Sign Builder Illustrated: Atomic Tattoo is a family-owned shop with many locations around the Austin, Texas area. Due to its success, Owner Larry Edwards recently decided to open a new store at a strip mall located in a secluded area off the highway. Since this is a potential “blink-and-you-could-miss-it” setup, Edwards knew he was going to need big, bright signage that would “pop” and catch the attention of drivers going past at speeds up to seventy-five miles per hour.
7 comments:
I love this sign! it so cute, i would defiantly would get my tattoo there. This reminds me of the time when I was working on guys and dolls and the set designer came to me with plans of 25 foot times square signs that needed to be illuminated. As an associate lighting designer I had to come up with a way to get bulbs in them. After some research I used candelabra strings. It is the creativity of figuring out how to make thing happen that can make all the difference
This sign is actually inviting; Gordon does well by making it clean, big, and bright. Most tattoo parlors I've seen seem to be trying to scare me away rather than lure me in, with their ratty, chipped, small signs and dirty doors. It's amazing what this has done to change my view of the entire building. It is also quite interesting that he designed the whole thing with parer and pencil and never once used computer drafter or the CNC router to help him out with making sure everything worked well and fit together right. I give him much respect for being able to accomplish that, and even more because he actually prefers to do it that way.
I agree with Emma on this one. This sign is actually really inviting rather than the scary, ratty, unwelcoming signs that are out there. I LOVE that they designed this whole thing by hand and without computer aid! I really love hand drafting and the way that it looks. I would love to see the original hand draftings of this and see how they made it work!
I'm curious as to what the restrictions are of installing signs into buildings. As permanent as a sign for a company is, unfortunately the companies aren't always forever.
It's interesting how much they promote the use of aluminum for the ease of use with the sign. Frankly, the aluminum seemed to be much more for the ease of use by the manufacturer. The cost for the parlor must have been immense. Yes, the install and build of the sign may have been key, but the article doesn't seem to mention much negatives regarding the material choice.
This is a very cool sign. Its very suiting for a tattoo shop because it has exciting colors and a unique shape. Many tattoo shops are dark and dreary and make you not want to go there but this sign does the opposite, it makes me want to go and get a tattoo. Also knowing that the shop that made the sign using no cnc or laser cutter but only hand tools is quite impressive considering the sign's unique shape.
Being from Texas, and visiting Austin frequently makes me happy and nostalgic to read this article. This sign and story are just so Austin!the weird and corkeyness of this story embodies what Austin is about. The job of being a fancy sign maker would be so much fun, and to have designed this sign would've been equally as entertaining!The sign is perfect and serves a perfect function for what its meant for.
Looking around the company's website, I have to wonder why this sign got the attention of Sign Builder Illustrated. They have done a lot of really good work that doesn't suffer as much from, what I see anyway, as the "camel factor" evident in this design. It's great when owners get direct input into a creative project, but understanding and enforcing a limit on that input is key. Sounds like Mr. Gordon eventually invoked that rule by saying, "Just trust us." It's a tough game to play, and in this case, it looks to me like the sign maker lost a little. Of course, if all they were wanting was something eye-catching, they definitely got that. It's just a shame to me when someone hires a shop because they are good at what they do and then doesn't just let them do it. In this case a shop that, again judging from their website, specializes in vintage-inspired, high-finish signs, was asked to produce something that, in my opinion, looks like the platypus of retro signage. It may be illustrative that Blackout does not make mention of this sign on their website, or maybe it's too recent [I would know if the author of this article had supplied a dateline (journalism is dead)]. Either way, it's great to see a local shop doing so well for local businesses with good design (when given the chance) and good craftsmanship. It's almost like America all over again.
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