Steps on Designing & Producing a Custom Sign
Design is both a creative and an intellectual process. It’s also the first and most important step in producing a sign.
This process personalizes the sign to best meet the customers needs while satisfying a list of specific criteria and zoning regulations.
Our customers often provide as little as a rough sketch for us to develop. Other times it’s a professionally prepared, corporate graphic standard. In either case, it’s the designer’s job to transform such concepts into a usable sign design that meets all the technical and aesthetic requirements.
1. Initial meeting with your Project Manager:
Discuss goals, provide artwork, landlord criteria, and color samples. Discuss project time frame and financing options.
2. Site assessment:
Texas Sign & Fabrication will review placement and installation options or limitations, gather zoning criteria, take photos and determine optimum viewing distances and angles.
3. Confirm zoning, land lord criteria, structural requirements:
Texas Sign & Fabrication will perform all necessary research to determine all options that are available for the design.
4. Traffic counts:
We verify the customer volume passing any business in order to assist our clients with their signage goals.
5. Sign design:
Our design staff reviews all available information provided by the client and project manager to develop the best options that also satisfy all criteria.
The goal is to provide a signature look that communicates visually to your prospective customers.
6. Design presentation and proposed cost:
The project manager presents designs and costs while discussing further options or considerations and making note of any changes the client may wish to make.
7. Contract and color proofs:
After contract acceptance, down payments, and account set up, we review and pick out specific colors, approve the sign color proofs, confirm any special instructions and verify the installation time frame.
8. Permitting and landlord approval:
Texas Sign & Fabrication will submit for the required sign permits and landlord approval before fabrication begins.
9. Fabrication of sign:
The project is posted for production at our facility and personally tracked by the project manager along with the production foreman to ensure the sign is exactingly crafted to meet client expectations.
10. Installation:
Depending on the job type, the project manager will confirm any installation access issues or parking limitations, acquire traffic permits, coordinate installation with the general contractors, order utility locates before excavation, blanket power lines, coordinate electrical or data connections with the electrician, excavate and pour footings and check pattern positions before installation begins. Our installation team then proceeds to the final phase. When complete they photograph the sign and make any special notes to archive in our customer service file. This enables us to service the sign in the most efficient manner if any future repairs are required.
STANDARD FILE FORMAT SUBMISSION
Mac users please convert to PC based file extensions. Contact us regarding file extension types you would like to provide if they are not listed here.
Vectored Artwork
(For producing non-photographic signs)
AI
EPS
PDF
FLEXISIGN
DXF
Please convert all text to paths or curves.
Artwork must be vectorized or line form.
Rastered Files
(For digital printing)
JPEG
TIFF
BMP
PSD
GIF
Artwork to be scanned
Must be 8 ½” x 14″ or smaller.