Category: People - The Sign Blog

MO BRO' - MEN'S HEALTH IN FOCUS THIS MOVEMBER

4/12/2017

We set the Mo' challenge this Movember and had a variety of full growth, part growth, outragous fuzziness and a few lame attempts from the team. Well done to all those that grew some facial hair in support of men's health at Signs & Lines and beyond.

Guest judges, SusieSoo, RobbieK and CharlieS thought long and hard about deserving Mo's but as in all competitions, there can only ever be a few winners 'n grinners!! Our 3 award winners all took home Crispy Cremes and a bottle of wine to celebrate their claim to fame.

Newcomer Rob took out most original, Chief A took out most dazzling and old-timer Mr Monkey claimed the most fuzzy title. The judges awarded a consolation prize to router king AH - who despite a great effort remained genetically challenged to grow a decent mo in the timeframe!

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS AT MELIADOR WAY

13/11/2017

Last Friday afternoon we celebrated 10 years in our Meliador Way offices - the nerve centre of the Signs & Lines and Yap!digital business'. A few of us reminisced about the day, 12th November 2007, that we moved from our old, small, run down workshop in Bellevue at the back of Bunnings, to the new, shiny, state of the art offices and workshops.

To mark the occasion we served up a smorgasbord of antipasto, prawns, chicken and salads (plus a sly glass of bubbly or similar). We also took a pic of the team (minus a few key players that sadly had to run off early or couldn't make it) - plus welcomed a couple of 'special' guests to help with our raffle.

The celebration continued as we marked Jerry's retirement. A sad loss to Signs & Lines and the many clients who have benefited from his great service, but a very happy chappie who now finds himself with plenty of things other than signs to occupy his day. We wish him all the best.

From Behind the Lens

21/11/2016

We took a step behind the lens this week to record our amazing touchscreen digital display suite in action at Finbar's Sales Office in the city.

Utilizing the very best actors, starlets and budding thespians from the Signs & Lines talent pool, we spent a fascinating afternoon in front and behind the lens for our new video. Thanks for Marty for his amazing direction and patience.

You'll see the fruits of the shoot very soon ... yes, there's a new dog in town. Watch this space!

Birthday Bonanza - Landmark Celebrations

17/11/2016

Two of our wonderful staff celebrated milestones this month. Aaron (above) in amongst all the balloons turned 18 and enjoyed some very dubious singing, and cake, yesterday to mark the occasion.

Sue went into hiding on her big day that marked her huck/hum - better not say - landmark birthday.

See if you can guess by the riddle to the left?!

Signage installation is never dull!

13/10/2016

When a large project wraps up, despite the long, exhausting hours and nightworks that push our installers to the limits, it's reassuring to know that a sense of humour prevails! To follow snippets from one of our lead installer's recent project in his own words [with a little careful editing!):

"With the project now complete, I thought it time to wrap up the report process.

CREATURES: Let me state for the record that I like animals... I respect their place in our world and could not ever intentionally hurt them... (except maybe spiders)... but this project has certainly tested my resolve with them ...

There were many different creatures encountered during this install...Night 1 - I had black, hairy, scary-as**** spiders behind every sign we removed... Flying midgee bitey things were abundant around lights ... BUT... there was one creature type that dominated the project... BIRDS!

Pigeons rule in this site and 2 flew out from behind sign 10 during removal... heart stress! Brackets and sign tops are popular dropping spots!

Seagulls control the other site we were at and the rooftops are obviously their perfect toilet area... it is a nice view from them so its probably a relaxing, nice spot to dump upon... but seriously I have never seen SO MUCH bird****! The rooftops had sagged under the weight of it ... 100mm thick in parts... consider the resolve needed to crawl/lie on this **** during installation ... especially at night, during drizzly rain! YUCK

It is now my life mission to find some seagull holiday spot and return the favour!

However... one bird episode dominates... OWL strike!

Since this unfortunate incident, everyone keeps saying..."Oh, the poor thing", "why didn't you swerve", "hope it wasn't a mother with a nest of babies" and similar comments... I need to state once and for all that I was NOT driving thru the scrub with some evil, owl tempting lure dangling from the roof, seeking an owl to cross off! [The other team encountered a couple of harmless teensy honey bees, called in BEE-MURDERERS R-US and wiped out thousands...do they get called names..NO!]

So back to my story... Its obvious that my owl was as blind as a welders dog that had decided to end it... I was the unfortunate driver of the vehicle that ended this birds mission of "death by windscreen"... time to stop the judgments ok!

OVERVIEW: An install with so many different challenges... I took a positive and happy attitude into it...I emerged with a positive, happy and proud feeling from it. There were a few "problems" along the way... each was given due consideration and action... results prove the worth of team and positive attitude!

The "team" effort is the major thing I take from this... so many gave everything to achieve the results... the strain on every department was obvious and I realise the stress on many would be great... I thank everyone for their hard work and help.

Projects like this are just so me... challenging, demanding, use of my big brain, install tricks and genius cunning plans, pride in results.... Thanks to all for giving me the opportunity! Hoping you have enjoyed the ride as much as I have...cant wait till the next one!"

Who would have thought that installing signs could be such fun:)

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR STAR INSTALLER FOR THIS GREAT CONTRIBUTION

Goodbye Signage Apprenticeship, hello Tradesman!

13/10/2016

All good things must come to an end so after 3 years studying a Cert III Signage apprenticeship, the end of the tunnel is getting very close for Phil T.

His last project of the Signage apprenticeship was based on the Art Deco era and here's a run down on what was involved:

"My project was made from laser cut 4mm acrylic shapes that i designed using Signlab. In the centre I used a digital print to create a marble look and add a touch of class! All of the acrylic was backed up with various cast vinyls. The backing board also had machine cut vinyl applied to the rear to create a stylish boarder, and then backed up with black. The titled panel vinyls were applied to the face for a stand out feature.

The project was then bonded to one another creating the layered affect. I polished the sides of all acrylics, creating a glass like finish!"

Lovely work Phil :)

ASGA Sign Awards - we are winners!!

3/10/2016

Last months Australian Sign & Graphics (ASGA) Awards in Sydney’s Bicentennial Park saw Signs & Lines pick up 3 gongs. In total 514 entries were received, with 36 companies winning awards across 18 categories. As always some of the entries were quite outstanding (including ours). We were particularly pleased to win 2 out of the 3 places in the digital signage category.

We picked up our Gold award in the highly fought category of fabrication of large pylon and sky signs. Our gongs included:

Gold: Fabrication – Large Pylon & Sky Signs – EY Signage, Perth CBD (see pics below)
Silver: Digital Media (LED & LCD) – Bunbury Farmer’s Market Digital Sales Pylon
Bronze: Digital Media (LED & LCD) – Satterley Property Group’s Allara Sales Office Map Table

Master Chef: The Greek Cook-Off

15/9/2016

Robyn was the worthy winner (again!) of our Greek Master Chef challenge held yesterday. Her lamb Moussaka was a taste sensation - see recipe below. Surprisingly the mix of foods complemented each other superbly - from Andy's homemade bread, hommus and olive dipping creation, to Tim's Greek Salad which oozed freshness - to Adrian's yummy bircher muesli.

But, the Greek style pasta bake (Moussaka) was the standout. And, drum roll, Robyn's choice for next month's Cook-Off is INDIAN! Now, who doesn't love a good curry :)

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/21515/beef+and+eggplant+pasta+bake+with+yoghurt?ref=collections,greek-recipes

Our young guns at work - more TAFE highlights

17/8/2016

This week I caught up with Aden who has just started his first year at Midland TAFE's signwriting course. I was keen to know how things were tracking so Aden showed me his first project work, just completed this month, and explained what he had done to achieve this great result.

"My first task at TAFE was to create a logo and to then make a sandblasted wooden sign. I started off with designing a logo using SignLab software - for me this was the most challenging aspect of this task!. I then used a plotter to cut the logo out onto a thick, green, rubber compound vinyl that withstands sandblasting.

I applied the vinyl onto a 600mm x 420mm slab of pine wood and sandblasted it. The logo was standing out and raised higher than the background. Leaving the vinyl in place, I used a dark wood stain and painted over the whole sign, and then used a lighter stain to go over the top. This bought out imperfections in the wood, creating raised features in the grain to generate a unique look.

To finish, I pulled off the vinyl, exposing the raised, raw wood Honda logo."

Thai Kitchen - Open for Business!

3/8/2016

Our lunch room was transformed into a Thai Kitchen today worthy of any great restaurant, with a mix of dishes including an entree from Paul (delicious Pad Thai salad - my vote!), a Thai red curry and spicy vegetarian curry courtesy of Robyn and Andy, a vegetarian option from Jess, curry puffs (by TW) and a superb desert collection completed the banquet. Today's birthday boy is seen here finishing up the leftovers - dont let it spoil your dinner Mr A!!

But, there can only be one winner, and this month we get to call Adrian Çhef for his winning desert combination: - Bananas in thick syrup – kruay chuám & Coconut Custard – sankaya - based on a Thai Street food cook book recipe.

Next month's culinary challenge - offal!!!