Collier's Cool Cats

Brian Collier Memorial Ball Tournament T-shirts

I was recently contacted via Facebook by a team that will be playing in a memorial baseball tournament for the late Brian Collier, a soldier in the Canadian Military who lost his life in action overseas. They have begun holding an annual softball tournament in his memory and the proceeds go towards scholarships for the local High Schools to Bradford Ontario and remaining proceeds to helping kids enjoy the experience of playing baseball for the local teams. Having lived in Bradford for about 5 1/2 years this one hit close to home. I quickly agreed to the contract and set the wheels in motion. I was sent a preliminary design that I quickly worked with and got all of the pertinent information to create the best possible graphic that I could muster. 

It was decided quickly that I would design for an 8 1/2 X 11 transfer so this was a mitigating part of the design process. I came up with a design over the next day and sent it off for approval. They loved it.

The team was supplying the shirts so it was now a waiting game from the supplier before I could get started. The shirts took about a week and a half to come so I utilized the time to get all of the graphics printed and trimmed. My supplier Benjamin at Aprimo Group at All image Printing came through for me as usual with flying colours. He had everything ready to go for the order and all I had to do was pick it up. Excellent customer service as always which is the way he works. The shirts came in and looked great in a desert camo. 

The shirts need to be pre-pressed to extract any excess dampness and to smooth the shirt for the transfer.

Nice and smooth and dry. Time to measure across the width to find centre. After letting the shirt cool for a minute or so, it was time to peel the transfer from the backing paper and line it up.

The graphic placement worked out that the base of the Memorial Tournament lettering lined up to the armpit seams for the Large X-Large 2XL and 3XL shirts so lining it up made things go even more smoothly. Next step is placing the ironing sheet over the graphic. Parchment paper can be used in a pinch for smaller graphics but the ironing sheets work best for larger graphics. I used parchment for these.

Th iron was set to the cotton setting and the timer set to a minute and a half. The best method is medium to hard pressure to get the transfer to set into the material.

Starting with getting the transfer stuck down in place from the centre outwards, you then get to the outer edge and any tips that extend past the graphic. Those edges require a bit more attention because they are a weak point on the iron-on. 

After the minute and a half is up, the next step is taking a cloth and rubbing the parchment down. This serves two purposes. It sets the graphic in a bit more but it also draws heat out of the parchment for removal. An extremely hot parchment can pull up the iron-on.

Peel the parchment back slowly watching for peel up.

After the parchment is completely off do a quick scan of the edges.

Next step, adding the company logo on the sleeve using the above steps. Difference being because of the size, 15 seconds of heat sufficed.

This is the final photo of how the shirts came out.

The shirts have been delivered and the team is extremely happy with them. Good luck at the tournament Collier's Cool Cats. For more information on the tournament, please follow this link

Sapper Brian Collier Memorial Ball Tournament

Stay creative my friends.

Advertising your sign business

Today I was travelling out to Norwood Ontario with my good friend Jamie from Oxenham Design and met with a lovely couple that sell tools and accessories. Dave and Mary sat with us discussing many different projects and experiences from over the years. Dave and Jamie were in a very deep and intricate discussion over CNC work and programming while Mary and I discussed some of the signs they have created. I asked if they put their business logo on any of the signs that they produce as they do very good work. I was surprised to hear that they don't. When I inquired as to why not, she said that it was something that they really hadn't thought of doing but should. I agree that it is something that we all as sign businesses should do. When I first started my business I felt awkward about putting my logo on the signs I produce. I now realize that it is a necessity to get yourself known. Anyone that likes your signs only needs to look briefly to see who manufactured it and can move on throughout their busy schedule. Yes they could go into the business or go up and knock on the door of the house that you've done an elaborate name plate for but it can be awkward not to mention that the business may be on off hours. It's your work, be proud, advertise yourself through your hard work.

Stay creative my friends

Customer satisfaction 101

Contracts for sign jobs are a necessity of the business. They give a hard copy of what is expected of you as a service provider but also protect you from unnecessary conflict. Any time a customer contacts me for a sign job or a vinyl graphic, I document the conversation as to what they want and need. It makes things go alot smoother in the long run and avoids disappointment. Over time I've learned to ask the right questions to get the full spectrum of what the customer wants so I can get started on the job without having to call them back other than to give them progress reports. 

Questions:

• Which direction does the sign face - This is actually a very important question because it may change the materials that you recommend based on sun exposure. 
• Distance from road and foot traffic as well as the location of the sign height  - This will determine the amount of contrast the letters need on the background and determine the correct height of the graphics to be legible.
• Is the sign being backlit - Determining the substrate being used to create the sign as well as overall design.
• Dimensions of the sign - This is the most basic of questions because you need to find out your overall square footage of the sign to calculate material costs.
• Is the customer installing the sign - If yes problem solved. If no then arrangements will need to be made to either install the sign yourself or have a sign installation company do it for you.
• What is the sign being put on - Is it going onto a light box, a post, over top of another sign? If there is no sign present and it is a brand new install, you will need to have the customer arrange to have the utility companies come out and mark where the utilities may be running under ground. The last thing you need is to be driving a spike through a gas line or electrical connection.
• Life of the sign - What is the expected life of the sign the customer requires. This is important as it can save you frustration and grief in the long term. If a customer wants a wood carved sign to last them 25 years, maintenance free. I try to steer them away from wood and suggest High Density Urethane as a viable alternative. Wood will need to be touched up and repaired every 5 years or so to fix blemishes, pealing, cracking, and warping. If a customer wants a vinyl sign then it is merely suggesting higher grade vinyls that will survive longer. Know your product specifications.

There are so many questions that need to be answered to make your customers happy and content but if you want referral work then you need to make them happy. People in general will have lengthy conversations about how unhappy they are with poor service and product but rarely give any thought to saying in a conversation how happy they are with what you have provided for them because it is what is expected from you as a service provider.

Stay creative my friends

Letter Sizing

Letter sizing is a key component to the quality of any well designed sign. There are standard rules of thumb such as 1 inch for every 10 feet. That rule of thumb only works when lighting conditions are nominal, standard fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are used, and the white space around the letters is large enough to allow for proper contrast. If the sign is to be read at a speed of 50 km/h or 100 km/h makes a large difference as well. Billboard type signs require a driver to take their eyes off of the road therefore decreasing reaction time. I know for me personally, if I have to strain to read a sign, I ignore it. 

    

MAXIMUM READABLE DISTANCE	READABLE  DISTANCE  FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT	LETTER HEIGHT
100'	30'	3"
150'	40'	4"
200'	60'	6"
350'	80'	8"
400'	90'	9"
450'	100'	10"
525'	120'	12"
630'	150'	15"
750'	180'	18"
1000'	240'	24"
1250'	300'	30"
1500'	360'	36"
1750'	420'	42"
2000'	480'	48"
2250'	540'	54"
2500'	600'	60"

Other factors that come into play are the colour contrasts that make a sign work.

The bottom 4 colour contrasts on the chart have a tendency to colour bleed together and are hard on the eyes to distinguish so a bordering contrast colour such as white or yellow around the letters is commonly used.

Well, I hope this has been useful to you and you now have a quick reference guide to help in designing a sign which allows for maximum impact. Stay creative my friends.

Sign Design Colour Choices

One of the things to take into consideration when you're designing a vinyl sign is colour choices. Although vinyl comes in an almost limitless array of colours, that exact match may not always be attainable. To solve this problem, one of the methods I use is I took my colour samples provided by my vinyl supplier and scanned them into my computer both flats and glosses and saved them into a custom colour pallet. Using these as your fill colours can make a world of difference when creating your design because you will have a relatively accurate representation for your customer. Verify with your supplier as well that they have these colours in stock as well. The last thing you want is to be on a very limited timeline to only find out that although the sample is available, it is a special order item or can only be purchased in a full roll not a partial. Having all of this info sitting on the table will also save you alot of aggravation as well as an upset customer because of an unknown factor that could have been avoided. If you do have to special order some vinyl, verify the time frame from your supplier. If they say 4 to 5 business days for delivery, allow for 5 to 10. Things happen and again, your customer will be alot happier to hear from you early stating that their sign is complete early than getting a call saying there has been a delay.

As always, stay creative my friends.

Sign Shapes

I've had a lot of people ask me about how I come up with some of the elaborate sign shapes and borders that we design. To be honest, my favourite designs kind of created themselves. I complete the overall layout of the sign and create a basic contour around it. This is especially useful in designing older heritage style signs. Many of the small towns where I live are very strict when it comes to the signs that are allowed and the protocols that designers must adhere to. Using this method I've never had a design rejection from the various boards I've submitted to.

This is my most recent design.

All sign makers and designers should have an array of basic templates in their arsenal as well, but I rarely use them any more. For the most part I find they restrict the creative process and limit my designs. Stay creative my friends.

Selling yourself short?

I came across this picture the other day and it got me to thinking. How many of us who have our own businesses in a creative field have fallen into the trap of giving away free work to get ourselves noticed?

I know that I personally did it on a regular basis when I started out. I was under the impression that if I made signs at an extremely low price to undercut everyone else, I would gain notoriety and exposure. The exposure is good but at what price. I was suddenly seen as less than professional because I didn't value my work or my abilities. Unfortunately it took a long time to get myself out of that public perception. Don't get me wrong, I still do charity work on a regular basis. That is a totally different ball of wax. I charge what my work is worth now. I provide a level of quality and customer service that is second to none so my customers are more than willing to pay my prices. I gain exposure because of the quality of my work and my love of what I do. So my friends, in closing : If you feel your work is worth less than everyone else' then by all means charge less. If you're afraid that you won't make sales because your price may be too high, by all means lower your rates. But please, don't undervalue yourself. The moment you do, you set yourself up for failure. Hope this post inspires you and as always, stay creative my friends.