Signs of the Times - June 2015 - 80

Speaking
From Experience
By Lawrin Rosen

hen asked where and when my creative streak
began, I often mention my grandmother, who frequently
visited when I was a kid. One day, while I was coloring,
she asked for my pad and a few crayons, and proceeded
to draw an elaborate panorama of the Southwest filled
with cowboys and Native Americans on horses. Unbeknownst to me, this woman was an accomplished
illustrator with an art degree from the Cooper Union
Institute. So began the impetus for my career in art.
Approximately 15 years later, at the Hartford Art
School, I studied painting and the history of art and
architecture. During summers and Christmas breaks,
a friend and I painted large, geometric murals, an
interior-design trend referred to then as "supergraphics."
We'd sketch out an assortment of colorful shapes -
squares, diamonds, trapezoids, etc., and hope for commissions painting the designs in playrooms, dens and
childrens' bedrooms.
In 1978, I began my career at a sign/billboard company as a patternmaker, projecting and tracing layouts,
and tediously correcting typestyles and pictorials
by hand. That was my crash course in typography
and sign layout. The typestyles popular at the time
became etched in my brain - Helvetica, Times Roman,
Optima, Clarendon, Flash, Avant Garde, Brush Script
and others. By the time I was promoted to art director,
which began a four-year stint churning out hand
renderings of signs and billboards, I had nearly become
a human XY plotter.
I've spent 38 years in the business watching design

80 SIGNS OF THE TIMES June 2015

and typography trends come and go. Preferences for
geometric shapes have also changed with the years.
During the '80s, every sign seemed to have radius
corners or radius ends. Around the late '90s, slightly
bowed arches replaced hard-angled trapezoids, and, for
years thereafter, nearly every pylon sign included an
arched top, bowed center or both. I've tried to avoid
trendy design, but clients have preferences that can be
faddish...or worse, dated. An out-of-date sign design
has the architectural relevance of a mullet. One key
difference: mullets grow out, whereas unfashionable
signs often linger for a long time.
At ARTfx, we design approximately 50% of what
we build. Clients often allow us creative leeway
because we have an established reputation. Therefore,
it's our responsibility to listen closely, and then spend
time analyzing what drives the particular design - an
existing logo, an architectural style, a color pallete,
material preference, general functionality, existing
signs to match, a budget constraint, or merely what's
allowed within the specific municipality or governing
force. Coupled with those considerations, the client's
level of expectation is a big factor. We won't waste time
designing a show-stopper if an average sign suffices.
When the local Habitat for Humanity came to
ARTfx with their logo for a new pylon sign, we knew
it was going to be price-driven. If we were going to get
the job, it meant lowballing or coming in with a look
they couldn't refuse. ARTfx isn't big on free design
work, but being that our designs carry a copyright and
we ask up front for confidentiality, I feel safe occasionally sharing proprietary ideas on speculation. For
Habitat, I came up with what I was confident would
grab them - using an element of the logo for the
pylon base. Sure enough it worked.

Signs of the Times - June 2015

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