signcraft

Brian Schofield: Truck door graphics that look like an emblem

What’s more amazing than to see your company name as a gleaming chrome or gold emblem that appears to be mounted on your… Read More

Cover photo: BC Bait, Braun Bleamer

  Over years and years of designing and selling signs, you get pretty good at reading customer expectations. A business that has been… Read More

Retro vehicle graphics sell

We’ve been fortunate to have established a nice niche with the retro branding work we do for clients all over the country (and… Read More

Cover photo: Cedar Knoll Kennel – Ian Macdonald

There are many fine wood signs made over the years that now need restored thanks to weather’s wear and tear. That’s the focus… Read More

Infills on CNC routing add texture and create interest

One of the techniques Dayna Reed [creator of the 3D Signs Made Easy and the More Super Cool 3D Signs videos] has used… Read More

Cover photo: Leaf Greenhouse – Rob Cooper

  You could do a different sign for this greenhouse, but it’s hard to imagine a more beautiful one than this sign by… Read More

A-frames make a great add-on sale

Signs are the best advertising value going, and smart sign shops look for every chance to help their client get the advertising they… Read More

Rob Cooper: 8 signs before-and-after

Before-and-after photos are a great way to see how a designer makes a sign more effective. Rob Cooper, Koh Tao, has had plenty… Read More

Cover photo: Flanders Fire Dept. – Jim Fetten

In January 2021 we posted an interesting article by Jim Fetten, Fetten Sign Company, Jamesport, New York, on how he did gold emblems… Read More

2024 Reader Survey – What is your minimum shop charge?

One of the questions we asked in our recent Reader Survey was, “Do you have a minimum shop charge and if so, how… Read More

Cover photo: Floral Culture – Scott Martin

Scott Martin was an outstanding sign maker from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, who passed in October of 2020. We had been planning a feature… Read More

Design & Price: Van lettering

For every issue, SignCraft gave a few sign makers an imaginary project. We asked them to do a sketch of the sign they… Read More

How to do an easy hand carved background

Hard carving the background on HDU signs is a unique effect that can add a lot of interest—and it’s easy. Dayna Reed, creator… Read More

Cover photo: F&B Oyster Co., Sanibel Island, Florida

Like many readers, one of the things we here at SignCraft miss about the print edition of the magazine was the cover photo…. Read More

2024 survey results: How do your gross sales compare?

In 44 years of doing SignCraft, we’ve rarely asked readers to share their annual sales numbers in our Reader Surveys because we assumed… Read More

Q&A: Do you calibrate your monitor?

A reader wants to know: “Do others calibrate their display to match the output from their digital printer? If so, how do they… Read More

Video: Ross F. George and The Speedball Textbook

Sam Roberts at Better Letters did a video with the folks at Letterform Archive on Ross George, the creator of the Speedball pen… Read More

The signs of Fisherman’s Wharf

San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf is among the most popular tourist destinations on the West Coast—packed with sights to see, places to shop and… Read More

Mike Jackson: Five decades in signs and graphics

Back in 1981, a packet of photos arrived in the mail at SignCraft from a young Oklahoma sign painter named Mike Jackson. We… Read More

Want a cool 3D effect? Try embossed copper sheeting.

The “anything goes” approach to creative sign making gets used frequently at Southpaw Signs, Oceana, California. Looking through examples of their work, you’ll… Read More