Shop Sign

[shadow82]

This is a first idea for our shop sign
I want to stay with the colours any
tips would be great. This would be
going on the shop front and web site
as well as cards and flyers.
36465
It is just a first idea.

[Norm]

Likin the graphic Russ! Is it a paintball company?

[AndyW]

Likin Russ just one question what does it look like without the borders round the image and air soft

[bigwater]

Yellow and black work good together, and I know you said you wanted to stick with the colors... but If I might suggest that you brighten the yellow up just a tad to give it a little more pop. You also might want to experiment with switching the colors, yellow background and black graphics/text. I think that will make it pop even more. Black graphics/text on a yellow background will probably give you more longevity on the sign as well since black absorbs much more heat and pounds your substrate harder.

The border around the elements are distracting, and I'd lose them. If you wanted to put a border around the entire sign I think that would be better. Stretch the paintball graphic out to fill the whole sign out to the width of the bottom text, and give it a little more detail so that the viewer doesn't have to struggle to figure out what it is.

I'm not fond of the font you used. The thin uprights are going to have a tendency to get lost in the meat of the thick crossbars when viewed at a glance, and it's going to be hard to read for people driving past. Remember the 50/50 rule. What will the sign look like from 50 feet away at 50 MPH? A sign design has to take that into consideration. It's not like a business card where people can sit there and study it at their leisure. It has to present your message at a glance, and I'm afraid this message won't be picked up by a lot of people who glance at it driving down the road.

Please understand that I'm not criticizing, just tossing .02 in from an old hand who's been designing signs for a long time.

[HighRisk]

Looks great Russ. I see the sign painters are coming out in this thread. Case in point (the post right above me) lol........

[maxxpaane]

I have to agree with Ron, the colors are nice but you won't be able to read it going down the road as it will prob look like a solid mass with the lettering being so tight. This would prob be good for behind the counter as customers would clearly see it better. I do like the clip art. MP

[shadow82]

This is what I wanted Ron your input and experiance if you don't mind I will make the changes that you recomend with the yellow background and black lettering. Also I will lose the border and see how that looks,MP I like the idea of using somthing like that in the shop and the fonts again any ideas you guys have would help. To be honest I have never done anything like this before and I would like to get it right. So if any one wants to take the image and do your thing with it then yep go for it,it can't do any harm. The guns are air sost guns a world away from paint ball guns, these guns are knowen as R.I.F. Realistic Imitation Firearms they are the same weight size and colour as the real steel versions (the real thing) just a wee bit of info on them. Reading what you guys have said and looking at the sign I do see where it can be made better thanks for the help you guys.

[mmccoy555]

Just gonna jump in here. I agree with what's been said. When your designing a sign, website, brochure, etc., you have to get the customers attention right away. think about it. If your on a website and you can't figure out what it is within the first 10 seconds or so do you stay there or move on to the next website. Same goes with signs. If you can't get the main info right away your not gonna bother. If your driving down the road you don't have much time to read a bunch of text or try to squint to see fonts or to deal with colors that might throw your vision off. You gotta get the info out at a glance. Might even be a good idea to use a bold font, a single word that describes what you do, a phone number so you can be contacted even if it's just to ask what you do. These are just some of the thing you need to accomplish when making a sign.

[shadow82]

I agree that the font used is not the best for this and I am redoing the fonts also the border will be removed. The colour will be yellow on black and it will be a brighter yellow than this,the phone number will be added when it is getting made and that depends on the location of the shop. The name of the shop is Real Steel and Air Soft is what we do so to add any more would be over kill,working on a redesign and will post when I can,thanks for the tips and advice.

[bigwater]

Okay, I think we're getting somewhere then. Since you're going to lose the border on the top image, I'd move the graphic all the way to the left leaving zero negative space on it. The reason for that is that the image is already cropped and it's going to look weird cropped out in space. Let the edge of the panel delineate the crop of the image. Then I'd move the "REAL STEEL" to the right, leaving about half the width of the L as negative space on the right hand side of the panel. Then move "REAL STEEL" up closer to the barrel of the gun, almost as if the shooter was using the words as a steady point, but not quite touching the text. That will leave you the room you need for the phone number right about where the word "STEEL" is now. Once the borders are lost, the negative space on top and bottom should be okay, but let's see your layout once you play with it a bit.

[shadow82]

I took out the border and moved the graphic
like you said Ron still not sure about the font.
36631
I kept the phone number plain as it was a
bit ott in that font.

[AndyW]

Looking a lot better Russ, personaly would still pop up the yellow shade a couple of notch's

[shadow82]

This will be done in vinyl Andy and the yellow that I have is way brighter than this.
I am going to do a small mock up of it about 18"X12" with the vinyl I plan to use
then I will up load a picture of it but will wait and see what Ron and the others think.

[bigwater]

That is pretty much exactly what I had in mind Russ. I think that font works much better than the first one. The negative space on the right of "REAL STEEL" is pretty much perfect. The negative space around the phone number is a little unbalanced though, so I'd suggest bumping the "REAL STEEL" up just a bit to where you are just almost, but not quite, touching the barrel of the gun. Then enlarge the phone number a bit so that it balances the area between the magazine, the edge of the sign, and the "AIR SOFT" banner. You might want to consider the same font as the rest of the sign for the phone number, or at least pick a bolder font to more match the feel of the rest of the sign. That font feels sort of wimpy compared to the other one.

[shadow82]

I can see how it is looking better Ron and
have done like you said moved the name
up and changed the font and size of the
phone number.
36645

[HighRisk]

Ron is the man when you want to do things right. Nothing beats experiance......

[mmccoy555]

I don't think I would go with that font for the phone number. It's not very easy to read. Remember people are going to be driving by this thing(I'm assuming) and that font is hard to see when your not.

[bigwater]

I sort of agree that that particular font makes the numbers difficult to read. It's bold enough to be effective, but the slashes through the center affect the ability to read the numbers a lot more than they do the letters. It's weird that you can read the text fine, but the numbers are almost impossible to make out without studying them.

One other suggestion that I can make, is if you have a website associated with the business, put it on the sign. Everybody has the web nowdays, and if they don't their kids or friends do. In the case of your sign with limited real estate, I would put the website address on it instead of the phone number. People driving down the road are not going to memorize an eleven digit phone number at a glance, but airsoft.com (or whatever) will stick in their head and they'll remember it when they get home. Then put the phone number prominently on your web site.

[mmccoy555]

I like the idea of making your website url, your business name. That way whatever you put the business name on the website is there. Usually it's just a matter of adding a .com in there somewhere.

[shadow82]

I agree about the phone No I thought it was a bit OTT and was not keen on it but have a stack more fonts. I will have a play with fonts and numbers and hope to get it right and the web site will be on there again guys I got to say thenks for the input.

[mmccoy555]

Helvetica medium is a good choice for a Git Er Done font. Easy to read and bold. I think that might be a good choice for your application.

[bigwater]

Well I don't know if you'll be painting it, or doing it in cut vinyl, but either way you can massage that font to fill in the slots through the middle of the phone number. The font itself would probably be fine if you elimated the slots.

[Carlos]

WHAT IS IT WITH YOU YANKS AND YER GODDAMN GUN TOYS LOL

I love things like this.. gets ya thinking. Here's just my tuppence worth: I'd consider simplifying it even more if its a road side install, simple and instantly to the point. Im not keen on the gun graphic, I think its a bit too bitty and not instantly recognisable. I just spent 5 mins knocking this up *very roughly* not even the correct proportions and just threw in the different eliments, but also here's a couple more fonts, well the stencil one is very clear, and I think has that hard core no messing feel that suits the subject. For the website addy, you cant afford to be too fussy with the font, as it wont work. You have also got to select one which works with the actual words. I've just used the 'airsoft' but it's not an easy config or letters to work with! Sometimes it goes like that. There might be only 1 font that will carry it off, but some words will work with loads of fonts. I'd throw in a few bullet holes here n there, and call it done

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g37/carlos2006_01/Untitled-1-2.jpg

[bigwater]

I like the original logo for the gun. It's a shooter holding his position against the edge of the panel, backed up by the very edge of the world. The latest move of the barrel propped up on the top of the lettering gives a sense of motion and action.... the same thing that make movie posters attract movie goers.

I like your choices of fonts Carlos, and think they would work well with the context of the sign, but I'm not so sure about your layout. Just my .02

[Carlos]

I like the original logo for the gun. It's a shooter holding his position against the edge of the panel, backed up by the very edge of the world. LOL you had some whackybacky off highrisk? I hear ya, although the edge of the world bit Im not sure on, but its still a lot to take in at 50mph. My head would be a bit lost in the jumble of the whole thing rather than taking an instant hit in a couple of seconds which stays as an imprint on my mind so I can instantly recall it's message and most importantly, the details on how to get back to it. Anyhow, Im no sign designer.. but it took me longer to type this up than it did to lay that design out LOL

[sharonsstudio]

looking good Russ..
Lots of great help here.. thats why I love this place..

[shadow82]

Got to agree with you Sharon I love this place and the input is outstanding,Carlos you crack me up bud love the font do you have a link for it? The sign would be above the entrance to the shop and it would be within the city the max speed limit in the city is 30m.p.h. and you would be real lucky to get anywhere near that speed more like 17m.p.h. haha. Ron was thinking about doing it in vinyl I have a 24" cutter and was thinking about doing the sign in two parts then applying them to the board but if I have to paint it no probs just thought vinyl is faster.

[Carlos]

Got to agree with you Sharon I love this place and the input is outstanding,Carlos you crack me up bud love the font do you have a link for it? The sign would be above the entrance to the shop and it would be within the city the max speed limit in the city is 30m.p.h. and you would be real lucky to get anywhere near that speed more like 17m.p.h. haha. Ron was thinking about doing it in vinyl I have a 24" cutter and was thinking about doing the sign in two parts then applying them to the board but if I have to paint it no probs just thought vinyl is faster.just the standard stencil font I used there, matey. I found it in illustrator but I think its a standard windows font. Also check out DAFONT.com they have several 'stencil' style fonts, but they wont work on any numbers or web address. Just too hard to read. The stencil type font is a little old fashioned maybe, but its like the typical sort of font used for action movies or remember your action man toys? That sort of thing. I like the blade runner style font as well, and I must admit that it was my first thought also, but the stencil one was one of those 'eureka' moments LOL

hey, I did think of putting a target in there somewhere, but that might just make it look like its a shooting range or something.