Signs of the Times

I have retired from the sign industry after being gainfully employed in it for 27 years. It was my first "real job" (i.e. - a job actually related to your college major). I worked the summer after my third year in college at a small shop that had two "sign writers" (Jerry and Odie), back in the day when nearly everything was still painted with lettering brushes and One Shot Lettering Enamel. I still paint signs once in a blue moon, but only for special occasions, for special projects that need restoration, or special people that I still know and love from the sign world.

I suppose I have always thought of signs as legitimate art because I have always loved text. When other kids were drawing dogs and trees and balloons, I was trying to execute a perfect Helvetica lower case "a", straight out of a magazine, usually with a magnifying glass. Free-hand with a No. 2 pencil. Once it was perfect enough, I would fill it in with a ball-point pen. The markers I was allowed at that age were way to fat and fuzzy to do such detailed work.

I was excited to be working in a sign shop. Of course, as a college kid just helping over the summer, the closest I came to detail work was with a 12" roller, coating out the white surface of a 4'x8' plywood site sign for a local real estate company. I helped move things around, drove on some deliveries or installations, and got to do general go-fer things, but I loved that place and knew I had found my niche. One of the sign-writers/owners of that small shop was the fishing buddy of another sign-writer at a much larger sign shop. I began working at the larger shop the following summer and was hooked.

It is a delightful combination of graphic design and pop-art. Signs are modern art. I could go on for hours about fonts, weight, movement, and spurs (kids nowadays call them "serifs"). Nothing makes my blood run faster today than seeing a high-stepping, upper case letter "R" - and actually knowing that I am looking at a vintage hand-painted sign by one of my mentors - Jerry and Odie each had their own signature style of making a capital "R". Not many people have this skill and fewer people yet are still alive to teach it. It's not calligraphy, it's sign-writing.

Most people in Des Moines, Iowa are completely unaware of the fact that they have an internationally acclaimed sign in their humble Midwest city. A few years ago when Merle Hay Mall refurbished their exterior and had some major change in anchor tenants, their main sign on the corner of Merle Hay and Douglas was awarded Sign of the Year by the International Sign Association. The sign system (directionals) throughout the mall parking lots also won as Best Directional/WayFinding System. This was a huge honor for a market the size of DSM. Very people outside of sign professionals in Iowa knew about this award. I think it got a tiny little press release in the DSM Register, which is absurd, but I am not in charge of politics at the DSM Rag (oops - typo!). It is a very retro-styled sign which uses a large variety of materials and lighting options, and it is just stunning. I will reroute my driving pattern to just drive through this intersection and enjoy this sign. It makes me smile to know that a sign in Iowa was Sign of the Year once upon a time in Des Moines.

I realize it is kind of like Miss Universe - someone wins it by default. There will always be a winner - they have never held that pageant and got to the end and said, "Sorry, folks, but no one qualifies for this title." It is a comparison against the other entries from that year, and many have said that the competition field was weak and that was the only reason this Iowa sign won that year. I don't care. I love it and am proud of it.

There are a few other signs that I would include as public art in Des Moines, but I am going to take up the torch I lit in my last blog: Are memorials public art? I don't mean when you erect a sculpture with a little plaque that says, "Dedicated to the Memory of Dick Blick". I mean when there are names as apart of the public art, like Maya Lin's Vietnam War Memorial with more than 58,000 names. Or the stainless steel guitar at the Buddy Holly crash site in Clear Lake, Iowa. No one remembers the name of the metal artist who created that sculpture. I don't, and I just looked it up yesterday. Was it because it was not for thousand lost in battle? Was it because there was no contest for artist's to submit an idea to? I am still convinced that both of those pieces are signs - signs as public art.

What about other signs? There is a Neon Sign Museum in Las Vegas (been there - loved it!). There are signs that have been designated as local treasures: "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada". How many people who haven't even been in the state of Nevada can identify this sign?

What about the recognizability of a logo turned into a sign? The most well-known world-wide logo has to be the golden arches of McDonald's. I have seen many of those that are simply just the arches, no text is needed. In fact, the corporation has been moving back in time, more towards their original restaurant sites where the arches were a part of the building itself, not the name above the door. You can see the golden arches for miles at night on the interstates - no text needed. In fact, I would vote for the arches as being the best logo design ever - marketed and recognized worldwide. Nike took the same approach with their swoosh.

Whether you are discussing the golden arches, a swoosh on an athletic shoe, or a mall sign in the middle of America, there are certainly signs that qualify for public art. They are multi-media sculptures. They are interactive light shows. They are 3D canvases that you can walk up to or drive around. They are colorful representations of pop art that legitimately come to life.