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.