Designing on spec: Breaking into a new market
By Dan Sawatzky
Posted on Saturday, September 11th, 2021
Before we begin, it is important that I first give my definition of a sign: At our shop, we define a sign as anything that draws attention to a customer’s product service or business.
We would like to break into creating signs (and more) for the winery industry. It is a large enterprise in our province and is a huge tourist draw. There are some amazing wineries in our region with some great-looking signs. But it is also a fact that many of the wineries look unremarkable, as do their signs. It is our hope that we can help inject some unbridled imagination into the industry. A theme park approach would definitely draw lots of attention and traffic.
Keeping in mind our definition of a sign, I did a series of renderings of both an entrance structure/sign and a building. This building could be built as a stand-alone structure or as a facade of a larger (more conventional) building as dictated by our client’s needs.
Dan Sawatzky's shop, Sawatzky's Imagination Corporation, is in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. Dan shares his experience in his Sign Magic Workshops on 3-D sign making, and his Sculpting Workshop.