New Sign Product Hits & Misses 2024

IT’S ONE OF THE most common questions in any business: Keep doing the same thing or try something different? A number of Brain Squad members who took the leap in offering a new sign product or service this year have shared their experiences to benefit us all.

Want to contribute to articles like this? If you’re the owner or a top manager of a sign company in the US or Canada, join the Brain Squad at signsofthetimes.com/brainsquad.

DIGITAL PRINTING BENEFITS: Among other new jobs, Signs by Van was able to wrap their own — van, that is.

Hits

Software/AI

• I have tried some new AI software implementation into my artwork and writing process (Midjourney & ChatGPT). Some of my processes are running smoother and more efficiently. — Keith Davis, KRD Design, Chester Springs, PA

• Over the past few months, we have put some focus on providing a higher level of graphic design services, focusing on creating highly edited photo backgrounds for wraps. We used the AI “sky replacement” tool in the new Adobe Photoshop to quickly change sky options in addition to standard color correction, burning and dodging to get the color depth that the client was looking for. We took our final Photoshop file and brought it into Topaz Gigapixel to bring the image size from 5759 x 2082 pixels to 28,795 x 10,410 pixels so we could print a stock image at over 200 dpi. We did the layout in Illustrator with a layer for the van template and then brought the file into Onyx Thrive for printing. — Ian McLellan, Hill House Graphics, Bristol, RI

AI BACKGROUND: Hill House Graphics used AI to alter a sky image for this van wrap.

Equipment

• We purchased a Laguna SmartShop Maker 5 x 10 router and are trying to learn how to work it. We should have got one a long time ago. It will add another dimension to our sign manufacturing. We can save time by not having to send files, wait for a quote, wait for the product to be made, wait for the product to be shipped or to pick it up. We can now feel a lot more comfortable selling signs with push-through letters, routed panels with flat acrylic, more architectural design, etc. — Cody McElroy, Commercial Signs, Houma, LA
• We started designing and producing ADA signs in 2024 with the purchase of our new MUTOH XpertJet 661UF UV-LED flatbed printer. It’s a definite hit but we need to get better at our design and the use of certain tools to support our designs. We had done a few ADA signs before we purchased this machine, and since then we have been pushing hard to grow that line of business. — Steve Rowe, SpeedPro Affinity Solutions, Sarasota, FL

WORKING ON IT: The Mad Signtist isn’t offering full wraps yet, but is already marketing them.

• We bought our large format Mimaki printer 14 months ago and started to offer in-house printing to help clients that couldn’t afford our high-end dimensional signage but wanted well-designed signs. Plus, so many types of signs call for digital prints. It took us about three months to really start excelling at print media. We hired a few guys that were already at an intermediate experience level and that helped greatly with the learning curve. We have opened up a huge market for ourselves, including vehicle and semi-truck graphics. It really helped round us out as a company. All of our vehicles are now wrapped and that pushed our marketing to the next level. Vehicle wrapping is a huge hit once you get the hang of it. — Jeremy Vanderkraats, Signs by Van, Salinas, CA

THE ROUTE TO TAKE: Commercial Signs is enjoying the benefits of an in-house router.

Materials

• This year we purchased some stainless steel letters from Everylite. They worked out great! They were too small to be made in the US. I’m not sure why we can’t make these in the US. Does it have something to do with soldering the letters? Is it EPA regulations? — Jasper Burton, Cuerden Sign Co., Conway, AR
• We started using LexJet Satin Light Block Polyester for some projects where we needed to use polystyrene and vinyl. This new product is amazing and we have been extremely pleased with how it looks and the time it saves us.
  For example, a customer will place an order for bulk items and need a very quick turnaround. We haven’t had the best of luck with direct printing on polystyrene as it tends to show a lot of imperfections, so we’ve had many nights of staying late, printing vinyl, applying it to polystyrene and cutting it down. We can just load the LexJet product into our HP machine, run it and the printed polystyrene is finished. The only downside is the cost but the amount of time saved makes up for it. Finished projects look very nice and it helps cut down on finishing errors, providing a great option for customers needing a more rigid substrate. — Jess Otte, Fastsigns of Columbus, Columbus, IN

• I recently tried 3M Adhesive Remover. It’s similar to the old stand by, but I love that it comes in an aerosol can! We have used RapidTac Rapid Adhesive Remover for decades and it works reasonably well. The two big problems have been that it eats away any plastic container you put it in and the odor. Also, we had to order a gallon and pour it into individual spray bottles. I also just used Schaeffer Citrol 266 Citrus Cleaner and Industrial Degreaser Spray for the first time today and it was very similar to the 3M product, which is more convenient than RapidTac. — Dennis Schaub, FastTrack Signs, Bellefontaine, OH

POLY-PRINTING: Fastsigns of Columbus is saving time on polystyrene prints.

And one novelty item

• We purchased an inflatable twerking figure that we rent for $100/day to new clients that are opening their business or having an event. We bought the inflatable to attract attention to ourselves. When you leave ‘him’ standing straight up, he starts wiggling. When zip tied to a pole his butt bounces back and forth, hence, “twerking.” A client then wanted to use the inflatable, so they requested it be made a perk of the sale.
  Ultimately, the sign industry is static, but somewhere along the line, where people started selling feather flags that changed the thought process. The inflatable guy creates the same situation. We are getting a lot of interest from our existing clients for events. — Jeffrey Chudoff, Fastsigns of Maple Shade, Maple Shade, NJ

Misses

DAVE HOSTIOS

• The 30-in. wooden squeegee. We got it because we were doing several hundred linear feet of mural installation, thinking it would save time. Instead it made a tough install more difficult and created some additional headaches. Specifically, because it’s almost impossible to apply even pressure across that whole width, regular 3M IJ180 vinyl kept trying to crease along the edges. Later we learned that proper squeegee technique is more of a slice than a swipe so this was never going to help. It can’t replace the regular old 3M special with a banana buffer. — Dave Hostios, Trav-Ad Signs, Huntsville, AL

• I’m in the process of getting a new computer, software and all that entails. It has been a fiasco. I am seriously disheartened with customer service offered by some of the drawing programs and sign composing programs. They seem to be more than willing to take your money and give you “elevator music” forever — like my time isn’t worth getting the problem fixed — or they simply hang up. I expect problems from programs but not from the people that are supposed to do their job with customer service. — Cindy Gillihan, Gilly’s Super Signs, Placerville, CA

TOO SOON TO TELL

• New product line: real neon and faux neon customizable signs. We started by creating some prototypes, then opted to donate a few of them to a couple local organizations so they could raffle them off as a fundraiser, while we collected market research via an online survey. Still collecting… — Gary Gower Jr., G&L’s Sign Factory, Bethlehem, PA
• Introduction of direct-to-film (DTF) printing and UVDTF. While DTF is a hit, the jury is out on UVDTF. — Don Budde, CalComp Graphic Solutions, Cypress, CA
• We have offered vehicle graphics in our shop for the last 17 years but not full wraps, which are an art form and with such a small company, we did not pursue the training for it. Now that I have taken over as the owner, I am working on trying to expand our resources and the products that we offer. We currently outsource to a specific team that only does vehicle wraps, which are really the only signshop-related items we were not offering. So, we have started marketing full wraps, using a pop-up on our website, as well as social media and an email to all of our current customers. We also have a 50-in. TV in our office that promotes full wraps. — Kelly Bookheimer, The Mad Signtist, Myrtle Beach, SC