Dusting off the Clubs – making
a dimensional sign
by Nancy Beaudette and Noella Cotnam of Sign It Signs,
Cornwall, Ont.
Spring has arrived…I think. Other than an unusually
warm spell in April, it’s been damp and cold here in
Eastern Ontario. But that hasn’t seemed to stop us
hardy Canadians from dreaming of fairer weather. Once the
hockey playoffs finish we’ll be setting our alarms
extra early, dusting off the clubs and yelling fore. Golf
season is upon us.
This past February Kevin Haime, a golf pro who operates a driving range under
the same name, contacted us to talk about a new sign. His facility is in Kanata,
Ontario, which is a couple of hours drive from Cornwall where our shop is. Kevin
and his wife Lisa knew they wanted a dimensional sign and while shopping on the
internet came across our site. The rest is history, or so they say. We scheduled
a meeting here at Sign It to sit down and discuss their needs.
Kevin and Lisa arrived with photos of a building that served as their clubhouse
and main entrance to the range. Their homework included pacing off the building
and giving me accurate measurements of the large gray brick wall that the sign
would be installed on. The design parameters were set before us. A logo had
been professionally designed a year or so earlier, a dynamic graphic of Kevin
Haime taking a swing, and it would become the focus of the sign. The design
also needed to incorporate a dimensional composition of a golf bag and clubs.
Plus, the clients both liked the idea of gold leaf lettering.
At this early stage of the sales process I recommended
a couple of sign sizes and presented them with a three tiered budget based
on using a variety of materials and techniques. Our client, though cost conscious,
wanted the sign to make a ‘high-class’ statement with the sign and was determined that
he would spend the ‘necessary’ amount of money to make it happen.
It is our company policy to secure a 50% deposit before proceeding with any
kind of design, so we asked for half of the entry level pricing for a sign
of this size.
Now the fun begins. I presented Kevin and Lisa with three initial designs
via email. The first (A) simply displayed the logo in an oval with a pale coloured,
sandblasted background, and gold lettering. In the second design (B) we suggested
a dimensional background symbolizing the fairways. Ideally the hills would
be rendered with high density urethane combined with the GrainFrame texture
for the sky. The third rendering (C) reduced the size of the logo and incorporated
a golf bag in the composition.
What we ended up with is a compromise on the sign size,
making it smaller yet incorporating the 3-D elements to meet the ‘financial comfort-zone’ of
the client. Our design revisions also needed to include a dark blue background
and an antique golf bag rather than a new one, along with balls and clubs.
I have tons of clip art and other reference material, but I couldn’t
come up with an antique golf bag. When I get stuck I turn to the internet.
I checked out the various art sites that I subscribe to but didn’t find
a worthy model. I think I ended up doing a search with the words: ‘antique
golf museum’ and came up with a couple of wonderful photos to work from.
I knew that changing the background to a dark blue would dramatically alter
the flavour of the logo, but sometimes you just have to do what the client
wants, so we did our best. ( I kept hoping he’d change his mind and return
to layout B, but alas, my hope was all in vain ). Understanding what the client
wants can sometimes be a lengthy process, which it was in this case. He gave
me no indication that he had his heart set on a dark blue background until
after he viewed the first three renderings. I guess sometimes seeing what you
don’t want helps to define what it is you’re really after…and
so the background will forever remain dark blue.
Cont'd>>
