By signcraft
Posted on Sunday, August 10th, 2025
Back in the late 1970s and early ’80s, you couldn’t talk about sign design in a sign shop for very long before Chester Cunningham’s name came up. He was a very creative sign painter and designer whose work was inspired by showcard and sign design of the 1950s and 1960s in the Chicago area and southern California.
Chester combined those design principles with current typefaces and fresh colors to create his own brand of creative, highly effective signs. He believed that sign designers had much more to offer their customers than “just some letters on a board.” He saw signs as powerful advertising for small businesses.
In that pre-internet era, he often exchanged photos and letters with other sign people, and spent time on the phone talking shop. “Always willing to share his knowledge with others, always encouraging, constantly trying to upgrade his profession,” wrote Texas sign designer, Raymond Chapman, “such was Chester Cunningham.”
You can see more in “The trendsetting work of the late Chester Cunningham”—and maybe find some inspiration for your next sign design.
