Profile: Danny Dean
Shop name:
Dynamic Signs Design
Shop size: 1200 sq. ft.
Staff: Danny and Sherry Dean
Age: 60
Graphics equipment:
Graphtec FC-5100 cutter
ULTRA-Flex Cloud-based sign making software
Online:
www.dynamicsignsdesign.com
On Facebook as Dynamic Signs Design
简介：Danny Dean
店名：动感标识设计
店铺规模：1200平方英尺。
工作人员：丹尼和雪莉
年龄：60岁
图形设备：FC-5100切割机
基于Ulflex云的标识制作软件
网址：www.dynamicsignsdesign.com.
Back in 1980, Danny Dean picked up a lettering brush and “realized I had found a job no one could take away from me.” He was living in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, area, where he learned the trade from a sign painter named Tom Carter.
早在1980年，丹尼·迪恩是刷广告字，广告画的，他看到了未来广告行业的美好前景，并找到了住在爱荷华州的锡达拉皮兹的汤姆·卡特学习标识制作。

In 1998, he and Sherry, his wife, took a vacation to Wisconsin and were taken by the beauty of the Northwoods region. It seemed like a great place to live and work, so they made the move. They’ve spent over two decades growing their business and making signs for the small businesses, resorts and farms there. On a busy summer afternoon SignCraft asked Danny about his work and his shop:
1998，他和他的妻子去威斯康星度假，在这里我们认识了雪莉，最终我和妻子决定一起在这里生活和工作，和雪莉创建了标识公司，通过他们的共同努力，在这里他们已经存续经营了20多年标识公司，为这里的小企业、度假胜地和农场打造标识，每天乐此不疲的忙碌于标识事业。

The shop and the market: I’ve been at my current location for about 20 years. Like everyone, I’ve had to grow and change with the times. Originally I was a sign painter and did everything by hand. I still do hand lettering and pinstriping, but it’s more of a treat than an everyday way of doing things. Today, most things need to be done quickly and effectively to be profitable.
公司和市场：我们在这里在标识行业已经度过了20个年头，像每个人一样，我们必须与时俱进，不断变化。原来我是一个手绘专家，用手绘制广告画面，现在我仍然做手工刻字和标识牌，但它比起以往的工作方式我更加享受今天的标识事业，因为大多数业务都需要你快速有效地进行，并保持盈利，这是充满困难和挑战的事业。

Most of the time, it’s just Sherry, my wife, and me in the shop. Sometimes I hire a little help when it gets really busy or for larger projects. Our shop is about 30-by-30-ft. plus the office, which is where the computer and vinyl cutter are. It’s a humble little place, nothing special, but it works for us.
大多数时候，只有雪莉、我的妻子和我在公司里。有时我会在忙不过来或者接到大项目的时候外聘一些兼职。我们的公司大约30到30英尺，再加上办公室，电脑和乙烯基切割机都在一个办公空间里，这里虽然很小，看似好像还有些简陋，但这没有什么，一点不影响我们承接业务，而且生意非常不错。

“This was designed to have a 3D pictorial, but the budget wasn’t there,” says Danny, “so I used a digital print. It’s a good example of adjusting the production methods to fit the budget.The cutout carved HDU letters are on a black ACM panel mounted on a gray overlaid plywood panel. ”
丹尼说：“这原本是一个3D标识，但预算不够，所以我使用了数字印刷。”这是一个很好的例子，调整生产方法，以适应预算。切割出HDU字母是安装在黑色ACM面板上再用灰色覆盖胶合板面板，客户很满意我们这种改变。”
Sandblasted HDU panel with a hammered copper graphic and copper leaf accents. The posts are cedar wrapped pressure-treated wood. “I learned post wrapping from Gary Anderson. It’s a great way to make posts look more substantial.”
喷砂HDU面板做成酒铜图形，铜质树叶妆嵌。柱子是雪松包裹的复合材料。“我从加里·安德森那里学会了如何把标识做的更上档次，这是让这个项目看起来很新颖的一个好方法。”

I have a wood shop and a vinyl cutter, but don’t have a digital printer. For me, it’s easier to outsource my printing and do the rest of the production myself. The printer is a big expense, and you would have to keep looking at ways to keep the printer busy.
我有一个木工车间和一个乙烯基切割机，但是没有数码打印机。对我来说，我更愿意把打印业务外包出去，自己只制作剩余的产品。购买打印机是一个巨大的开支，因为你必须继续不停的保持打印机盈利的方法。
Rice Lake is a town of about 8000—it’s not a big town. Most of my work is within a 50-mile radius of the shop. It’s a vacation area with a lot of outdoor activities.
赖斯莱克是一个大约8000人的小镇，但是这是一个有很多户外活动的度假区。
我的大部分业务在公司半径50英里以内。

There are a lot of lakefront resorts here, and when I moved here I thought that would be a great market. I’m doing more of that now, but I never really got as much work out of that market as I thought I would. Most of my customers are small business owners around the area.
这里有很多湖边度假胜地，当我搬到这里的时候，我认为这将是一个巨大的市场等待我来开发，渐渐我现在，这里有我从来想象不到的这么多的业务，我的大多数客户都是这个地区的小企业主。
In a small town, it takes time to gain people’s trust. But once you do, and they realize that you’re trustworthy and reliable and concerned about doing a good job for them, you’ve won them over.
在一个小城镇里，需要时间来赢得人们的信任。但是一旦你做到了，并且他们意识到你是可信赖的、可靠的，并且关心为他们做好工作，你就赢得了他们的信任。

I’ve found that how you talk with your customers really matters. If you take the time to explain your design approach and the materials you use in a sensible, knowledgeable way, you will gain their trust, and the rest is history. They become very loyal customers.
我发现你和你的客户交谈真的很重要。如果您花时间以明智、专业的态度沟通您的设计方法和所使用的材料，您将获得他们的信任，他们成为非常忠诚的顾客。
The work: I do a lot of signs, a few showcards, a little restoration work and some pinstriping. I also design billboard wraps in Photoshop and do some walls and other large projects.

业务范围：标识加工制作，标识的修复与安装，标识的设计以及墙壁、碑塔标识和其他大型项目。
In a small shop, you have to keep your prices up there and adjust them constantly for the rising costs. If not, you’ll be out of business before long. All of your work should be profitable. There’s not much future for someone whose only selling point is how cheap he or she is. The cheap guys don’t do the good work, and good work is not cheap. That’s a gem I got from my mentor, Tom Carter.
作为一家小企的标识公司，你必须保证好你的价格，并不断调整以适应不断上涨的成本。如果没有，你很快就会破产。你所有的业务都应该是以盈利为目的。只追求价格或者便宜的客户来说，对于你没有太大的前途。便宜的东西做不好，好的东西并不便宜。这是我从导师汤姆·卡特那里学到的经验。

The increased costs of materials and services make it hard sometimes to keep custom work affordable for most customers. You have to work at being efficient. And things change so fast in today’s world that you really have to stay current. I make sure that my software is updated to the latest version and that I’m up-to-date on all the computer stuff.
材料和服务的成本增加使得有时很难保证大多数顾客负担得起的定制产品，你必须工作效率高。在当今世界，事情变化如此之快，你真的必须保持现在的状态。我时刻需要确保我的软件被更新到最新版本，并且我所有的计算机资料都是最新的。
“This is another Peachtree City Foamcraft monument,” says Danny.“Peachtree does a great job with the faux stone and brickwork. It’s very realistic and makes for an attractive monument. They also produced the graphics from my design. It’s 12-ft. wide and arrived ready to install. It worked out great. ”
丹尼说“这是另一座桃树城发泡板制作的工艺纪念碑，12英尺宽，用人造石头和发泡板做出很逼真的感觉，并成为一个有吸引力的纪念碑。”

在经营标识公司的道路上，我觉得我们还有很长的路要走，有很多的机遇和挑战，日新月异的制作工艺，广告材料，会不断的进入你的经营计划中，你会不断的尝试新的项目，制作各种特色的标识牌，总而言之，你需要合理的控制你的办公面积，用人数量，以及成本，才能令你的生意走的更加长远。