Mine is designing a killer logo and getting to set it up on stationery, create a spec manual, do all their truck lettering, signs, etc. And then they keep calling you back because they love your work and how everything is so consistant. The whole meal deal does it for me. I love being in the driver's seat if they allow it.
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Hey Donna Good one! Mine is were a customer comes in with a idea and says just run with it.. Asking if they want a proof layout and being told I've seen your work and that all the proof I need! Not many like that but when it happens I put on a smile from ear to ear.
------------------ Raven/2001 Airbrushed by Raven Lower Sackville N.S. deveausdiscovery@sprint.ca
Posts: 4327 | From: Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, Canada | Registered: Jan 2000
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My favorite is when a customer wants a picture painted along with the lettering.The other is when they want something different and it presents a challenge. One more thing is when they come to pick up the job and not only thank me, but shake my hand several times. That makes my day.
------------------ Bill Riedel Riedel Sign Co., Inc. Little Ferry, NJ billsr@riedelsignco.com
Posts: 2953 | From: Little Ferry, New Jersey, USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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When a customer says,Do it to suit yourself and I know we'll be satisfied, and the cost is no object. Makes my mouth water. And doing sandblasted signs. Just now finishing up my first sb job, and it was fun!
------------------ John Deaton III Deaton Design 109 N. Cumberland Ave.,Harlan, Ky. 40831 606-573-9101
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Getting Paid! First and foremost... but not until I earned it. But on the Production side of things, it's most definitely Vehicle Lettering. Neil
------------------ "Keep Positive"
SIGNS1st. Neil Butler Paradise, NF
[This message has been edited by Neil D. Butler (edited April 10, 2001).]
Posts: 6277 | From: St. John's NF Canada | Registered: Mar 1999
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I've had customers asking for a bit more than anything I've ever done, and then pushing the challenge a bit farther. Moving into the realm of working where there is not the confidence of past performance gets a mix of creative and humble that just sizzles inside me.
I also like to add embellishments andn just keep improving and adding and knowing exactly where to stop. We've all gone that step too far....you know when it was better just before that last step.
I like having an improvement suggested by a friend at the right moment when it can be implemented so that the end result is an effort of a few folks really connecting on the thought process through the completion, so the finished product has the effect of binding us together.
------------------ The SignShop Mendocino, California "Where the Redwoods meet the Surf"
Oh, for the faith of a spider! He begins his web without any thread.
Posts: 6806 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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My favorite projects are hand-built dimensional projects. Less time at the 'puter and more time in the shop creating sawdust with new toys, I mean tools, I've had to acquire to do the jobs. I've always loved building things from raw materials like wood and incorporating that skill into signwork makes me feel very lucky. Then when clients touch and feel, sometimes running their hands all over their new sign, gushing about it's magnificence.....well, it feels even better than the cheque they graciously hand me.
Happy Signing.....Marty
------------------ Marty Happy Signmaker Since 1974 Happy Ad Sign & Design Regina SK, Canada S4N 5K4
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Hi Donna, first off, belated Happy Birthday ! I'm always out of town when the party is going on....hmmm??
Well I have to tell you that my favorite thing to do is to hear the customer tell me an idea they have and instantly know what I'm going to paint for them, knowing all along that what I have in mind will blow their minds when it gets finished. usually when I get on a project like that I'll always go the extra mile or two just to really knock their socks off even if the agreed cost of the job is less than what the actual job is worth. when the customer see's the job and starts jumping up and down and slapping me on the back, that does it for me! I actually had a woman so pleased with the job I did she started crying and bringing her friends by to see it while it was in progress! hahaha I thought " oh man, I'm a dead man! " till she was saying how perfect it was! another time I had this couple come up to me at a bike show, the wife asked me if there was any way I could fit her 3 children's names on a fender in an artistic way I said sure and they left the bike with me.. she had told me that they had lost one of the children at birth so I lettered each name in a spiraling banner wrapped around a nice tastefull striping design. as an afterthought , just to make the child that died stand out from the other two, I painted a little heart next to his name. the design completed it was ready for pick up. when the two came to see what I had painted, she noticed the heart next to the name and just broke into tears and gave me the biggest hug. even her huge biker husband got choked up and so did I. they asked how much and I said "nothing". its those kind of moments that mean more to me than the money. when I can use this gift to touch others its the most wonderful feeling I know. Mike
------------------ 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
Posts: 449 | From: Everett, WA | Registered: Dec 1998
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The jobs that everything just falls in to place and the customer walks in, sees their sign and gets one of those great big monster smiles on their face!
------------------ Greg Gulliford aka MetroDude Metro Signs and Banners 1403 N. Greene St. #1 Spokane, WA 99202 509-536-9452
My favorite things: Designing. Handlettering. Vehicles and boats. Gold leafed sandblasted signs. 4x8's are a kick! Anything that brings large amounts of money fast, because: I also enjoy taking the day off. (tee hee)
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When someone calls and says they saw some work I did and want to use me because of the quality of the work. Then they ask, "Do you need a deposit?"
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I love workin on a job and bein in the zone. You know the one where they've been standin behind you for a while and you didn't even know they were there, and when you turn around seein the mesmerized looks on their faces is kewl. Then listening to them explain they didn't want to disturb me while I was doing such a beatiful job....but when I have time to look at something, they'd like to order creative liscense type stuff. That's respect...feels great as well!
------------------ DrQuill - Mural Woman PEACE SIGNS logodesign2@icqmail.com Georgia, USA
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I love sinking my chisels into wood or hdu...and it's a great feeling to flip the switch on a brand new backlit blasted mirror and watch the customer's face light up too
------------------ Don Coplen aka "SaintPete" Coplen Designs St.Petersburg, FL dcoplen@mindspring.com
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When designing and you know its a killer hot design. Nobody needs to tell me, nobody needs to say or see a thing. It is when a creation of my minds conception and application of all my skills merge. Its the lost feeling of accomplishment.
------------------ Ken Morse Jamn Graphics Santa Cruz, CA
Posts: 213 | From: Santa Cruz, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 2000
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My favorite project is the one I'm working on now. Like Disneyland, it will never be finished.
I've loved every step of my career through the years. It has always been exciting! Almost very job I took on pushed me to the very edge and beyond of what my skills were at the time. Thinking back, it was almost always by choice.
The best part is now of course. We are fortunate enough to now be our own client mostly, these days. Although it has never been about money and always about creating my best, it is even more so now.
The budgets are not large, in fact, quite the opposite. But it isn't about having an unlimited budget, but rather about being creative with what you do have to work with. I dream huge dreams and then design and build as I am able with regard to available time and money. The pace I get to build is about right for the budget and although there are still deadlines, they are self imposed.
And the best I can do creatively is yet to come!
Life is good!
-dan
------------------ Dan Sawatzky Sawatzky's Imagination Corporation Cultus Lake , British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.ca
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I love doing murals for children's rooms. It's very rewarding and fun, and the best part (besides the money) is seeing the delight on the kids faces when I'm finished creating magic in thier special room! A
------------------ Adrienne Morgan Splash Signs www.splashsigns.com "Rainkatt'on chat
Well, like you Donna, I love doing the whole package, but the dessert is getting to do their sign!
Signs of ANY kind are a real treat for me!
I do the printed stuff (Business Cards, Catalogs, Flyers) and the Design stuff (Logos, Marketing Plans, Product Packages) and the Digital stuff (Web sites, and Banner Ads) and the written stuff (News articles, and copy for advertisements) but it's the hands on get messy stuff that I like the most- signs and lines!
I plan my vacations and weekend commitments AROUND Letterhead Meets just so I can learn more about signs and get real messy! (No I'm not that big of a slob... I just always have paint on my shirt, pants, and socks when I leave a meet. Even when I'm "just watching")
I even planned my 15 year reunion around Ron & Kristi Percell's Micro Mini Meet!!! 263 people have to go to it on Sept 29th because I want to go to their meet! Ain't life grand?
I learned how to carve at the last meet and my floors have not been clean since! Heath looks at me and shakes his head... he's a neat freak and I'm NOT. I can carve SignFoam on the living room floor (with a beach towel under most of me) and I think it's perfectly fine!
The Pig Pen was my hero side of the Moon
------------------ The Moon aka: Stefenie Harris Moonlight Designs Pollock Pines, CA learnin' somethin' new every day!
Posts: 550 | From: Pollock Pines, CA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Diane
unregistered
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Hand Carving and using different finish techniques. I would like to get into fine carving - on borders, of logos, etc.... Not just a slab glued on - the kind of carving you see in the old castles - when a door or a wall cabinet is all carved mahogany. I'm using sign foam and enjoy it.
I really love color - different color. Not the 16 choices on the oneshot list - mix 'em. I used to worry about not having the color on file so now I just make sure I keep a swatch in the file and write down all the steps I used to mix. Never a perfect science.
I am looking forward to the meet this summer. My first one. Need more time.
Gardening is also another favorite project but you know that's another post. Lots of nice color there too.
------------------ Summit Signs Sellersville, PA summitsigns@erols.com
Even when I'm "just watching")
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