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mel
(as well as a signature for yourself....)
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Master's Touch Signs & Screenprinting
Clinton AR
5017456246
ICQ 17430008
"Imagine the Possibilities..."
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mel
there use to be craftsmen in this business.
They got customers because they showed their craft off, they showed their ability off.
If you can't make your own sign, how can you make one for someone else? I can see where a barber can't give himself a haircut, but a sign maker can certainly make his own sign.
If you are supposed to be the leader in the community that produces professional signage, shouldn't you also know how to design an eyepleasing sign?
I don't mean to be rude here, but if a guy went into the business of building houses and then went on an international bullentin board asking other carpenters how to build a house...wouldn't you think that rather odd?
You should have some programs like Corel or other sign making programs and clip art disks that have some shapes other than a rectangle. Paint stores carry other colors than white and there are over 7000 fonts so you have more choice than HEVETICA these days.
Open any sign magazine and imitate what you see. If you can't build what you see professional sign makers building, then you better stick to the quickie stickie magnetic sign on your vehicle and forget it!
Point is: everybody has to learn, so get in there and just do it. If you don't like the first sign you make for yourself, then make a better one. Then make a better one than that. That is how we all learn.
Welcome to Letteville. You just got baptized! hahahahah
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Draper The Signmaker
Bloomington Illinois USA
Stop in and visit a while!
309-828-7110
signman@davesworld.net
Raptorman or Draper_Dave on mIRC chat
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Greg Gulliford
aka MetroDude
Metro Signs and Banners
1403 N. Greene St. #1
Spokane, WA 99202
509-536-9452
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St.Marie Graphics
& Makin' Tracks Sound Studio
Kalispell, Montana
stmariegraphics@centurytel.net http://www.stmariegraphics.com
800 735-8026
We're chiseling every day of the week! :^)
Personally, I have had about 4 or 5 different "logos" for my business. It is probably the MOST difficult thing..to come up with something for yourself, since you are probably your own worst critic.
Just do one to start with and then change/improve it as you gain confidence.
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Dave Grundy
AKA "applicator" on mIRC
"stickin' sticky stuff to valuable vessels and vehicles!"
in Granton, Ontario, Canada
1-519-225-2634
dave.grundy@quadro.net
www.quadro.net/~shirley
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(Seriously Mel, I took my "lumps" when I first got here, and you have to too. Ya gotta learn how things work around here. Realize that the names you see here are living breathing people with shops, families and "design Blocks" the same as you. It is ALWAYS hardest to come up with a look of your own, but it is IMPERATIVE that YOU do this.. It is an important hurdle to overcome...)
We've all been there...take the plunge! You will either do well, or skin yer nose and start over!!! 
Barry
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Master's Touch Signs & Screenprinting
Clinton AR
5017456246
ICQ 17430008
"Imagine the Possibilities..."
And by the way, I DO think that designing your own logo is probably the most difficult job that you will ever have. And I did look at a lot of magazines and it was a picture in an article in SignCraft about the Belvedere meet that caught my eye and I patterned my current "identity" after it.
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Dave Grundy
AKA "applicator" on mIRC
"stickin' sticky stuff to valuable vessels and vehicles!"
in Granton, Ontario, Canada
1-519-225-2634
dave.grundy@quadro.net
www.quadro.net/~shirley
I'll be happy to trade logo ideas if someone else is in the same rut!
A
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Adrienne Morgan
Splash Signs
www.splashsigns.com
"Rainkatt'
Benicia, CA
707-746-7847 (shop)
707-550-4553 (voicemail)
adrienne@splashsigns.com
Good Luck on yer design...I always wanted a sign shop named MIRACLE SIGNS with the credo: "If it's a good sign, it's a miracle"
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Monte Jumper
SIGNLanguage/Norman.Okla.
the problem here is that you know your sign is gonna tell everybody all about you at a glance, and thats a lot of pressure on you as an artist. my advise? treat yourself like you are your own customer. good luck Mike
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Work like you don't need the money, Love like you've never been hurt, And Dance like no one's watching. :)
Mike Lavallee
Mike Lavallee's Pinstriping & Airbrush Art
Everett, WA
GRIN
SMILE
LIPS
TEETH
WINK
GRIMACE
CHEEKS
WONDER
STARE
How's that for a start? Next thing to do is start doing some thumbnails. I am more an artist/manager personality so sometimes designs can be tough getting started but the thumbnails help a great deal.
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Laura Butler
Vision Graphics and Sign
560 Oak St.
Lapeer, Mi 48446
810-664-3812
visiongraphics@tir.com
"Anything thats comes from my shop, comes from the right brain."
[This message has been edited by Laura Butler (edited February 07, 2001).]
by the way, your flames are the best in the biz!
had ta bootlick!!! sorry,
pvt. fair
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Mark Fair
Mark Fair Signs
http://www.markfair.com
Home of "Sign of the Month
http://www.markfair.com/signomonth.html
2162 Mt. Meigs Road
Montgomery, Alabama 36107
334-262-4449
"Mark Fair is a Proud Contributor to The Letterhead Site!"
:P just a few ideas anyhoo
B
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Master's Touch Signs & Screenprinting
Clinton AR
5017456246
ICQ 17430008
"Imagine the Possibilities..."
------------------
Adrienne Morgan
Splash Signs
www.splashsigns.com
"Rainkatt'
Benicia, CA
707-746-7847 (shop)
707-550-4553 (voicemail)
adrienne@splashsigns.com
I wasn't in a bad mood, and I didn't mean to sound grumpy or rude. If you were to ask another signmaker in your same town to come up with an idea for your sign it would just be unthinkable! ( at least to me )
Sign makers get their ideas for their own signs by buying sign layout books, researching clipart volumes.
It's just a fricken sign! Nobody else cares what your sign looks like! As long as it looks professional it will do the intended job...namely...direct people to your shop! Period!
This isn't about making a sign for yourself is it? This is more about dealing with your inner insecurities.
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Draper The Signmaker
Bloomington Illinois USA
Stop in and visit a while!
309-828-7110
signman@davesworld.net
Raptorman or Draper_Dave on mIRC chat
Who knows those answers better than you about your own circumstances? Look around, ask yourself the same questions, and evaluate what you are trying to accomplish for yourself. Then get to work with references, and ideas that best convey that to your liking.
I did take your words as an invitation to actually do the design and I feel similarily to Sarah & Dave Draper on this. I think it's a cop out to ask others to do for you what you propose to do yourself for others on a professional level.
Only with your effort will your image evolve. Just put a pencil to it and start the wheels turning. Your ideas will feed on each other.
When you work for yourself, ... it's often difficult to work for yourself.
Take the challenge.
Nettie
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"When Love and Skill Work Together ... Expect a Masterpiece"
Janette Balogh
Sign Studio
in Sunny Florida
jbalogh@earthlink.net
Current Pet Profile - Please send us yours!
http://www.markfair.com/nettie
Start packing and move in! It's just too easy to be a Resident!
Location, Location, Location! It's all right here!
http://www.letterhead.com/supporters
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The SignShop
Mendocino, California
"Where the Redwoods meet the Surf"
Oh, for the faith of a spider! He begins his web without any thread.
Remember this is your pride and joy of owning a small business and you have the time to sit down and think about it's look.
Start with your concept and work with it over time.
Little by little you will come to finest finished product that you really like!
Work it and study it to the point of no return.
You have no deadline like some of your customer ask for!
Just get the name out there and work on it as you have your down time.
Image is something we all in this business know is it's own worst enemy.
I know over the years I have changed my look well over a dozen times and still not happy with it..Each time it's fresh and new but it grows old and time for a face lift!
Try it you'll like it!!!!
Raven/2001
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Raven/2000
Airbrushed by Raven
Lower sackville N.S.
deveausdiscovery@sprint.ca
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mel
Everybody does things they're own way, I guess. Personally I love designing, and playing around with my own logo. The name of my business was chosen before I started; I did my own sign for it while still employed for another shop (so I could get some instruction out of it!) but I can remember not knowing what I'd call myself. Over the years (13 and counting) I've re-designed my logo a half-dozen times, and most of those re-designs are still around my shop. Some might see that as inconsistent; I prefer to think that I'm showing potential clients the various possibilities of design using the same copy.
My old friend, the late Clyde Muller, once asked me to design a sign for his shop, explaining that he had looked so long and hard at his own ideas that they all felt stale. I was honored by the request; in no way did I feel like he was picking my brain because he wasn't competent. I did some designs but none of them ever became anything; Clyde never did do a proper sign for himself - he was too busy designing and selling his sign blanks to the trade, making OTHER shops look good.
Be gentle, folks. There are a lot of ways to look at this kind of request, and most of them don't deserve harsh treatment.
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"A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Raoul Duke (Hunter S. Thompson)
Cam
Finest Kind Signs
256 S. Broad St.
Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379
"Award winning Signs since 1988"
Not bad if'n I do say so m'self...
They are also reasonable for brochures and stuff.......
B
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Master's Touch Signs & Screenprinting
Clinton AR
5017456246
ICQ 17430008
"Imagine the Possibilities..."
Melanie ... when you get some preliminary designs together, we'd love to see them. You can let us know your direction with it then while we are looking at something and perhaps we can better help with input towards your layout then.
If you'd like to post something to show here, and don't know how, just email me and I'd be happy to post it for you..
Good luck!
I'm sure it'll work out fine.
Just know that you don't have to commit to the first design you do. As artist's, we have the license to experiment with our own image ... until we get it just the way we like it!
Nettie
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"When Love and Skill Work Together ... Expect a Masterpiece"
Janette Balogh
Sign Studio
in Sunny Florida
jbalogh@earthlink.net
Current Pet Profile - Please send us yours!
http://www.markfair.com/nettie
Start packing and move in! It's just too easy to be a Resident!
Location, Location, Location! It's all right here!
http://www.letterhead.com/supporters
yada yada ya.
Linn Signs
yada, yada, ya.
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Ron Percell
Percell Signs
707-769-0639
Petaluma, California
percell@percellsigns.com
Percell Signs Web Site
You have had some good advice!
I know how hard it feels to do things for yourself. I don't think I am that bad at designing for people, but when it came to my own I felt like I had my thumb stuck up my **s. I looked thru many pictures books and magazines. I happened across something that I thought really suited me and went about "borrowing" all the design elements and colors I then redrew it to suit my name etc, and felt that would be OK....maybe I was lacking confidence in myself, I don't know...anyway time went by....and somebody here noticed it and its similarity to Jay Allens, and told him about it, he contacted me and asked about something we apparently had in common etc. We had a discussion about it here on the BB, and most decided all though it was a close "copy". No harm done life goes on etc....It made me feel really silly, but I had been using it for sometime and stuff printed etc...and then the fact that we are 1000's of miles apart in different countries. So haven't changed it much. I had no idea who he was at the time or anything like that, just took "idea fodder" from the trade journals which is one of the reasons they exist. I think we all need to have more confidence in our abilities in this business often we are our own worst enemies. I dont think it is about just slapping a sign up you want to give as good an image profile out to your customers as you can, and as signs are your business that should be tip top.
Sketch a little or show us what you have come up with maybe we can help you abit, there are plenty of great and talented people here.
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Henry Barker #1924
akaKaftan
SignCraft AB
Stockholm, Sweden.
A little bit of England in a corner of Stockholm
www.signcraft.se
info@signcraft.se
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What artist, looking in your eyes, could not see a warm summer sunset? While youth has left, your eyes reveal the beautiful loving spirit you will always be.
(want me to go on?}
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Draper The Signmaker
Bloomington Illinois USA
Stop in and visit a while!
309-828-7110
signman@davesworld.net
Raptorman or Draper_Dave on mIRC chat
[This message has been edited by Dave Draper (edited February 07, 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Dave Draper (edited February 07, 2001).]
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Wright Signs
Wyandotte, Michigan
Since 1978
http://www.wrightsigns.bigstep.com
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The SignShop
Mendocino, California
"Where the Redwoods meet the Surf"
Oh, for the faith of a spider! He begins his web without any thread.
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Bruce Evans
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mel
I like the fact that I can tell folks that I created my own image, ... another selling tool.
I don't feel this way because I am not willing to help someone. Quite the contrary.
When it was decided that Glenn was indeed to have a contest for his logo, I was among those who submitted designs.
However, I do still strongly feel what I expressed in both circumstances ... with perhaps no sugar coating, but certainly no flames attached!
Nettie
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"When Love and Skill Work Together ... Expect a Masterpiece"
Janette Balogh
Sign Studio
in Sunny Florida
[EMAIL]jbalogh@earthlink.net[/email}
[This message has been edited by Janette Balogh (edited February 07, 2001).]
Kurtzman
------------------
Creative communication since 1959
I absolutely can't believe Dave Drapers response to this post. Dave who the hell do you think you are anyway? this person comes here to the letterhead BB and simply asked for our opinion and input on a problem that she was having designing a CRITICAL sign, a sign that will tell all her customers who and what they are all about. according to your professional wisdom, all a sign has to do is tell you what the place is and to get you into the store. if that were true than any restaurant sign should read " FOOD, COME IN AND EAT" or A Fine Art Gallery sign should read " NEAT PICTURES, HEY, CHECK EM OUT DUDE!"
Let me tell you if thats what you really believe than I pity the people who put advertising they're livelyhoods into your hands. As for publicly chastising Melanie
I feel you owe her and the rest of the letterville community an appology. where the heck is your letterhead spirit????
can you honestly tell the rest of us that you NEVER, EVER, asked any of your letterhead brothers or sisters they're opinion on a project that you where working on???? I believe I can remember a few posts from the past where you came on here and did just that very thing. Did we take your head off for doing that? NO! we supported you and encouraged you, we gave you constructive opinions, we did NOT tell you that your design looked remedial at best and you should consider a career in the food industry. how do you look in a paper hat anyway? Ya want fries with that? how does that feel to you Dave? of course I don't feel that way about you, but what if I did?
what if I came here and said something as cruel as that in public? I truely believe that you could have better represented the letterheads with a helpfull hint or two, maybe suggested a sign design you saw or god forbid, actually did, to help them through this rough spot. or, if you didn't have anything helpful to say or add, DON'T ANSWER THE POST! I feel terrible that this person has been raked across the "coals of the professionals" God forbid anyone needs any advise here! Why do you go to letterhead meets anyways Dave? is it to share and learn or what?
man, Dave think about what the heck you say will ya? Mike
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Work like you don't need the money, Love like you've never been hurt, And Dance like no one's watching. :)
Mike Lavallee
Mike Lavallee's Pinstriping & Airbrush Art
Everett, WA
Hi there! Welcome! Throw some of your ideas this way!
I guess, I can say, "Welcome to the School of Hard Knocks!" (you'll never regret it though!) A lot of experienced folks here.
Remember though, when Draper's up on a scaffold and he wants someone to hand him his thinner......
oh, no,,,, I'll pay
for that
(looking forward to seeing your ideas!) Deb
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Deb
Creative Signs
Mike an opinion was asked and Dave and the rest of us gave an opinion while trying not to sound to harsh. Maybe I misunderstood but I thought the poster was asking for a logo to be designed for them and my feeling was that in this business one should be able to tackle their own. Now posting a bunch of samples and asking comments is another kettle of fish altogether and seems more appropriate.
OPinions were asked and given. This jumping down the throat of one who gives an opinion you dont agree to when they were asked, is what is driving people away from here and hurting feelings. Couldnt yo just have stated your own answer to the original post or maybe posted a design for her?
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[This message has been edited by Sarah (edited February 08, 2001).]
Drop an ice cube down your pants and chiiiiiiiiilll.....
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Mike Pipes
Digital Illusion Custom Graphics
Lake Havasu City, AZ
http://www.stickerpimp.com
Anyway, try to think about a "look" your community can relate to (we're a resort town so we use the '30's lodge look alot) and use the techniques you want to market (vinyl, wood, etc.). Come up with something you can modify easily for use on signs, trucks, cards, stationary, etc.
You'll note alot of shops go by the "message is number one rule" and just put up a big red SIGNS on white with maybe, maybe a black outline. Very effective.
Hmmm... still want to put our Golden Retriever on our sign... "the sign fetcher", Sierra Sign "fetching designs", "Balls and Mahls", "fetch n sketch"... oh, well, don't want to rush into anything and there's everyone else's signs to do anyhow.
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Rick Cooper
Sierra Sign & Award
Lake Tahoe, USA
www.engrave.pctrader.com
$$$Letterheads Website Supporter$$$
"The early bird gets the worm but the second
mouse gets the cheese."
hey adrienne, i love the photo.
we were all at the motel in commerce, jawja.
the next morning before they left for the airport, "Sticky Novicki" and "Rocky Broadus"
rearranged my magnetics!
"shicken sh#t fair"(inside joke....LOL"
mark
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Mark Fair
Mark Fair Signs
http://www.markfair.com
Home of "Sign of the Month
http://www.markfair.com/signomonth.html
2162 Mt. Meigs Road
Montgomery, Alabama 36107
334-262-4449
"Mark Fair is a Proud Contributor to The Letterhead Site!"
I re-read my post and I don't see where I was being the mean guy you say I am.
I think you read someting into the post that simply isn't there.
Anyway, I never ment to offend anyone! I have no reason or motive or concerns. If you re-read my first post you will see I welcomed Melanie to the BB and even gave some suggestions and, yes, a controversial opinion. I even put a "hahahahahah" which shows my remark was well intended.
I'm really sorry to all who felt angered by my comments. I had no idea they would be taken that way. I can and still will express my opinion right or wrong, and I can admit and will ask forgiveness when I'm wrong.
Mike, I'm sorry this got you so upset.
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Draper The Signmaker
Bloomington Illinois USA
Stop in and visit a while!
309-828-7110
signman@davesworld.net
Raptorman or Draper_Dave on mIRC chat
