By David Showalter
Posted on Friday, May 6th, 2022
A local construction company that’s just starting out needed a few basic jobsite signs. They had a few remodeling jobs underway, but were also about to start building a house. They wanted signs to use on these sites.
IMM is the owner’s last name. I chose a bold roman letter for that, and it gave a nice corporate look. I grouped the rest of the copy into blocks to organize it for easy reading.
They said they wanted the signs done with blue lettering on a white background. I used two different shades of blue. On IMM I used navy blue, then I used process blue for the rest of the text and the color bar. A yellow rule under IMM adds a touch of color.
Cut vinyl works well for signs like these. It lasts longer than a print, and it’s very practical production-wise. These signs will last a long time if they take care of them.
I enjoy doing this type of sign work—it’s simple and to the point. Once on the site, these signs work 24/7 and are a great value for the customer. The first call they get from someone who got their name from that simple site sign often pays for the signs many times over.
David Showalter’s shop, David Design, is in Bryan, Ohio.
This appeared in the March/April 2016 issue of SignCraft. Prices have been adjusted for inflation.
Materials:
Three 18-by-24-in. aluminum composite panels — $100
Three metal sign frames — $75
Stainless steel screws and nuts — $32
Vinyl film — $87
Total materials — $294
Labor:
Design — 30 min.
Cut vinyl film — 30 min.
Weed — 60 min.
Apply vinyl — 30 min.
Cut sign panels — 30 min.
Drill panel and mount — 30 min.
Total labor — 3 hours 30 minutes
Design: 30 minutes
It took me about half an hour to put the layout together.
Cut vinyl film: 30 minutes
The signs required three colors of film.
Weed and mask: 60 minutes
It took about an hour to weed the cut graphics and mask them.
Cut panels, drill and mount: 60 minutes
I cut the three panels from a sheet of aluminum composite material [ACM], then bolted them into the step frames.
Apply film: 30 minutes
I used a little application fluid and applied the graphics.
Here’s one of the three completed double-faced signs.
