OUGD601 COP Essay/Practical - Interview with John Taylor

John Taylor  - Professional Sign Painter from 1962 - Interview with Laura Taylor

How long did you work as a sign writer for?

From 1962 - 1967

Who mainly contacted the company about lettering, what sort of people? Commerce etc? Why do you think these people were interested in getting hand lettering produced?

There was one old chap in charge and 2 younger ones who would go round and try find work, it was a case of word of mouth. Everybody knew this company they would come to us, at the time sign painting was the only thing that could make your business stand out, there was no vinyl cutting like there is now a days. Occasionally we would have to fight for business as the sign painting industry was very competitive. Vinyl was the killing of sign painting, thats when it really died off. There is only one man I know that still does sign writing in Leeds called ‘Brian the brush’ He was in the Leeds Market last week painting the sign for Marks & Spencers he was around when I was still sign painting.

Do you believe a hand painted sign creates a different connection with an audience then a pre digital printed sign? Do you think your signs would of created a different atmosphere if recreated digitally?

I dont think anyone is bothered anymore, unless its something that is completely different and stands out from the crowd. They look at a sign in the window and think its just a sign - they don't think that the sign on the left is a better looking sign than the sign on the right, they don't care if one sign took 1 hour to do by a machine or the other took 4 hours and a man painted it. People don't consider it as an art form anymore because they don't look at it that way - they just churn digital signs out now. Sign painting is lost. There is only one sign that I know of that I painted that is still there and that is at Dyrons Motorcycle in Leeds on York Road, not many are about anymore as they have all been reproduced digitally.

Do you believe there is still a high demand for sign painting in the 21st century commerce? Do you think sign painting is much different now than it was back then?

Now a days you can get signs pretty much instantly so I don't think there is a demand for it anymore, the sign painting that is done now seems to be very restricted and standard. Its only places that want to bring back some of the past that chose to have these signs done this way. 

How long does it take to paint a sign?

It could be really depend on the job but each sign was timely and rigourous, the man I used to work for he would make you under coat the sign 4 or 5 times, then you’d gloss it rub it down and repeat it until it actually looked like glass, we worked in an old stable so if anything landed on the sign old moss, a fly, anything you would have to start all over again. 

Have you any advice on gilding?

Well there are two types of gilding, there is transfer gold, to do that you would outline a black letter onto the window, let that dry and apply a natural plant adhesive when it gets tacky you would rub on the gold with your fingers and let it dry. The other thing is you would have a gilding pad with 24 ct gold sheets and a gilders knife and a gilders pick, this is an inside job you couldn't do this outside or the sheets would blow away, you do your outline type then apply varnish you would place the gold onto the glass and then let it dry for a day, the next day you can burnish it (remove the excess gold) until you get the perfect letter. To remove it you need get some chemical called cellulose thinner this removes it in minutes if not you can scrape it off. When you do a window you do your design on paper first then place it behind the window sometimes you need to consider reverse type too.


This interview was done over telephone, this posed a new challenge to me meaning i had to record and then re type afterwards, one thing I had to do to get more information was to add and prompt further questions to get a thorough in dept response, I think it is much easier to verbalise a response written instead of being asked on the spot.

OUGD601 COP Practical - Experimentals with sign writing pens

OUGD601 COP Practical - Initial Ideas

Here are a few of the initial sketches for the cafe branding, Ive looked at both traditional styles, decrotive and modern to develop this further I have asked my peers which designs stand out most and adhere to my brief best.

They suggested combining a modern logo with the old style gilding, it will be interesting to see what it will look like and the tone of voice it creates. 

OUGD601 COP Practical - Sign Painters, Important info

In order to sign paint it is important I am fully aware of what I need to do technically, this can include tools and chemicals. The Sign Painters book contains crucial and important information about tools and application of sign painting such as gold leaf, glossing and sanding.

OUGD601 COP Practical - How to gold leaf foil & Tools needed to sign paint

In order to gold leaf I have had to research in to the material needed to gild. To do this I have used a number of books, and even professionals in the trade as well for advice, some of the key tools I will need to guild are;

Gold Leaf

This is what will be placed on to the glass.

Gilders Tip

This static brush will allow you to pick of the leaf and apply to the window without creating dirty finger prints.

Gilders Cushion

This is where the gold will sit, on this you can cut the gold leaf down to size to make the most out of your money.

Size 

This is the adhesive in which holds the gold leaf to the glass the size is made out of a number of natural plant based substances.

Enamel

This will be used to outline to the text onto non porous surfaces such as glass and metal.

Cleaners

Chemicals to clean the glass without smear, also chemicals that can remove the sign from the glass

Gloss

This is to seal the final design.

Ruler/stationary

In order to put a design onto a window you must use equipment such as a ruler to get it straight and level.

OUGD601 COP Practical - Written Brief

OUGD601 COP Practical - Writing the brief

After narrowing down to one idea I needed to think fast and come up with something original and confident so that I could get to work on doing some sign writing. As previously stated it is important that the shop I do sign writing for is independent and looking for a luxury feel.

Here are some of the cafe/coffee names I came up with.

To pick a name I asked my peers which they said was the best name to go forward with the top 3 included, The Lab, 93 Degrees and Cafe Diem.

From this I chose to use 93 Degrees as my cafe name, this is the perfect brewing temperature for coffee, this seemed appropriate for a cafe - not only this but the use of numbers would be another challenge when creating lettering for the cafe.

OUGD601 COP Practical - Brief Ideas Feedback

Before finalising a brief and direction to follow I required feedback to see if my ideas targeted and really focused and connected with my dissertation, as previously stated my essay is on the topic of sign painting and its effects in commerce its necessity and even overall communication. Although not yet concluded in my essay my research has lead me to a conclusion that is both definitive and supported by practitioners themselves. This needs to be apparent through my practical, to do this I have asked peers which they believe best concludes my essay.

They suggested that I take the idea of creating my own shop with an identity that would similarly use sign writing as a selling point. This will show both my knowledge of sign writing and develop a new skill set and formally show that intact the task at hand is not something you can dive into likely which many would believe. The will allow me to explore the craft not only contextually but through medium. I will need to thoroughly look into the technicality involved in signs and gauge a timeline of when what and how I can create such a sign.

OUGD601 COP Essay/Practical - Sign Painters Movie/ Gentlemen of Letters

Sign Painters - The Movie/Doccumentry

Sign Painters - Keeper of the craft

Gentlemen of Letters

OUGD601 COP Essay/Practical - Beautiful Losers

OUGD601 COP Practical - Ideas

For my practical outcome of my essay i have come up with a variety of various ideas and routes to follow, all outcomes will involve some form of hands on approach due to the nature of my essay. 

My main 3 ideas are;

Idea 1 - Re-designing a commercial shop with traditional sign painting.

Re-appropriating their target audience through sign painting.

Idea 2 - Creating a traditional sign for a shop which could benefit from the effects of sign painting such as independent shop i.e.. Crash Records, Relics, Jumbo, Ok Comics, Village, Culture Vulture - basically places found in Thorntons arcade & Corn exchange.

3. Create my own shop & sign write - for a traditional audience.

All 3 have a similar outcome but have a different approach out of the 3 ideas my favourite and one that i feel most confident about is idea 2.

OUGD601 COP Essay - Interview with Nathan Evans

Nathan Evans - Illustrator & Muralist - Interview with Laura Taylor

1. Who do you think your target audience is when designing your lettering/signs?

It's important for me to say that I don't set out creating my work with a specific target audience in mind. I believe it's very important to create what you personally enjoy and sometimes this can be compromised if you think too hard about an audience. The only time I really consider an audience is when I'm producing client work. However, a client usually approaches me because they feel like my work/style speaks to their audience, which suggests they believe their audience is the same as the people who enjoy/follow my work.

If I was to try and identify anyone who I am trying to appeal to, then it would have to be potential clients. It's great to have followers and fans of your work, but I'm very interested in engaging with art directors and commissioners. However, this doesn't really have a direct influence on my physical work and impacts more on which jobs I take and how I market myself.

If you want a more measured and specific idea of my 'target audience' or the people who actually engage with my work, here are my figures from Instagram analytics:

Gender: 52% men and 48% women

Age Range: 25 - 34 (predominantly but also lots 18 - 24)

Countries: UK and USA (predominantly)

By not identifying a specific audience, I think I organically create work that people similar to myself will enjoy. Which means I can never really go too far wrong, because if I like it then in theory they should too!

2. Who mainly contacts you about lettering, what sort of people? Commerce etc? Why do you think these people are interested in getting hand lettering produced?

In my experience it's usually quite a mixed bunch. This ranges from small independent start-up businesses to international advertising agencies.

I believe the obvious common link with these commissioners is that they are usually within the creative sector and can see more value in hand lettering and 'analogue' crafts as a whole. I think people with creative backgrounds/interests often find it easier to appreciate the extra time and effort that goes into producing something by hand. The price for this kind of service is usually a little higher, but because they can identify the importance of that extra value and how it can grow their business, they are more than happy to commission a creative.

On the other hand of course, I would suggest that it is usually people who are less creatively inclined that struggle with commissioning a creative to produce something bespoke, because they often fail/struggle to see that additional value this can bring to a project. Which makes them question, why should they pay that little bit more?

With the digital age we have been experiencing over the past decade or so, there is a real danger of everything becoming too uniform, looking too similar and overly neat. There has been a huge resurgence in hand made over the past few years because people like to see a human side to everything. A quote that comes to mind is "there are no straight lines in nature". (Which I'm not sure is true or not...)

3. Do you believe a hand painted sign creates a different connection with an audience then a pre digital printed sign? For example your work for The Tetley way finding - do you think this would create a different atmosphere if recreated digitally?

It's funny you should use that particular commission as an example. After producing the hand-painted lettering signs to direct audiences of Light Night 2016, the person who commissioned me contacted and asked if I could also produce digital versions to be printed instead. It wasn't because they were not happy with the painted signs, it was the opposite. They liked the hand-painted signs so much that they were afraid of them getting damaged, so wanted to replace them with printed versions of less value and keep the valuable originals safe. This is a perfect example of someone really appreciating the value of the hand-made.

In terms of connection with an audience, I definitely feel like there is a distinct difference. Hand-made is a lot more personal and an audience can really relate to it, forming a stronger connection. You can see both the human emotion and movement in a brush stroke which you cannot recreate to perfection digitally. An audience also realises that this is a special thing. In a world full of duplications and replicas, something which exists nowhere else in the entire world has a beautiful and powerful quality about it. However, I am of course talking about an audience who are aware that something is made by hand. A lot of people are probably totally unaware of the difference between the two, until they are either told or see the process behind the work. Luckily that insight into process is a lot more common these days with social media etc. 

You will notice I'm using the word 'value' a lot and I think that is what it all boils down to. People always want to have something that will bring that extra value to their project/business, so if you can demonstrate that there is a demand for the value your work brings and show how it has been used successfully before, then people will buy into it.

In terms of other things, I can't really think of anyone else to speak to but here's a couple of resources that might be useful:

Sign Painters - Film available on iTunes (Never found it for free online!)

Beautiful Losers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zb6CYBRfAM

Nathan was very helpful and happy to engage with my questions/interview. Nathan has given a clear understanding a opinion to his responses which is refreshing, his answers are very concise and go in to great depth this should make it easier for me to reference him in my essay, by having more than one focal point.

OUGD601 COP Essay Research

http://www.creativebloq.com/typography/road-markings-become-digital-typography-51620182
Roadliners - Short Documentary from Pretend Lovers on Vimeo.

OUGD602 Stamps

http://www.printmag.com/article/iconic-postage-stamp-designs-from-history/?utm_source=printmag.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pr-cbu-tw-161109-Iconic%20Postage%20Stamp%20Designs%20from%20History

Being an avid collector of stamps this article jumped fields to me.

My thoughts: the articles goes into great detail of some amazing and vintage stamp designs, the designs are timeless and iconic this is something that has always attracted me to stamps. With my moth collecting from a young age I continued, appreciating the amazing design on such a small space, so much thought is put in to layout this is something I like to use when designing for anything.

OUGD602 Steve Beaumonts Drink & Draw

Steve Beaumont is comic illustrator and every 1st monday of the month he holds a drink & draw club, where guests can bring paper and pens to draw whatever they feel like, this was my first time there and I loved it. I am big lover of comics and avidly have a monthly subscription to some very beautiful comics, meeting Steve was great he was very inspiring and let me discuss my goals in design, with this in mind he told me who he knew and promised to put in a good word for me! He knew some people at Hornall Anderson and even Neville Brody I believe.

With this in mind I quickly got my personal branding in order and a paper portfolio ready, and I began emailing. Steve put me in touch with a director called Kim at Hornall! this was a great help Kim was quick to respond and asked me to come in for a interview! You can read the rest I'm sure! here is the email correspondence

OUGD602 Getting a portfolio and Online Presence

On Friday Alec from Intern did a group workshop with us. The workshop consisted of critiquing our online presence, and others - this was really beneficial as many people will become lost in their mindset and not see the possibility of issues in there site. I got some good and constructive feedback from my site and have worked all weekend on getting it to a professional standard.  To get feedback Alec introduced is to something called 'start, stop,continue' this means what I need to start what i need to stop and what i should continue. 

Here is the feedback I received;

Start -

An about page, and contact info

Put on more work in progress 

Have an independent website 

Stop

Being negative about work - positivity is key!

Avoiding your Facebook page

Maybe drop your Facebook page and focus on other options

Continue

Explaining pieces of work

Sharing work on social media

Putting work on your portfolio

Strengthening the website.

this was really helpful feedback and nothing too brutal!

`The next session was about discussing our insecurities and putting it inside a stinky fish - we had to write 3 problems that his effecting you and share with the group, I wrote self doubt, dissertation, Design boards and finding placements. Although these things bothered me when sharing with others I felt I was definitely not alone with my worries and concerns. This was really beneficial for me and my anxieties.

Lastly we had to pick all our favourite people /design places and find contact details for every single one - and then get in touch, Alec pointed out that they are only normal people too.

from this I have since emailed Hallmark & contacted two other design teams that I am interested in working with. This has been a really big confidence boost and has encouraged me to put myself out there.