Clover Signs Blog

When I received an enquiry from Canada for a large Church sign, I thought: this couldn’t be real. As a traditional house sign maker, we haven’t done a lot of Church signs to date. We designed it and didn’t hear back for a long time. The congregation must have eventually come to an agreement because they confirmed the order and the elegant sign is now hanging on their elegant edifice.

St. John's Anglican Church of Canada

Notice the classy Canadian Crest that has been made out of a seperate piece of material and fixed to the sign (on both sides).

Have you ever wondered what inspired (or possessed) Charles Rennie Mackintosh? I have often pondered his exquisitely unique style and found nothing even remotely similar. Whereas in the sign industry we mainly utilise the font that bears his name, he was primarily an architect, and a quite successful one at that.

Born in 1868 in the Townhead area of Glasgow, Mackintosh was a working class boy and one of 11 siblings. From an early age, he demonstrated an obsessive passion for art, relentlessly drawing the flowers his father grew on his allotment. It’s thought he also suffered from a mild form of autism, which could explain his reputation for mood swings as well as his attention to detail seen in his artwork.

Along with three other art students, Mackintosh established the “Glasgow Style”, first shown in a collection of metalwork panels, posters, furniture and silver work at the 1896 Arts & Crafts Exhibition in London. From there, “The Four’s”  notoriety grew and together they developed a repertoire characterised by stylised motifs of Celtic, Oriental, Egyptian and natural inspiration, including the iconic Glasgow Rose.

Here are a couple samples of our own Rennie Mackintosh designs which have proved increasingly popular.

If you can tell me (without looking it up on Wikipedia!) what the TARDIS stands for, then this is the sign for you:

We first designed a very plain sign with just the words “The Tardis” in gold, but the customer informed us that we were not creative enough. With that in mind we set about to create this. They were very happy with edition 2 and bought it on the spot.

This is why we offer free design, so that you can be sure you get the sign you want.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh is celebrated around the world as one of the most creative figures of the early 20th century.  We often get asked to replicate his unique artwork onto house signs.

This design is carved into the surface of the sign and overlaid with palladium.  We sourced the design to show to the customer before they ordered.
The fact is, we can replicate most artists work onto your sign for you, so if you are looking for this, simply fill in the custom sign form, and describe or email the art you want.

For anyone who is interested, I have published a guide to basic sign design covering 5 mistakes designers sometimes make.  A version went out on ezine articles, but here is the proper version with pictures:  House Sign Design

I have just published an article on House Sign Design via Ezine articles. It covers all the basics of good sign design – things which often get overlooked.

Here is the article: House Sign Design Basics

If we ever send a proof to you which looks like it was poorly designed, please do let us know and we will work together with you to get it right.

Windmill House – Black Sign with Silver Writing.

We often get asked for Celtic fonts on our signs. We have quite a few, but normally choose Kelt, as it is quite easy to read.

One thing we always try when designing a sign is to maximise the readability. There is little point in having a beautiful house sign which people can’t read. However, with some careful design, you can have both.

We often get questions about whether we make double sided or hanging signs.  The simple answer is yes.  As of the beginning of 2008 we have made both hanging signs and wrought iron hanging brackets. There is nothing special about it but The Cart Lodge has become easily our most referred to sign; ie. “I want a sign just like The Cart Lodge”.

Popular hanging sign with wrought iron bracket.

To request your own customised sign (double sided or otherwise) visit our Hanging Signs page on our business website.

I develop my websites in Firefox (of course) and use 4 extensions heavily. In fact – now I have them, I can’t do without them.

1. Web Developer (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60)
This is possibly the best tool I have ever seen for website design and development. The ability to turn scripts on or off, disable cookies, examine CSS etc.  Where would I be without it?

2. Firebug (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843)
I have to admit, that since I installed Firebug, I have used some features in Web Developer less. The best feature is the ability to see how fast your site is downloading – and which scripts/images etc are causing hang-ups.

3. IE View Lite (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1429)
Because I develop in Firefox, I have to keep checking how it looks in Internet Explorer – because Microsoft still can’t… (I’m sure you know the rest)

4. Html Validator (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/249)
Quick and easy validator to make sure your code is good. Valid Html is not everything, but it’s amazing how much time you can save when it comes to fixing problems when you have good code.

Hopefully you find these extensions useful. It certainly speeds up my design and development.

We often get asked how me make the “carved and gilded” text look on the free sign proofs we make. Well, here is a short tutorial on how it’s done using Photoshop CS.

1.Start with plain type on a dark surface

2. Select the text and border (the area to be carved and gilded) using the magic wand tool. Make a new layer from the selection using Layer>New>Layer via Copy.

3. In the layers palette, double click on the new layer to open it. Click on the “Bevel and Emboss” button.

4. Change the settings as follows:

You can click the image above to see it bigger – so you can read the settings. The colour of the “Highlight Mode” is white, the shadow mode is “#4E500A”.

5. Click “Colour Overlay” and set the colour to “CC9900″.

6. Click “OK” and you should have a carved and gilded sign. You may have to fiddle with the colours to make it look right on your PC. Here is what you should be left with:

Hopefully this works for you.