posted
or the internet/forums/blogs & Facebook taking over?
- a "sign of the times", maybe - ?
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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I think it's the other mags in the industry. Although, I do prefer quality over quanity. I do think that one day, most trade magazines will be available only on-line. No printing,no mailing. So save those old printed issues.
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3812 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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"the craft" of sign making.....is also shrinking!
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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SignCraft is still the very best magazine out there. I know Tom and his crew have a tough time narrowing the choice of signs and artists to make the cut each issue. They get lots of great work to choose from.
I suspect advertising is down as the economy and advertisers still struggle. There are no shortage of magazines competing for the same advertiser's dollars.
I am sure as the economy improves the magazine will fatten up once more. In the meantime we need to continue doing our part of make it the best it can be.
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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Perhaps that reflects the whole sign business, which (if you haven't noticed) is on the 'decline'. I let my subscription go when the content started to be redundant and too much poorly designed, generic looking, sticker based sign work was being featured.
posted
I'd been in the sign biz probably a year or two before I saw my first sign craft mag and was blown away by the inspirational work and quality. I signed up immediately and over the years let the rest of the others fall by the wayside. They all have good qualities and articles but for sure inspiration, Sign Craft does it for me.
-------------------- Brian Diver PDQ Signs Everett, Wa
posted
There are many reasons for the state of the sign business today. After being in it for 51 years, I have seen many changes, some good, some bad. If I were to list them all, I would probably have nubs left for fingers. I think that the people on this site are the best of the best, and I think you can guess what I mean. Peace Don
-------------------- Donald Miner ABCO Wholesale Neon 1168 Red Hill Creek Dobson, NC Posts: 842 | From: North Carolina | Registered: Apr 2006
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I love this magazine, big time. It is buy far the best day every two months. All work stops and I open a can of Coke Classic and settle into the most comfortable chair I have and wade into the magazine.
I jump to the business card section and the shop vehicles first and then head back to the front for the full read. I miss the shop tips. There are so many functioning sign shops out there that I am sure if we start sending in our tips, we should be able to fill a half page each addition.
The signs that are in issue are eye candy but for me they are a huge resource. I learn from every sign and it helps greatly see how a good sign is composed colour co-ordinated and how to pull it all together.
I as well, feel every time the magazine show up at the door that it is getting thinner(or am I gust getting fatter). In this world, where to increase profit companies make the product smaller while keeping the cost the same so the consumer won't notice, we noticed but, I was afraid to be the first to voice my concern.
If there was a way that we could help, all that would be needed is the call out from Signcraft for submissions in areas that input has been lacking.
I know that the world is supposed to be going paperless, but they are going to have to pull my signcraft magazines from cold dead hands. My son has been told to find a young sign maker to deliver them to so they can be guided along the proper path.
Please Signcraft, if you can't go monthly with this thickness could you give us the thicker version every other month.
For 3 years, my ex's, sister got me the subscription each Christmas. Best gift every year. When I moved away I wanted to guarantee my supply so when that last, great offer came through I re-upped for a full 3 years. I hope by then it won't be a two page flyer, of worse yet a receive a refund check because they have gone e-additions only.
from a very loyal customer monk
-------------------- Sandy "Monk" Baird Windwalker Sign Studio Port Colborne, Ontario L3K 4H9 Posts: 442 | From: Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Jun 2004
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We are and always will be BIG Signcraft fans. We get it sent to our home so we can leisurely read it at night then we bring it over to the shop to add to the SHELF of Signcrafts. When it gets over here, the boys fight over who gets to see it first. There has always been a wealth of info about all of the many facets of the sign industry and it's fun to see people we know in there. Can't say enough good stuff about that magazine!!
-------------------- Jane Diaz Diaz Sign Art 628 W. Lincoln Ave. Pontiac, Il. 61764 815-844-7024 www.diazsignart.com Posts: 4102 | From: Pontiac, IL USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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No one is knocking the magazine, just saying it is getting way smaller. I still have the first issues around here somewhere, and I believe they weren't more than 10 pages or so. Hope it isn't reverting back to that!
A good quality magazine that has substantially less content (good or bad) is not a reasonable argument for the quality vs. quantity adage.
They may be the victim of the economy by less advertisers and such, so I am not blaming them or their fine publication, just lamenting the sad fact I guess.
-------------------- Wright Signs Wyandotte, Michigan Posts: 2785 | From: Wyandotte, MI USA | Registered: Jan 1999
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I don't know what I'd do without my SignCraft. It has always featured the type of signs I like most to build. Signs of the Times has always been geared toward the big commercial shops and concentrated on electric signs. Sign Business used to be my second choice, and I always considered it a fine mag, but now they seem to be concentrating on the digital market. Sign Builder... well, occasionally a good article but eye candy? Nope, very few pictures.
As long as SignCraft continues with some eye candy and good articles, I don't really care how thin it is. And I finally got my mailman to stop folding it in half to wrap the rest of my mail in with a rubber band. I even bought a nice wide mailbox so it could stay flat.
-------------------- Dave Sherby "Sandman" SherWood Sign & Graphic Design Crystal Falls, MI 49920 906-875-6201 sherwoodsign@sbcglobal.net Posts: 5396 | From: Crystal Falls, MI USA | Registered: Apr 1999
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I've been associated with SC since the beginning. It was launched by sign folks, not journalist. The early issues were put together in a garage on a ping pong table.
Tom and the rest of the gang were hit by the economy just like the rest of us. Advertising is what pays the bills and determines the size of the magazine. Color pages are not cheap. Just like our own businesses, advertisers began to watch their dollars closely and began cutting back on the number of publications that they could afford to advertise in. Since there are more journals now than thirty years ago, the dollars are spread more thinly.
Printing costs and shipping have increased dramatically, as you have probably witnessed in your own businesses. Add that to the growing use of electronics and you can see the writing on the wall.
The McIltrotts have provided us all with a fine publication, filled with the best eye candy in the industry. They see through our eyes and know what good design is all about.
I can't speak for them, but I'm sure they would welcome more of your photos, ideas and articles. They can't share information with the rest of us unless you take part in the process.
-------------------- Chapman Sign Studio Temple, Texas chapmanstudio@sbcglobal.net Posts: 6306 | From: Temple, Texas, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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There has to be a way that we can help. Maybe they can take a page out BC Dan's books with self promotion. It has to be THE number 1 sign magazine out there if there was a heads up pole of sign shops. If the advertising industry realized how much we prize out beloved SignCraft, maybe the advertisers would see the value they get for their dollar. My concern is the the part of the industry that sells the equipment. If they where to sneak in here an read a few posts it would be long before they read how we have made our Roland Camm 1 live for 25 years and expect to last that long again. Maybe we are not the best target market for the machine suppliers who want to be in front of the shops that are continually updating to the newest, fastest tool. The signs I love to linger looking at are some of the hand painted ones probably done with a brush that they have owned and loved forever. Or we part of the problem? Do we look to create signs ment to last and in a style that is not cutting edge. Work because we love what we do and the money often becomes the secondary motive for making beautifully signs. I'm ready to stand out in front of my shop with the latest edition(once it gets here after our mail strike) and have a picture snapped and send it off to SignCraft. I few hundred of those photos from around the world, in a collage on the back page should get the message out to the advertisers.
-------------------- Sandy "Monk" Baird Windwalker Sign Studio Port Colborne, Ontario L3K 4H9 Posts: 442 | From: Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Jun 2004
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My subscription expired last winter and I didn't renew either because of all the computer generated stuff.Just yesterday I got the july/ Aug issue and asked the wife if she renewed it, she didn't. They must be trying to coax me back and i probably will eventually, since I've been getting it since the early 80's.
I wish they could do a " where are they now" article every issue going back to some of the featured artists from the earlier issues.
-------------------- Bill Reusch Reusch Sign Company 3258 80th. ave. Knapp, Wis. 54749 715-665-2647 Posts: 83 | From: Knapp, Wisconsin | Registered: Aug 2007
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I have issues all the way back to the 80s, when a cousing of mine sent me a gift subscription to Signcraft. I didnt even know of the magazine then, but was so glad to received such a thoughtful gift. Since then, I have either bought single issues at art stores, or for the last bunch of years, subscribed. I dont intend to end that anytime soon, no matter what the content may be. Although some of the stuff may not be geared towards my specific needs, its still interesting to read about it , and how it is done. You dont kick an old friend to the curb, just because he started wearing a different after shave, do you? Same difference.
-------------------- Maker of fine signs and other creative stuff. Located at 109 N. Cumberland ave. Harlan, Ky. 40831 606-837-0242 Posts: 4172 | From: Ages-Brookside, Ky. Up the Holler... | Registered: Jul 1999
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I began my Sign business in 1980. I knew about SOT then but honestly was only interested in the sign competition or the issues which featured the Letterhead's. The content of SOT was not geared for those like me who were starting out with a few quills and some saw horses. I heard about SignCraft a few years later and bought the back issues. I have not missed one since. We were all working out of small back rooms or garages yet were gaining the knowledge from guys like Raymond. Oooohing and Ahhing over these new fangled sandblasted signs by others like Mike Jackson. Many of us who were isolated by small markets can attribute much of our professional growth and vision to SC. How many times have you tried something new, bigger or better after seeing it within those pages? Many of you have dreamed of what life at "those guys shops" must be like, never really believing that you too would be featured one day but it has happened. Quit rolling those Eyes of Texas, Raymond. I have no direct knowledge of the reason for slimmer SC's. The McIltrots do run a business and we are just assuming it to be economics. Might I suggest we do this. If you have let a subscription lapse renew it now for the maximum length they will allow. If you know a sign-maker who cannot renew, renew their subscription for them. If you work closely with a design agency, buy them a years subscription that could lead them to trying new things and gain better jobs for you as well.
-------------------- Bob Sauls Sauls Signs & Designs Tallahassee, Fl
"Today I'll meet nice people and draw for them!" Posts: 765 | From: Tallahassee, Fl | Registered: Jun 2009
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could you give us the thicker
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