just some thoughts running through my head while pondering what ever happened to gordon johncock...

i read the editorial column in the latest issue of "sign business". i have always admired the writings of mardeen gordon in the past, but, this time she really hit the nail on the head.

i have read here on the bullboard,with great amusement,about the assorted rantings and ravings of beguiled signmakers going on and on about the designs that were "stolen" from them.

while this does do not take into account the actions of unscrupulous clients and signmakers with no sense of right or wrong, we, as a collective group, can trace the blame of this right back to ourselves.

i, for one, have been guilty of this myself. i can not tell the level of frustration, not to mention the rise in blood pressure, that happens when a sketch is used by another sign company or doesn't lead to a job.

mardeen's point about sign sketches not being stolen but being given away was direct and to the point. she scored big with the idea of no sketches being allowed to leave their shop without a deposit. i couldn't agree more.

my partner and i started this policy in our shop about 3 years ago. we do not allow any sketches to leave the shop without a deposit or signed contract. in fact, we don't do any sketches on prospectus anymore.

we feel that if a prospective client can not look at our portfolio and the samples we have in the shop and decide that we are more than capable of producing their sign, then shame on them. if the prices we have quoted are not acceptable, a sketch is not going to make the price of the job any more palletable.

how many times have you done a sketch and seen it done by someone else? how many times have you knocked yourself out on drawing only to have the job rejected? this kind of madness had to stop in our shop and we did.

far too many times, we, as a collective group, have undervalued the scopes of our abilities. sketches and ideas take time and, as my daddy used to say, time is money. if we give our sketches away, then why should the client place any value on them if we have not?

if anyone has not read this article yet, then i suggest that you do. i can't say that it opened our eyes to this because we came to this cnclusion on our own. however, i could not agree more with the points mardeen made.

have a great one!

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Bruce Bowers
DrCAS
Signtech

"how great are His signs..."
Daniel 4:3

i am a proud supporter of this website!

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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! :^)

we have no problem faxing a proof... right after we have a commitment on the part of the customer. we have a copyright notice and a date printed on the bottom of the sheet. not only that, but i print the word "print" right across the design just in case someone has the idea of using the artwork for later "projects". aint i a scumdog? hehehehehe...

have a great one

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Bruce Bowers
DrCAS
Signtech

"how great are His signs..."
Daniel 4:3

i am a proud supporter of this website!

2nd stage: "Designs" and "layouts" usually refer to artwork being produced on contract to gain approval for a finished rendering, or "proof."

3rd stage: A "proof" is for final artwork approval on a job already under contract, whether it be written or verbal.

Regardless whether you go through all three steps or get directly to the final stage, get the deposit before you provide anything to the client!