Learning to be a good designer takes time. I believe it comes through practice and also by truly seeing (and taking careful note of what we see) good design around us. There are some good books available, the best most likely the one by the late Mike Stevens. I hear it is available in digital format. It’s a dry read – puts me to sleep every time but there are some very sound principles there and it is well worth the read.
I believe it is also important to know where your sign is going to live. It needs to be in context. Every sign needs to tell a story, no matter how mundane it might seem.
A sign I did a while back is a good example. It isn’t nearly as flashy as much of my work. There are no cartoons here. Instead I took my cues from the development. The logo and name were done by others. I just had to make it work. My design cues came from the buildings themselves, the colors and shapes the designers had chosen. I even used elements of the woodwork trim in the sign. Textures were from the TEXTURE MAGIC collection, used in a subtle fashion for this project. There is a lot more going on here than is apparent at first glance and yet it looks simple and elegant, fitting for the development.
The sign was routed in pieces from 30 lb Precision Board and then assembled over a welded steel frame. The client had the concrete pad waiting and so installation took mere minutes, unloading it from the trailer with the help of a backhoe working on the site. I then unscrewed the eyebolt from the top of the roof ridge, patched the hole, touched up the paint and put in some anchor bolts through the base plates. A couple minutes with a rake brought the landscaping materials up to the sign and covered up the concrete and bolts.
-dan
Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.