Here's a recent job - just a simple 4' x 8' MDO sign, but it is what I do. It's not in that Sawatzky league but basically represents what I've been doing for 50 years. I don't have to study the retro look - I am retro.
This apartment complex changed management and they wanted something new.
[ February 10, 2012, 12:05 PM: Message edited by: Raymond Chapman ]
Posted by Neil D. Butler (Member # 661) on :
Great Job! It does'nt have to be 3-d to look good, Great design is Timeless... and you can make good Money!
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
what an improvement.....
Posted by Pat Welter (Member # 785) on :
Looks great Ray, what a change.
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
Nice work Raymond! Just think... if you had the new 3D sign up in front of your own shop they might have gone for a 3D sign instead of this flat one. That new 3D sign must be almost done by now.
-grampa dan
Posted by Jane Diaz (Member # 595) on :
GREAT improvement! And I would think it would occur to then too how much it adds to the "value" at that complex. Think about driving up to look at an apartment there before....and after. I don't know if most customers "get" that concept but it is SO obvious here.
Posted by roger bailey (Member # 556) on :
Very enhancing to they're biz. I would think they are very happy and you, very proud !
Roger
Posted by Alicia B. Jennings (Member # 1272) on :
Very nice improvement. When I see an apartment with a old taddered sign, it gives the impression that the apartments are also dirty inside. The new sign makes all the difference.
Posted by Joe Cieslowski (Member # 2429) on :
I love it Ray!
Excellent.
Joe,
Makin Chip$ and Havin Fun!
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
Dan - almost.
Posted by Catharine C. Kennedy (Member # 4459) on :
Magnificent!
Posted by PatRaap (Member # 4290) on :
Very Nice!
Posted by Bill Masters (Member # 851) on :
Great job Raymond.
Posted by stein Saether (Member # 430) on :
the new is nice, the old is, eh, aparte?
Posted by stein Saether (Member # 430) on :
or apart e
Posted by Craig Sjoquist (Member # 4684) on :
Wow it amazes me that they even had the before one, but that is what alot of sticker shops do.
Yours of course is how it should look beautiful.
Posted by Richard Heller (Member # 2443) on :
Nice, clean readable work as always Ray.
Posted by bill riedel (Member # 607) on :
You did it again, and you keep getting better. Bill
Posted by Rusty Bradley (Member # 6938) on :
Looks great...how did you ever get them to leave the phone# off...hardly ever is a phone # needed...I cant remember the last time I got a phone # off a sign.
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
Rusty - actually, leaving the phone number off was their idea. I designed it with the number on a separate panel so that it could be changed easily, but they said that when apartments come available they will just put out a regular real estate type sign (which I have done for them).
This realtor/builder has been a client for over 30 years and basically leaves the design up to me. When he took over the management of this small apartment complex he just said, "we need a new sign"...and I took it from there. He also wanted a free standing sign on the corner near this one, but there was no room to work within the ordinance.
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
By the way, this sign was designed so that it could have been done flat (all one piece as shown) or dimensional. You can imagine cut out letters and various levels of panels, but the client didn't want to go that far budget wise...but I still got the job and used the design that I liked and made his image better.
Today, I sold a dimensional sign that was designed in the same way - option for flat or dimensional and either way it would look nice (in my opinion). He choose the more expensive, but I didn't have to redo the design. In my head I saw it as having several levels but could easily flatten it without hurting the image.
Even before doing dimensional work, I tried to create depth while working on a flat surface. Good design still creates a foreground, middle ground, and background. It is done with color and value (weight) contrast.
Posted by Don Coplen (Member # 127) on :
Doggone it, Ray. Every time somebody adds a reply and bumps this post, I think you posted "another before and after".
(BTW,nice improvement!
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Before: Wouldn't walk in the door.
After: Appears to be a much more respectable establishment.
Nice job - you moved their image up several notches, which is the point.
Posted by David Fisher (Member # 107) on :
Now they might be "Occupied" Posted by Lynda Yoder (Member # 7340) on :
Good job, Ray...very inviting.
Posted by Dan Beach (Member # 9850) on :
It was hard to improve on the original . . . but, mission successful.
Great improvement!
Posted by Dan Kearfott (Member # 3756) on :
Great job Ray! the top one is the new one right?
LOL haha . . . I've admired your work for many years and hopefully many more to come.
Posted by Bob Moroney (Member # 9498) on :
quote:Originally posted by Raymond Chapman: By the way, this sign was designed so that it could have been done flat (all one piece as shown) or dimensional. You can imagine cut out letters and various levels of panels, but the client didn't want to go that far budget wise...but I still got the job and used the design that I liked and made his image better.
Today, I sold a dimensional sign that was designed in the same way - option for flat or dimensional and either way it would look nice (in my opinion). He choose the more expensive, but I didn't have to redo the design. In my head I saw it as having several levels but could easily flatten it without hurting the image.
Even before doing dimensional work, I tried to create depth while working on a flat surface. Good design still creates a foreground, middle ground, and background. It is done with color and value (weight) contrast.
Don't be putting your secrets out they for Dan to see. Next thing you know he'll be writing about them in SignCraft.
Nice job Ray.
Posted by Len Mort (Member # 7030) on :
Great job Ray!
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
Bob, you know that I taught Dan everything he knows, don't you? He calls me every morning and asks what he is supposed to do that day and I line him up with comments to make and how to do that stuff on his router. I just try to stay in the background and let him get all the credit. Humble...you know!
NOT! Actually, there is no danger in Dan learning anythiing from me. He is so much more original and creative than I would ever hope to be. To tell the truth, I just listen to him and try to write it down for SignCraft before he does.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)