that direction

Joe

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=29943&stc=1

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=29944&stc=1

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=29945&stc=1



Joe Crumley

[joe]

A bit more on pockets.

When we took the job of making Park Signs for our city, knowing all of them would be located in recreation area's with lots of kids climbing all over them. Kid being kids meant the lettering had a better chance of survival if they couldn't get their little fingers around them. We started this project about two years ago. So far there has been no repair. Kind of amazing since there's sixty of them.

There's another advantage to creating pockets. Well, there area at least two reasons. Painting letters as individual pieces is so easy and saves lots of time. When creating pockets, for this kind of work, it's best to be generous allowing extra room around the lettering. That little space makes the sign look more custom. I know that sound strange but lettering done this way really stands out as a custom job.

Joe



http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=29947&stc=1

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=29946&stc=1

[EricSchimel]

Is that woodgrain carved by hand? It looks like a rasterized image from Aspire along the top arcs and on top of some of the letters...

[EricSchimel]

Nevermind, I missed the reply above.

[willnewton]

When I started out, before any computer, the graining was done by sandblasting.
Thing in life I don't miss: Standing outside behind the shop dressed in full coverage gear in the middle of summer blasting signs and shower doors.

[joe]

Will,

I'm with you on that. What amazes me is I blasted for years with only a deflection shield and haven't come down with lung disease. Even so, seeing the beautiful wood grain come up and the design being rendered before my eyes kept me in the game. Also the money was flowing.

When I bought my SB it was envisioned to be used for cutting creative panels and letters. Within a few months everything changed. The quality of work was better than ever.

Lets encourage others to stay away from the sandblast pot and compressors.

Joe

[randydimmette]

Thanks again for all the help. Any comments welcome. The church like some of the changes we made and i have gotten 1 panel routed, now to start painting.http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=30011&stc=1