SOS Signs Portfolio
Here are some samples of our work, with a description and an idea of price. Click on the image for a larger view.
National PrideWindow Etching
Reusing existing hardware
Large Format Signs
Printed Signs
Updating Signs
Wing Things!
Sale and temporary signs
Building and shop signs
Pavement signs etc
Shop and club room signs
Pavement signs
Vehicle signwriting
Small signboards
Car window signs
Magnetic signs
Novelty signs
National Pride!
Magnetic Flags
The international tournament of the thugs game played by gentlemen (OK, a bit of a stretch for modern rugby) is in full swing, and I have been making a few magnetic flags for our own vehicles and some friends cars, and you can see some examples above and below.
Cost is between $35.00 for something as simple as the English flag, through to $65 for something as complex as the welsh dragon. More colours, or more shapes will mean higher cost.
Union Jack roof decal
This was more of an experiment in design and application, and was done using the cheapest vinyl I had in stock, so is a bit rough around the edges. I am very pleased with the way it turned out, and will eventually rip it off and do it properly with some decent vinyl. If you fancy one, contact me for a quote.
Reusing existing hardware
LVVTA Inc signage
The LVVTA Inc recently renovated and moved into this building on Raiha St, Porirua. The previous occupant was a signmaking company, who had spent a great deal of time and money building a massive sign at the front of the building. The first task was to remove the existing signage (shown blurred in the first image), but at the time, the final logo and sign requirements had not been decided. While we were scrabbling around on scaffolding removing the panels and replacing them, I used the basic design brief given by the CEO (bold rounded letters that fill the circles) to design, produce and install the simple signage in the second photo. When the final requirements are known, this temporary lettering can come down, and the whole sign will be redone.
I felt it was important to get something up on the sign, as the sign is illuminated through the six circles, and with or without the lights on would look a bit strange with nothing in the circles, but looks really very good at night with the illumination on.
topWindow Etching
Visibility aids
This was a quick job for an office rebuild certification, to make the large plate glass window between two offices more visible for safety reasons. Rather than simply put some vinyl on, I cut out a nice tyre tread pattern, which fits in with the purpose of the office. Other patterns are obviously possible, and cost will depend on window size and complexity of image.
Inform, amuse and aid visbility
The local tennis club wanted something "magnetic" on the window to show the web address. There was a selection of windows to choose from, but this road facing window was the obvious choice. Having four separate planes, each split into two, it was hard to make a simple design fit.
This design makes the most of all four sections of the door, making the sign symetrical. It also provides a touch of humour, and makes the glass more visible to any tots running around the building. We carefully ignored the magnetic aspect, interpretting it as something that will stick to glass.
topPrinted Signs
Smart Power logos
This was our first foray into printed signs. Theoretically these could have been cut vinyl signs, but there were a number of issues that made me choose printed signs in this case.
The graphics are part of a rebranding exercise and had been prepared at some expense by a graphic design company. From this I presumed that the signs should appear as close to the original logo design as possible. The colours chosen by the organisation were very difficult to match in vinyl, none of the standard colours matched closely enough.
The logo is quite complex, and while it could have been made out of overlapping coloured vinyl, the effect would have been 'clunky' to say the least, especially for the smaller sign which was only 425mm across.
So I priced up printed vinyl, and the two signs printed and laminated by a local graphic company worked out to be probably cheaper than sourcing the three vinyls in small quantities and spending the time carefully laying out the sign. The larger sign was mounted onto a piece of ACM, and screwed onto the office wall. The smaller sign went onto a carpark 'directory' sign directly. Hopefully, being laminated and south facing, this will last longer than the previous sign which had lost almost all its colour, as have most of the other sgns on the board.
The client now has the brightest cleanest sign on the board.
We recently used the same graphics (with a little redesign to accomodate a web site address) to make up some vehicle magnets which were printed directly onto the magnetic substrate. These give SmartPower an easy way to promote their business on the company cars, without the permanence and repeated expense of signwriting the cars. See further down for more examples of Vehicle magnets.
topUpdating existing signs
Discovery Kindergarten 10 Kitchen Tour
The signs above were screen printed from a very professional design, and 14 of them had been out around Porirua for a couple of weeks. Just before the actual event, they needed a bit of livening up to make people notice them, but without a huge extra cost. SOS Signs to the rescue! On the Monday morning before the event, despite the horrendous weather on the day, and the night before, we managed to update 8 signs, and the following day a further 4 ,when the temperature was high enough for the vinyl to stick. Storm damage meant that some of the signs were down and broken and vandals had had fun with a couple, but eventually all 14 will be updated and back on site, thanks to keen committee members searching for them in streams and putting the hours in repairing installations.
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New!
Wing Things
Decorate your car in a smart, subtle and simple way. Put a logo and words of your choice onto your wing mirrors. All Blacks, Silver Ferns, Ford, Holden, your company logo, whatever you like, custom designed, cut and installed on your car from $30 per pair. Easily removed too! Sixty colours and special vinyls available.
topPrivate Sale signs
Selling your house privately, and want a smart looking sign with a bit more than the boilerplate text the commercially available signs give? We can take your words and designs and create one, two or more sale signs now, when you need them. Your choice of colours for the boards and the vinyl, your choice of layout, wording and the type faces used. Changed the price, want a different phone number? We can update the sign in situ if required. Up to 600 by 900 mm on plastic flute board.
topRecent jobs
Whitby Tennis Club
3400mm by 400mm custom made to fit over the ranch slider. Vinyl is 3M cast with a 7+ year lfespan, and the substrate is Signbond PVDF aluminium composite material (ACM), wth a 10 year life span. As the sign is north facing, high quality materials were essential here.
topPacific Horizon Motorhomes
1900mm by 950mm vinyl sign on Signbond. The graphic was developed from a business card example, and the colours taken from existing signage. Vinyl is 3M cast with a 7+ year lfespan, and the substrate is Signbond PVDF aluminium composite material (ACM), wth a 10 year life span. The window below the sign is not our work (although some of the vinyl was cut by us).
topParemata Plunket Playgroup
A new format for us, using commercial plastic/steel hinges which double as a carry handle, and 10mm Signex PVC foamboard. These signs are light and convenient, easily fold away, and the weatherproof board has a long life. The logo was designed by a committee member, and adapted for use in a vinyl sign by SOS. Only two outside faces of this sign were signwritten, but for those needing some versatility, the whole sign opens out fully and reverses, allowing for another sign on the other side of each board.
This sign is 800mm by 600mm with a 400mm hinge, 600 by 400 with a 300mm hinge is also available from 'stock', but any size can be made. A close up of the hinges is shown below.
Whitby Toy Library
600 by 450 mm double sided sandwich board, made to accompany the Toy Library's bouncy castle when it is out on hire. Again made of ACM, with a piano hinge across the top, there are 5 colours of vinyl in this sign, black, red, blue, green and yellow. A complicated design which was quite a challenge to translate into cut vinyl.
Mainly Music, North Porirua Bapist Church
900 by 600mm double sided pavement sign, which has its own plastic stand. The board was supplied by Mainly Music, and had signwriting on it already. A reasonably simple design, jazzed up a little by using the same fonts and wave form as the Mainly Music organisation, and two simple images of dancers to give some idea what Mainly Music is about. A single colour vinyl, which is very effective in this situation.
North Porirua Bapist Church Parking Signs
Not part of the promotion, but business we got as a direct result of it. Two 800x600mm acrylic blades in plastic stands. Simple, single colour signs, slightly different on each side.
A sign like this would cost about $260 - $300 depending on the design and materials used.
topVehicle Signwriting
These photos show an example of signwriting on a car. A relatively simple 2 colour design, but tailored to suit the similar but opposite shapes of each side of the car. A job like this will cost $200-$350 installed onto the car depending on the complexity of the design.
topSign Boards
These are examples of simple but personalised signboards. Costs from $20 upwards depending on complexity. Installation extra.
topMagnetic Vehicle Signs
These two signs are about 410mm by 260mm, so quite small. If they had been paid for, I would have either made a large loss on them, or the client would have paid a lot for them! The font used on these signs is 'Viner Hand', which is a script with really jagged edges, making it a really difficult sign to weed and apply properly. The addition of a black outline to the Wiki Studios text, meant that the sign was made up of three layers of vinyl with some complicated alignment to get the red and yellow right.
So two signs like this may cost as much as $400, but I wouldn't expect to do many like this.
This a reasonably large but simple magnetic sign board, easily removed when not required. An example like this would cost about $230 per pair, a less complex and smaller version may cost $200 per pair approximately.
topWindow Signs
Simple white text such as this may cost as little as $50 installed on the vehicle. Note in this example that the text follows the curve of the windows edge, an example of the attention to detail we apply to all jobs.
topNovelty Signs
Bedroom Door Signs
Simple novelty signs for the bedroom door of your young star, footballer or similar. Simple images and names make these very reasonably priced.
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