The right paint makes the messaging pop.
找到正确的油漆颜色能够使标识上的信息变得突出。
Whether a corporate logo or a message of hope, a sign can’t truly sell its message if its paint and color aren’t just right. These two sign companies share how choosing the right paint has been critical to their success.
无论是公司LOGO还是希望传达出去的信息，对于标识来说如果使用的油漆和颜色不正确，就无法获得真正理想的效果。本文分享了两家标识公司关于如何选择正确油漆的经验，以及该经验是如何帮助他们获得成功。
HANDS THAT PAINT THE WALLS
涂墙能手
In Madison, WI, signpainter Ray Mawst and his business partners, Emily Balsley and Brian Kehoe, used the challenges of 2020 as motivation to spread messages of support, hope and love – in the form of colorfully painted public murals that have become Instagram destination sites for locals and tourists alike.
在威斯康星州的麦迪逊市，标识画家雷·莫斯特和他的商业伙伴艾米丽·巴尔斯利、布莱恩·基欧并没有被2020年危险的疫情和萧条的业务吓到，而是将这些挑战作为传播“支持、希望和爱心”这些正能量的动力，以在公共区域创作壁画的形式为社会助力。这些精美的壁画也成为当地人和游客在社交平台上的网红打卡地点。
Drawing on their combined expertise in hand lettering, illustration and sign fabrication, the threesome joined forces last year to launch OhYa Studio. While the sign company’s name is a nod to a common upper-Midwestern colloquialism, so far, many of its projects have been a nod back to notions of community, togetherness and resilience.
莫斯特和他的伙伴们凭借在手工刻字、插图和标识制作方面的综合专业知识，于去年成立了OhYa标识公司，该名称取自于美国中西部地区常用的口语，到目前为止，OhYa公司的许多项目都旨在向社区的团结和韧性的精神致敬。
In the nearby suburb of Monona, for example, Mawst – a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee graphic design graduate who launched his signpainting career in 2017 – hand painted a bold “This Too Shall Pass” mural showcasing all caps, white lettering that pops against a multi-colored background. The mural encapsulates a mantra that has helped Mawst forge through some of the most challenging aspects of the pandemic, a saying he thought might help others, too.
在麦迪逊的郊区莫诺纳，威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校的图形设计专业毕业生莫斯特于2017年通过手绘一个创意非常大胆的“This Too Shall Pass”（一切都会过去）主题壁画，正式开始了他的标识绘画职业生涯。这面壁画看似简单，只是白色的字母与多彩的背景，但其中所使用的技巧繁多。这幅壁画中所包含的精神像是一句咒语，一直影响着莫斯特，甚至帮助他度过了在2020年疫情中所遇到的艰难时刻。因此莫斯特认为，这句话可能对其他人也会有所帮助。
“That was a self-initiated project,” said Mawst, a self-described “lettering-design nerd” who has dived deep into the origin and history of various script styles. Mawst typically drafts digital prototypes for his signs on an iPad or computer, before hand-painting them in large scale on brick or wood using at least two coats of Sherwin-Williams high-quality exterior acrylic paints.
“那是一个自发性的创作。”莫斯特回忆说。他经常自称为“一心钻研字体设计的书呆子”，因为他在研究各种字体样式的起源和历史的道路上走得很远，钻研得很深。莫斯特通常会在iPad和电脑上为标识项目起草电子版原型，然后使用至少两层优质的外墙亚克力涂料Sherwin-Williams在砖或木头上进行大规模手绘。
With its bright colors and equally bright message, the mural, which took just two days to paint, was immediately well-received. It even landed on Madison Magazine’s June 2020 cover.
凭借其鲜艳的色彩和其中更加醒目的信息，只用了两天时间就完成绘制的壁画立即受到好评，甚至登上《麦迪逊》杂志2020年6月的封面。
OhYa’s “Love Your Neighbor” mural, painted on a building side in a busy-traffic corridor in nearby Middleton, WI, was also a hit with community members right off the bat. “When we were painting it, the reaction was amazing,” Mawst said. “There were hundreds of people each day honking and rolling down their windows yelling, ‘Thank you!’”
莫斯特三人组成立OhYa公司后的作品：“Love Your Neighbor”（爱你的邻居）壁画，绘制在米德尔顿附近一条繁忙主干道上建筑物的一侧，也同样立即受到了该社区居民的欢迎。莫斯特说：“当我们进行绘画时，收获的路人的反应让我感到非常吃惊——在工作期间，每天有成千上百人向我们鸣笛，并摇下窗户对我们大喊‘谢谢！’”
Sometimes, OhYa lets color do the talking – like the cool, fun pinks and blues in their “Flamingo Swirls” mural collaboration with Madison-based muralist and street artist Liubov “Triangulador” Szwako. (The plastic pink flamingo is the official city bird of Madison.)
除了让人惊叹的整体壁画作品，OhYa有时还会让壁画中的色彩成为一个单独的热点话题。例如与麦迪逊当地的壁画和街头艺术家柳波夫·史瓦科合作的“旋转的火烈鸟”（塑料粉红色的火烈鸟是麦迪逊市的官方代表形象）壁画中，所使用的既酷又有趣的粉红色和蓝色，就引起不小的热议。
At other times, it’s the interplay of color and a specific lettering font that gets the message across. For Mawst, it’s this rich intersection of words and design that makes signmaking so appealing. “What is interesting is that letters do have a sort of a feel to them. Each style [of lettering] has a unique sort of aesthetic, and one type might be more appropriate for a certain sign versus another,” Mawst said. “Sometimes you want something bold. Sometimes you want something delicate.”
更多的时候，是颜色与特定字体之间的相互进行作用，从而传达出有效信息，对于莫斯特来说，正是这种丰富的文字和设计之间的交集使标识制作如此吸引人。“有趣的是，对我来说字体像是一种有感觉的生命体，不同的风格有着不同的美感，也有着自己适合的方向，有时候我们需要大胆粗犷，而有时则需要更加精致。一种类型的字体可能更适合这种标识而不是另一种标识。”莫斯特说道。
MIRROR-LIKE FINISHES
镜面装饰
As a full-service sign company, Stratus – formerly MC Group|Icon – helps clients go from concept to final design, all while staying true to their brand. The Mentor, OH-based company, which rebranded last September, prides itself on being one of the leading brand implementation companies in the US. Having built a reputation for the high-quality architectural construction of its exterior signs, the company also specializes in color finishes and color-matching expertise, said Shawn Hyken, Stratus’ senior vice president of operations.
Stratus公司，前身为MC集团的创意部门，现在则单独分立为一家提供全方位服务的标识公司，可帮助客户从概念开始知道最终设计出标识，同时始终忠于自己的品牌。Stratus总部位于俄亥俄州门托，于去年9月正式更名就立即成为美国领先的品牌实施公司之一，公司成员为此感到自豪。该公司运营高级副总裁肖恩·海肯表示，他们以其室外标牌的高质量建筑结构而闻名于业界，并且还擅长于彩色面漆和配色的专业知识。
“We use finishes that are a little bit higher-end,” said Hyken, who noted that the company mostly uses Sherwin-Williams paints and clear top coatings. “We work with a lot of design firms that have been clients of ours for many years, because they understand the type of quality that we put out and the types of finishes that we put out.”
海肯指出，Stratus公司主要使用Sherwin-Williams油漆和透明面漆：“我们使用的是比较高端的涂料，并与许多设计公司合作。这些设计公司多年来一直是我们的客户，非常了解我们所提供产品的质量类型以及我们能够提供的装饰类型。”
Primarily employing Sherwin-Williams Genesis series paints and automotive-quality polyurethane clear finishes, Stratus is able to deliver colorful, exterior metal signs that withstand elements – and even graffiti. “Some of the top coats can provide some graffiti resistance, which some of our customers are looking for,” Hyken said.
通过使用Sherwin-Williams品牌旗下的Genesis系列油漆和汽车级聚氨酯透明面漆，Stratus能够提供色彩鲜艳的外部金属标识，以抵御各种外部损害，甚至是来自街头涂鸦的破坏。海肯说：“我们使用的某些漆面可以提供一定的抗涂鸦性，这也是我们的客户正在寻找的技术。”
Most of Stratus’ signs are made of aluminum, though some are steel. Signs are fabricated at its production facilities in Illinois and South Carolina by the company’s sheet metal team and then move to the grinding and prepping room, where dual-action rotary grinders give the metal a smooth finish and prep it for proper paint adhesion.
Stratus公司所生产的大多数是铝制标牌，小部分是钢制标牌。其钣金团队位于公司在伊利诺伊州和南卡罗来纳州的生产工厂中进行标牌制造。工厂内部还配备打磨准备室，在这里，双动旋转磨床将金属表面变得光滑，并且进行适当的油漆附着力增加处理。
Then, the signs go to the paint room, where they are first cleaned using Sherwin-Williams Ultraclean Surface Cleaner R7K158 to remove any dust or debris. Following cleaning, the signs are transferred to a paint booth, where HVLP spray guns apply Genesis single-stage satin or semi-gloss paint.
接下来，标牌将会被运到喷漆间，首先使用Sherwin-Williams Ultraclean表面清洁剂R7K158进行去除灰尘和碎屑的工作，之后用HVLP喷枪搭配上Genesis油漆，进行初阶段缎面或半光泽漆面喷涂。
“The Genesis paints and coatings are low in VOCs [volatile organic compounds] and low in HAPs [hazardous air pollutants], which is good for the environment,” said Hyken. “These urethane paints are also very good with chemical and solvent resistance and very good with environmental resistance.”
海肯说道：“Genesis油漆和涂料的VOC（挥发性有机化合物）和，HAP（有害空气污染物）含量都很低，对于环境和人体保护都是非常有利的。这些聚氨酯涂料在耐化学药品和溶剂方面也非常好，在环保层面也是非常绿色的产品。”
The paints also dry quickly, which is another advantage, according to Hyken, because it allows the fabrication team to move from one coat to another with just an hour or two of drying time between colors. Stratus adds a drying accelerator to their paints and uses heated paint booths to further facilitate the drying process.
海肯认为，涂料如果可以快速干燥，也是一个很大的优势，因为它将允许制造团队可以在仅一到两个小时的干燥时间后，快速从一种涂料的喷涂工作转到另一种涂料的喷涂工作。为此，Stratus还专门在油漆中添加了干燥促进剂，并使用了供暖油漆棚来进一步促进整体干燥的过程。
Once signs are dry, they progress to the company’s final assembly area, where final parts – including, for example, acrylic or polycarbonate lettering to be illuminated via LEDs from the inside – are installed.
标牌上的涂料干燥后，就进入了公司的最终组装区域，进行安装最后的零部件等工作。例如亚克力或聚碳酸酯字母，这些字母也可能是通过内部LED进行照明的发光字。
Following sign construction, Stratus teams can assist clients with the permitting and exterior installation process. And, once installed, Stratus offers long-term maintenance services to ensure that signage continues to look its best years into the future.
标牌整体制作完成后，Stratus团队还会协助客户进行施工许可办理以及整体的外部安装。安装工作也结束后，Stratus公司的服务也没有停止，仍然会提供长期维护服务，以确保标牌在未来几年的黄金使用期中持续保持良好的状态。
“About eight years ago, we started seeing that the customers we were working with for exterior signs were getting interior signs from other people, so we started getting into interior signs as well,” Hyken said. “We think of ourselves as a branding company. We’re not just a sign manufacturer.”
海肯回忆说：“大约在8年前，我们开始看到与我们合作外部标识的客户正在从其他供应商那里采购内部标识，因此我们也毫不犹豫涉足该领域。我们认为自己不仅仅是一家标识制造商，更是一家实打实的品牌公司！”
