Vintage car emblems are packed with ideas
If you are ever looking for a little vintage inspiration, take a walk through some of the car shows in your area! Auto… Read More
Author Archives: Mike Jackson
Borrow some inspiration from these classic horror movie posters
October is the month of monsters, witches, ghouls, goblins and creatures. Whether they came from outer space, out of the caves and caverns,… Read More
12 vintage billboard designs
Scale—that’s probably the biggest difference in the products commonly referred to as early outdoor advertising and what we now think of as commercial… Read More
Howdy, pardner! Step back in time, saddle up and head west!
Vintage movie posters of the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s often packed powerful punches of both color and expressive lettering. Westerns were the movie… Read More
A basic approach to selling signs
Training new owners, sales staff and employees led me to evaluate the process of selling a sign. To help them know what to… Read More
Are we charging enough for our work?
Mike Jackson wrote this article for the September/October 1995 issue of SignCraft—almost 30 years ago. Now retired, Mike and Darla were running a… Read More
The brushstrokes of a ghost sign show the signpainter at work
In most cases, brush strokes do not show up in a newly lettered sign. But over the years, the rays of the sun… Read More
Worth a look: Maker Spaces!
Maker Spaces, Art Labs, and Creator Spaces dot cities across the United States. Those are just a few of the names for facilities… Read More
Wall signs were once a part of every cityscape
In early days, buildings in many of the large cities were made of bricks. Much like the brick house in the children’s story… Read More
Those fine old “ghost signs” are disappearing by the minute
A photographer with a sign background probably sees the world differently than an average photographer. That’s especially true if the photographer likes vintage… Read More
George Seelander’s classic hand drawn sketches
George Seelander prepared hand drawn and tempera painted layouts long before people were even dreaming of using computers for their design work. Sketches… Read More
Accessing a font’s alternate characters
Christopher Latham Sholes invented the first practical typewriter in the late 1860s. While slightly different, today’s computer keyboards were modeled after that same… Read More
Don’t let poor kerning wreck your layout
Select the Text tool, click somewhere on the page to set to location, then type away. Resize the type to fit the space… Read More
Avoid these 10 common sign layout pitfalls
Designers and sign makers who have been in the business long enough can easily recognize work done by newcomers. Why? Either the newbies… Read More
Step-by-step: Complex sign with a tight deadline
This project contains a mixture of basic skills and tools, along with a little help from another sign company and some of today’s… Read More
What’s it cost to make this 24-sq.-ft. sign?
Materials (excluding markup) 4-by-8-ft-by-3⁄4-in. overlaid plywood: $80 Five foam roller covers: $5 Edge sealer: $2 Latex paint for back: $8 Block-out primer: $15… Read More
Video: Using Photoshop to level and crop your sign photos
You want great-looking photos of your great-looking signs on your website, social media and online portfolio, right? In this quick video, Mike Jackson… Read More
The magic of three-tier pricing
Over three decades ago, Mike Jackson wrote an article, “Price your work on three levels for easier sales”, for SignCraft. Those two pages… Read More
Add value or plan to sell on price alone
“Value is determined not by what you pay for something, but by what you get for what you pay.” Darn, that’s a great… Read More
Video: Straighten images with Photoshop’s Perspective Crop tool
Ever get an angled photo from a client that you want to add your proposed drawing of their sign to? Or want to… Read More
