The Dying Art of Sign Painting

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After my recent trip to Baja, Mexico I have become obsessed with the art of hand painted signs. How often do we think about signs as an art? Even as a designer, signs weren’t something I often thought about. We do help clients with design and sourcing manufacturing companies, but I had completely forgotten that signs were something that originally started out in a totally different medium. In Mexico I was taken aback by the fact that nearly every sign was hand painted (not made out of metal or plastic) and by the accuracy of brand representation and the overall precision of each sign. See pictures below.

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Conveniently, back in the office I was stumbling around on Hypebeast and found other people are equally intrigued by the skill required for sign painting. The documentary, Sign Painters,  follows 12 American sign painters as they try and bring the dying art back. Watch the trailer below to see all that jazz that I’m talking about!

SIGN PAINTERS (OFFICIAL TRAILER) from samuel j macon on Vimeo.

Wouldn’t you like to have a hand painted sign out front now?