It’s difficult to deny the beauty of the simple, clean-cut, straightforward marks of a routed sign. What’s harder to negate is your client’s request, no matter how complex, murky or circuitous. Whether putting router to wood or other materials that run the gamut from foam to HDU, and from metal to PVC, three companies recently proved again that no matter the material, what matters most is pleasing the client.
当你看到一个标识牌，简单、干净、直截了当的完美，再加上你的客户的要求，无论多么复杂、晦涩或迂回，或者说无论雕刻在木头上，还是其他材料上，从泡沫到HDU，从金属到PVC，最近有三家公司再次证明，不管是什么材料，都可以满足你的需求。
SAY YES TO THE SIGN
对标识说“是”
YESCO (Denver, CO) leapt at the chance to redesign, fabricate and install a sign they built more than 30 years ago; it had recently been destroyed by a drunk driver.
YESCO（科罗拉多州丹佛市）抓住这个机会重新设计、制造并安装了一个他们30多年前建造的标识；
The demolition of the sign presented R&O Construction a chance to totally recreate its look and feel. “They wanted something that captured their business,” Account Manager Aaron Cain said. “R&O builds lots of buildings with a wide-flange structure. So the sign support we came up with was designed to represent that. Then the cabinets were built to show a large emblem and then business name and address, [using] routed-out aluminum faces and push-through Plexiglas with perforated vinyl.”
标识的拆除为R&O建筑提供了一个完全重现其外观和感觉的机会，客户经理亚伦·凯恩说：“他们想要的东西，就是能帮他们带来生意的标识，R&O建造了许多带有宽翼缘结构的建筑，所以我们设计的标识支持就是为了代表这个。然后，标识牌被制作成了一个大型的LOGO，然后显示企业名称和地址，经过布线的铝面，并通过带有穿孔乙烯基的有机玻璃。”
YESCO built, refurbished and then redesigned and rebuilt this sign for R&O Construction.
YESCO为R&O建筑建造、翻新并重新设计和重建了这个标识
To achieve this look, YESCO had the customer provide vector versions of the logo. Production Manager Darren Steck said he convened with the customer to discuss the concept first with hand drawings, and then met with them again to confer about colors, playing with multiple revisions of the logo sizes to the name until the client was satisfied.
为了实现这个外观，YESCO让客户提供了矢量版本的标识。生产经理达伦·斯特克说，他与客户开会，先是用手绘的方式讨论这个概念，然后再次与他们会面，商讨颜色问题，对商标的尺寸进行多次修改，直到客户满意为止。
Substrates included aluminum sheets from Metalwest, steel I-beams from Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., GE Tetra MAX LEDs, acrylic by Margacipta Wirasentosa, channel letter lighting from Current and Sherwin Williams automotive paint. Equipment used included shears from AccurShear; a brake from Roper Whitney; Miller welders; Milwaukee hand grinders, drills, and sanders; and a MultiCam 304 CNC router.
基板包括金属西部的铝板、信实钢板&aluminum公司的工字钢、GE Tetra MAX LED、Margacipta Wirasentosa的丙烯酸树脂、Current的发光字光源和宣伟标识漆。使用的设备包括AccurShear公司的剪刀；罗珀·惠特尼公司的制动器；Miller焊工；密尔沃基手工研磨机、钻头和砂光机；以及MultiCam 304数控雕刻机。
YESCO ensured R&O Construction’s sign received a proper new beginning. “We realize [some] customers have budgets, and some don’t, [but] we always want their signage to be the best in the industry, giving them the biggest bang for their buck,” Steck said.
ESCO确保了R&O建设的标识获得了一个适当的新开端，斯特克说：“我们意识到一些客户有预算，而有些客户没有预算，但我们总是希望他们的标牌是业内最好的，给他们带来最大的回报。”。
RE-ROUTED DESIGN
重新布线设计
When tasked with making a sign, the initial design isn’t always attractive. Sometimes though, luck or fate steps in and provides the project with push in the right direction, as was the case for a project assigned to Absolute Sign Inc. (ASI; Los Alamitos, CA) .
当接到一个新的标识业务时，最初的设计并不最有吸引力的。但有时，为项目提供正确方向的推动，就像分配给绝对标识公司的项目一样。
According to Director of Operations Tish Scialampo, the CC Tan Center (a luxury living complex in Glendale, CA) sign project was given to them by another shop, which wasn’t able to construct the routed sign the client requested. Initially, ASI was hired to design, fabricate and install the main ID sign, as well as other ancillary signs. But, it turned out that an architect had already designed the primary ID sign for the project and the owner didn’t want to change it.
根据运营总监蒂什·西阿拉姆波的说法，CC Tan Center（加利福尼亚州格伦代尔市的一个豪华生活综合体）的标识项目是由另一家商店提供给他们的，该商店无法按照客户的要求建造标识。最初，ASI受聘设计、制造和安装主ID标识以及其他辅助标识。但是，事实证明，一位建筑师已经为这个项目设计了主要的ID标识，业主不想改变它。
“It was a terrible, not-well-designed concrete structure and we were not really interested in pouring a big slab of concrete. We tried proposing a different sign to the owner, but he didn’t want to change,” Scialampo said. “As luck would have it, the city hated it [too] and came back to us and asked us to change it, which we did, and the owner actually ended up liking it.”
“最糟糕的、就是你会遇到设计不好的混凝土结构，这会给标识项目的实施带来很大的障碍，我们试着向店主提出一个不同的建议，但他不想改变自己建筑的结构，但幸运的是，根据政府的要求，希望我们将混凝土结构与标识完美结合，改造重建，我们做到了，并且赢得店主称赞。”
Despite the client’s initial reservations, ASI gained approval on this sign, which was fabricated with the help of a Computerized Cutters router.
尽管客户有初步的保留意见，ASI还是获得了这个标识的批准，使用CorelDRAW和Adobe Illustrator为客户设计了一个标识，这个标识是在一个部雕刻机的帮助完成的。
The CC Tan Center sign was created with .063-, .080- and .125-in. aluminum, ¾-in. Acrycast acrylic, three different colors of Matthews Paint, GE 24V white LEDs and GE 24V power supplies. For fabrication, ASI got to work with a Computerized Cutters Accu-Cut router, a hand brake, a welder, hand drills, a shear, and both band and circular saws.
CC 中心标识是用.063-，.080-和.125英寸的铝材建造的，Acrycast丙烯酸，三种不同颜色的马修斯涂料，GE 24V白色led和GE 24v电源。在制造过程中，ASI使用了acu切割机、焊工、手钻、剪切机以及带锯和圆锯。
Fabrication wasn’t without its hiccups. “The sign was quite large, so the channel letters had to be deep to be proportional with the sign and that presented lighting issues we had to address,” Scialampo said. “It was also a difficult install, as the monument sign was in a planter sitting 4 ft. above grade. It was designed [to be] plate-mounted into the floor of the planter with square tubes running up through the planter and into the sign.”
制造业并非没有停滞不前，Scialampo说：“这个标识相当大，所以发光字母必须很深才能与标识成比例，这就提出了我们必须解决的照明问题。”这也是一个困难的安装，因为纪念碑的标识是在一个种植园坐在4英尺以上，它被设计成板状安装在花盆的地板上，方形的管子穿过花盆，直达标牌。”
SLICE OF THE ADIRONDACKS
阿迪朗达克切片
Jim Thomson, owner of Adirondack Jim’s (Ballston Spa, NY) , describes the act of routing signs as having a “visceral, emotional component as they create a memory into wood.” Thomson loves carving signs from wood so much, that it’s all he does at his one-man shop not far from the very mountains that gave his shop its name.
阿迪朗达克吉姆（纽约鲍尔斯顿水疗中心）的店主吉姆·汤姆森将立牌标识的比喻为“将记忆变成标识的过程中，可将品牌植入人的内心。”汤姆森非常喜欢用木头雕刻立牌，以至于他将自己的标识店铺设在离山林不远的地方。
Because Thomson’s specialty is Adirondack-style exterior signage, it was no surprise when he was approached by a client who had noticed his work on social media, asking for a similarly styled sign and layout for their family cottage, the Coo Coos Nest, nestled in the mountains. The client also requested that the sign blend into the surrounding landscape, incorporate a moose and the unique location of the cottage and hold up through the tough mountain weather.
因为汤姆森的专长是阿迪朗达克风格的户外标牌，所以当一位注意到他在社交媒体上工作的客户找到他时，他要求为他们位于山区的家庭别墅——库库斯巢提供类似风格的标牌和布局，这并不奇怪，客户还要求该标识融入周围景观，融入驼鹿和小屋的独特位置，并在恶劣的山区天气中经久耐用。
Adirondack Jim’s makes handcrafted signs, so projects take longer than they would using modern-day machinery. Still, Thomson believes that this old-fashioned way of routing signs also attracts clients to his one-of-a-kind style.
阿迪朗达克吉姆是纯手工制作标识，所需时间比使用现代机械要长，不过，汤姆森认为，这种老式的路标设计方式也吸引了客户，使其独具风格。
For the Coo Coos Nest cottage sign, Thomson kept the artwork simple, employing no design software and using drawings of simple wild animals and silhouettes to mark the cabin’s location. “The sign was one in which the customer knew the feel they wanted and trusted Adirondack Jim’s to capture [it],” Thomson said.
对于库库斯巢小屋的标识，汤姆森保持了艺术品的简单，没有使用设计软件，使用简单的野生动物和剪影的图纸来标记小屋的位置。汤姆森说：“这个牌子上的顾客知道他们想要的感觉，并相信阿迪朗达克·吉姆能抓住这种感觉。”
When choosing materials, Thomson used select grade, clear, western red cedar 2 x 6-in. planks, which were jointed and glue-laminated into a solid sign panel. He finished the background with an industrial black spray ink by Marsh and sealed it with McCloskey’s Satin Spar Varnish, while the wood trim, text and art were sealed with Sikkens Proluxe modified oil sealant in the natural tone. The artwork layout was traced over carbon paper after the layout lines and center were established.
在选择材料时，汤姆森使用精选级、透明、2 x 6英寸的西红雪松，用胶水粘合成一块坚固的标识板，他用Marsh公司的工业黑色喷墨墨水完成背景，并用麦考锡的缎面Spar清漆密封，而木饰、文字和艺术品则用西肯多乐士改性石油密封胶以自然色调密封，在确定了布局线和中心后，在复写纸上对艺术品布局进行了绘制。
Jim Thomson of Adirondack Jim’s created a sign for the Coo Coos Nest using premium western cedar and implementing the shop’s signature relief carving.
阿迪朗达克的吉姆·汤姆森用优质西部雪松为库斯鸟巢制作了一个标识，并实现了该店标识性的浮雕雕刻。
For routing the wood, Thomson only uses Whiteside Solid Carbide router bits because they are American-made, razor-sharp and perform under very demanding conditions. His choice of routers is the Makita RF1101 2.25-hp combination router. “It’s the only router that has been able to stand up to demanding carving year after year,” Thomson said. “It’s the Lexus of routers, in my opinion.”
为了铺设木材，汤姆森使用的是白色的硬质合金雕刻机钻头，因为他们是美国制造，剃刀锋利，在非常苛刻的条件下也可以工作。他选择的雕刻机是马基塔 RF1101 2.25-hp组合雕刻机，汤姆森说：“这是唯一一款能够经得起年复一年的雕刻要求的雕刻机，在我看来，这是雕刻机界的雷克萨斯。”
Although the sign was relatively easy to lay out, the addition of the moose led to carving challenges, as the fine detail in the antlers could have easily broken during the high-speed routing. To work around that issue, the depth of the antlers was reduced to ¼ in. instead of ⅜ in. Thomson then used a solid carbide profile bit to outline the antlers, followed by a 1/16-in. straight bit and finally a ⅛-in. upcut spiral bit to give the antlers a raised look while still being strong enough to hold up to carving in the adjacent area.
尽管标识的布局相对容易，但麋鹿的加入带来了雕刻的挑战，因为鹿角上的精细细节在车辆行驶经过时很难注意到，为了解决这个问题，鹿角的深度减少到了1/4英寸，汤姆森随后用硬质合金轮廓钻头勾勒出鹿角的轮廓，接着是1/16英寸。直钻，终于钻进去了，上切螺旋钻头，使鹿角的外观提高。
“If you can innovate your own style to capture textures and themes, you will always have customers. It took several years for Adirondack Jim’s to create a one-of-a-kind style,” Thomson said. “There are really no tricks or magic to hard work, persistence and passion. Those elements create the product in the sign market.”
“如果你能创新自己的风格来捕捉纹理和主题，你将永远拥有客户，阿迪朗达克·吉姆花了几年时间才创造出独一无二的风格，”汤姆森说：“努力工作、坚持和激情真的没有诀窍和魔力，这些元素创造了标识市场上独一无二的作品。”
ASI used CorelDRAW and Adobe Illustrator to design a logo for the client.
ASI使用CorelDRAW和Adobe Illustrator为客户设计了一个标识。
