Sign Shop Manager at Waldo and Associates, Inc.

SIGN SHOP: DECEMBER 2023- CURRENT

I am the graphic designer and sign shop manager at Waldo and Associates, Inc. In less than a year, I completed over 170 sign orders for non-profits, small and medium greenhouses, lawn care companies, and more. My number one concern was to make ordering a sign as easy as possible with the best solution for the customer. I have also established brand colors, typefaces, and aesthetics for Waldo and Associates. This updated brand can be seen through their annual specialty flyer, monthly statement stuffers, marketing material, Facebook profile, and websites. When designing anything in the sign shop and for the company, I keep the target audience and purpose of the touchpoint in mind.

Role

Graphic Designer

Sign Shop Manager

Customer First Mentality

My number one concern was to make ordering a sign as easy as possible with the best solution for the customer. To achieve that, I became familiar with all six materials we printed on (coroplast, rigid vinyl, banner, magnetic, foam core, and polymetal) and what they were best for. I would ask questions and guide them to what I believed would be best for their needs.

Establishing an Approval Process

I believe our customer knows best and I want to work with them to provide the best product. Waldo and Associates has hundreds of signs that have been made since they were open, but I noticed that the information was not always accurate to what the customer wanted. To solve this, I had every order approved by the customer. I mailed, faxed, and emailed proofs with exactly what was going to be printed. This led to happy customers who knew exactly what they were going to get and customized information if something did not match what they sold.

Large Format Printer

The printer at Waldo and Associates is a HP Scitex FB500 UV large format printer. I replaced all six inks, cleaned all parts of the machine, and problem-solved with the HP Technician when malfunctions would happen.

CUSTOM SIGNAGE PROJECTS

Jeffers Greenhouse and Farm

Jeffers Greenhouse and Farm was looking for a new road sign to replace their old one. The owner did not like how much the old one had faded and did not like lilies. To solve this problem, I looked on google where the sign would be placed and noticed all of the green around it (green trees, green grass, etc.) so I wanted to choose a main color that would stand out. I came up with three ideas and the purple sign was ultimately chosen with no revisions.

Photo of final sign is from Google Maps

Lake Local Schools

Lake local schools has been ordering from Waldo and Associates, Inc. since 2011. I had the opportunity to help print all of the signage and promotional magnets needed for the New Elementary that opened in Fall 2023, design a banner celebrating the boy baseball team’s achievement of being state runner-up, and a memorial sign that is next to a book vending machine.

SIGNAGE FOR ELEMENTARY

We printed magnets with the date the elementary opened, school values signs, and all of the name plates.

Baseball State Runner-Up Banner

This 18 foot long banner needed to be able to withstand the wind once it would be on the baseball field fence. I suggested the wind permeable banner material would be best.

MEMORIAL SIGN

Below are the three ideas I presented. I then received feedback and made the final sign.

Floyd Street Tree Nursery

The Floyd Street Tree Nursery is a new non-profit that was looking for signs to help label all of their saplings and to help fundraise for the nursery. The signs needed to be durable, weather proof, and go into the ground. The rigid vinyl material was a perfect fit with metal sign holders.