Reception signs produced for the advertising agency design company Atomic for their new studios & offices in Farringdon. the clients had a design & colours in mind, which was used to quote for the job. They had a good visual & made ideal for knowing what was required.
The idea being that the receptions signs were to be a negative. So the paintwork was cutting in & around the word which would leave the word itself still brushed steel or alloy, with the rest of the desk painted in a matte black.
In the end the change was made by the clients that they would prefer it not negative, so the desk corrigation would be all in natural metal, with the logo/branding in a matt black. Either way round was no different for a signwriter. It makes all the difference if you were to try to do this in vinyl, but when painting you can alter which is painted. Either the background or the word itself.
So the recepion signs were started once the desk was made. The desk had been bespoke produced & in line with the wall & floor of the office space. This meant the corrigated metal wasn’t cut plumb. This made lining up & measuring the wording in place much more tricky than anticipated as their were not lines to use to ensure the design was reliefed onto the corrigated metal dead straight. This was instead done by eye & a bit at a time to allow for the waves of corrigation & taping the design to them.
Seeing the reliefed design on the polished metal proved difficult & more difficult for the clients to see if their branding was straight. They wanted it to be measured straight but once it was shown the the floor wasn’t flat & the wall wasn’t straight, which meant the desk wasn’t straight, they could see the issue. It was measured as best as could be by eye, with all members of the clients in agreement, so once I had pencil drawn the layout ontop of the pounce powder to make it more visable, the painting was started.
Its quite difficult painting on corrigated surfaces, as it means you have to adjust your position a lot. Mainly to the left & then the right depending on which part of the curved metal you are painting. Then whether is the recessed or pertruding section. this also makes for getting a branding straight more difficult.
When painting reception signs which are on a front desk in situ like this one, its a case of sitting or kneeling on the floor & on occasion lying down on the job! The corrigation of this desk, as can be seen, meant painting looking right & then looking left depinding on the curve of the corrigation. As can also be seen, when looking to one side, its difficult to see if all the painted curves & lines are consistant & in line with each other. This can mainly be done by eye, with just regular checks with the measuring tape & checks from the original design, which was printed out as a guide.
The clients were pleased with the result of the paintwork, but once the reception signs were completed they decided that they would prefer the logo/branding a little bigger & in a blue with a rustic aged effect.
If a client wishes to change their mind after paintwork is produced its no problem as long as the pay the additional costs for removing the original & re-doing the work. Which on this occaion the clients were more than obliging with, they just wanted to it look right with all their management in agreement.
The paint was removable despite having dried, as it hadn’t cured so was removable with spirit & a scrub with rag. The layout was re-produced in a bigger size & then re-pounced onto the corrigated metal. It was still a little difficult to see if it was straight, so was again done by eye & confirmed with the clients agreement.
Some tape was used just to give a guide to see the edges of the wording.
A paint colour they liked was mixed to match the colour they had chosen. As such a small amount of paint was required there is no point in getting oil based paint mixed to a specific colour by a paint supplier. firstly not many paint suppliers do this & secondly its quicker & easier to do it yourself if you have enough experience in paint mixing & matching. Just a saving for the client & a time saver for the signwriter!
All the vertical lines were painted first, before the base line tape was removed & the base line curves were painted in to complete. This was easier due to the curvature of the corrigated surface.
The only way to make the signwriting look aged was to rub sections back off once the paint had dried. With the corrigated metal being of a polished brushed type this meant the aged areas that showed through still looked shiny silver.
This meant it wasn’t as ideal a look as they antisipated, so decided that it would be better filled in solid as per when first painted, so this was done & didn’t take too long when using a wide chisel brush.
The completed reception signs along with the company’s neon lighting & finished paintwork around the desk
Traditional & Contemporary Hand Painted Sign Writing in London
Sign Writer Traditional Signs of London
info@traditionalsignsoflondon.uk