It’s difficult to truly have your finger on the pulse of an industry as expansive as the sign industry. There are many different lanes and avenues in this market, a left turn toward digital signage will leave you in a land completely different from a right turn toward channel letters. And don’t forget about the detours to print-based operations, vehicle wraps, ADA compliant signage and seemingly countless other routes.
For this reason, it’s extremely valuable for us here at SBI to have eyes and ears on the ground, interacting with the movers and shakers of this industry. That’s why I’m so excited to welcome Wendy Graves to the SBI team as a correspondent. I’ve attended a handful of Make It Happen Signage Academy bootcamp sessions hosted by Graves and her colleagues and each time I’ve walked away equipped with more industry knowledge.
Graves’ connections with sign shop owners and employees across North America are substantial, earned in a grassroots fashion. I’m going to be relying on her to point me in the right directions when it comes to features in the magazine and stories to keep an eye on. To make a sports analogy, Graves’ role is similar to that of a baseball scout for a Major League Baseball team. She might find a great story for us at a small five-person shop in Indiana or at a massive facility with a rolodex of thousands of big-name clients.
The important thing is that she’s helping us take a step toward truly covering the heart of the signage industry. The theme of this issue is new technology and if you’re a sign shop owner or employee, you know that new tech moves the needle for clients. A super thin, halo-lit cast metal channel letter may be available in one market, but nowhere to be found in a different one.
One region of the country may have a firmer grasp on digital signage than in other places. Content management systems may be running networks of digital signage in one area, while manually created sign messaging may be relied upon in other areas. You may go on vacation or a work trip and see some signage you’ve never seen in your region, and it’s our job to make sure we make the industry aware of it all. You get the point, we want to know which tech is sticking in what areas.
One thing I’ve been noticing lately is a bit of an “old school” vs “new school” battle amongst shops across the country. However, a lot of the old school shops have embraced new business strategies and technology in order to adapt to the times. Family businesses that once relied on veteran members of the family to lead the company are passing the baton to younger members or their family or organization.
It’s exciting to see new thoughts, new tech and new installations hitting the scene on a daily basis and we want to know about them all. Please join me in welcoming Graves to our team, we’ll be bringing you tangible stories from the field and staying on top of the latest trends.
