The great human compassion in you really makes you shine!!!
------------------ Deb Creative Signs "All the gold in the world cannot buy a dying man one more breath. So what does that make today worth?" Og Mandino
Posts: 5373 | From: Loves Park, Illinois | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
Can't afford a decent sign....hmmmm...ever heard of "barter"??? It doesn't matter what the business is...they can trade services or goods with a sign shop! Maybe not a delxe carved and guilded Cam's Special...but a nice sign!!! Tell me that you have never traded work!! Most bad signs are as a result of ignorance or just plain cheapness!
There ...I said it, and I'm glad!
------------------ Si Allen #562 La Mirada, CA. USA (714) 521-4810 ICQ # 330407 "SignPainters do It with Longer Strokes!"
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Posts: 8831 | From: La Mirada, CA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Hay Adrienne...how much you wanna barter fer them perty little red stickers? I'll need 2. I mean aw shucks...just round it out to 5 of em will ya? Can I get each one in diffent color ink? You know like a rainbow? They would look good with a shadow thingie and some blow paint smears behind the letterin...ya think?
hehehe.
------------------ Linda Silver Eagle Silver Eagle Graphix Studio Georgia, USA
ICQ# 60434646
Signwriters never die...they've always got 1-Shot left!
I was just trying to have some fun here!! GEESH!!! No ones makin fun of poor people, heck I was one, still am really!
I dunno about where you live...maybe it's different, but here on the west coast bad signs are put out in front of businesses mostly by cheap folks who don't want to put out the money.....call it a pet peeve of mine (like people who let their 3 yr olds record the answering machine message...."he-wo....oo have weetched dah, um...smiff fam-o-wee......ah...um.....")
Bartering is a great idea Si, I hope Marty offers to do a trade with those poor business owners, I have and I DO! Most of my furniture, carpet cleaning, dinners out are by trade. I used to think that most people with bad signs were poor too, till I offered to help them out. I got responces like "hey, my friend who's an artist did that, and it was real cheap!" and "I did it myself, not bad huh?" I'm very compassionate, to a fault, really! But think about it... this is the business we have CHOSEN.....this is what we DO for a LIVING! We have pride in what we do, do we not? Is it wrong to get a bit critical if someone trys to bypass a professional to save money? These aren't just average signs, or beginners' attempts, these are really bad signs!
Last Christmas I saw a man painting a window downtown...it was bad, really bad.....he paints these same stores here every year...I stopped to chat with him.. He admitted he wasn't very good, had seen my work around, etc. I didn't laugh at him, I took him over to my van, showed him all my stuff, offered to give him a lesson if he'd come by the house, heck I offered to GIVE him paint and a few rollers....nope, he never came by, finished them the way he did the others, looks awful. He didn't care. That's what ticks me off. People that do what we do professionally, but have no desire to learn. Just collect money.
Sorry Marty....still don't agree....but I still like ya!! A
------------------ Adrienne Morgan Splash Signs www.splashsigns.com "Rainkatt'
I agree that there are folks out there that can't afford a nice professional sign...even tho they would really like one...they are struggling along trying to learn a business to provide for thier families...But they must remember that thier sign say's a lot about them and the type of operation they run.
But then there are also "CHEAP" people out there that don't have a clue about how important a well designed sign can be....they figger "A sign is a sign"....and I also reckon that most of them don't even realize that thier sign is UGLY"
Oh-well...it takes all kinds....
also remember....when you paint a sign and you put it out there for everyone to see....you open yourself up...you gotta take your licks.
Otay...Buhwheat?????
------------------ Jackson Smart Jackson's Signs Port Angeles, WA ...."The Straits of Juan De Fuca in my front yard and Olympic National Park in my backyard...
"Living on Earth is expensive...but it does include a free trip around the Sun"
[This message has been edited by Jackson Smart (edited January 28, 2001).]
Posts: 1002 | From: Port Angeles, Washington | Registered: Jan 1999
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Still, I choose to take the high road and live and let live. I guess I'm busy and secure enough not to fret about all the 'home-made' signs out there taking bread from my table. Disparaging and ridiculing the ignorant, untalented and inexperienced or plain innocent isn't going to make me a better person or sign-maker. Show me stuff that inspires and motivates me to a greater level, not stuff that makes me complacent in the knowledge that I'm better than 'so and so' and their (what some subjectively view as) sub-par efforts! There's no question, we're among the elite of sign-makers..... let's not be 'elitist'. It's not cool to be cruel!
Happy Signing.....Marty
------------------ Marty Happy Signmaker Since 1974 Happy Ad Sign & Design Regina SK, Canada S4N 5K4
posted
I have to say one more thing about ugly signs. You do have to be careful. (I have told this little story before, so move on if you have read it) I was in a local nursery buying some plants.(years ago) I noticed the awful signs. I told the lady at the checkout that I was a signpainter and that I could re-do their signs for them. She asked what was wrong with the signs they had.(WeLL DUH) So I proceeded to tell her they were the worst signs I had seen in a long time. (Old Plywood, dripping latex paint, letters slopping downward etc.) She just glared at me, while I happily said that anything would be an improvement over what they had.....blah blah blah. Well when I was finished with my boasting and bad mouthing their signs, she quietly mentioned that SHE had made all the signs. Sheesh....I felt about 2 inches tall. I told her how sorry I was and quickly left. Turns out she is the owners wife. They make tons of money..and the ugly signs are STILL up!! Well get a clue!!! The signs are BAD! (BAD meaning: TeRriBlE) Pay for some professional signs!!! Sheesh! I just shake my head whenever I go past there. Sheesh. Get a clue.
posted
Although ugly sign postings do have the potential to hurt the ones that did them, it also may be an eye opener. If you see some of these so called ugly signs and can't see what's wrong with them, it's time to study good layout. Not everyone on this board does incredible signwork I'm sure.
It may also be safer to post 'non professional work', where it's really obvious someone NOT in our biz did the signs.
This post turned out to be alot more educational than just glancing at bad signs. There's thought and feeling behind your posts. There's an education out of this thread after all, folks.
posted
Well this has been very interesting! Didn't mean to stir the bucket, just wanted to laugh a little. Not at people - just at signs. Like a hand painted 4x8 on a pickup that advertised "SWIMPS FOR SELL." Also we have a VERY interesting older lady in our neighborhood who took a 2" brush and painted pinstripes with latex paint on the new truck her son had just bought her! We have many many sign posts that have been crafted with rusty iron pipe and even framed with the same. The color combinations are rather interesting too! How does soft yellow plywood with cut out letters and frame painted baby pink sound to you? And in front of one of the business places in town there is an old electric sign that is rusty and the face is knarled with the freshly painted name of a new biz on it! In the latter case I'm suspicious that the new owner simply couldn't afford to have the sign restored but anything would have looked better. These signs always put a smile on my face and I enjoy them very much. Every sign has it's own personality and these are a riot. I wasn't trying to be smug or disrespectful to anyone. As a matter of fact I am probably the worst artist on this site and the least experienced. I'm certain that my best sign would be entertaining at best! But I WILL get better, much better. Addriene, you are soooo funny girl, and Mark fair you are a riot. Perhaps someday I will get to meet some of you and share a good time and a few laughs.
------------------ Kathy Joiner River Road Graphics Ponchatoula, La. Old enough to know better...Too young to resist.
Posts: 1891 | From: Ponchatoula, LA | Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Nailed it on the head Donna!! Thanks! That's what I was getting at: NON-Professional signs...... None of those I was poking fun at were done by serious sign ppl....I think that's obvious.
I kinda wanted to find a neat old homemade looking sign while I was in GA that said 'Boiled peanuts' but didn't have time to look for one. (there were many painted on BIG pieces of plywood leaned up against house tho) I love old, hand painted, funky signs. There is charactor in them for sure.
Maybe I'll have to make my own and make it look old and funky.
A
------------------ Adrienne Morgan Splash Signs www.splashsigns.com "Rainkatt'
posted
There are a couple of "splashers" in my area whose work "sucx"!!! And they haven't improvded in over 30 years that I have known them!!! One of them still uses ONE style of letters and every job looks just like the last one, except once in a while , he changes colors. the other is a fair artist, has 2 styles of letters, that are ugly!!!! so he does a big picture and minimal lettering! How have they lasted so long...they werk cheap! Trying to educte them is a waste of time (not that I haven't tried) because what they do works for them and the shop keepers who take advantage of them! I don't feel sorry for those who produce "crap", or those who accept it! They are too ignorant to be insulted , or don't care!
Just my opinion!
------------------ Si Allen #562 La Mirada, CA. USA (714) 521-4810 ICQ # 330407 "SignPainters do It with Longer Strokes!"
Brushasaurus on Chat
Gladly supporting this BB !
Posts: 8831 | From: La Mirada, CA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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