vehicle graphics: g.somerville Painter & Decorators

[Robert Lambie]

hhmmm this seems to be the reason i was worried about the latest posts list…
posts being missed because there has be numerous replies quickly. in doing so knock some very good posts off the short list on the home page… us regulars just overlook it as we use the scroll bar….

anyway…

the van? well phill i have to say i like the colours… very nice. not the norm and no matter how you laid the design out. it would be that little bit more eye catching because of the colours alone…
it reaqds right and gives prioritory to the parts the customer would want you too…
with regards to constructive critisism: i feel the spacing of the charactors and font usage (in my veiw) a little out. as you know im not great at explaining things. but what i mean is “G. Somerville” seems to collide together froma distance. the “G” & “S” seem a bit too close.
if by way of designing it you have choosen “kids”or”comic” as a font, to appear as if hand painted. then i would myself have used somthing like a helvetica… to underline the name saying “painter & decorator”

the panel with the numbers etc inside it is somthing i often use also. its always somthing i use when im short on ideas..(not meaning that in a bad way). it underlines the heading etc, breaks up the momentum of lines of text…& always seems to finish things off well…
what i would advise phill is when it comes to, wanting to fill some area up. just increase the kerning of the font you are using. it makes the font more legible & gives you the idea a little thought has went into it… stretching the line of text is somthing i always try and avoid… that and any type of logos…
well ill not rabble on mate… great job none the less. and i hope i have not offended in any of my veiws.. 😕
if i have just have a dig at my spelling.. 😆 😆 go on im an easy target… im wee but i can take it.. go on go on.. go on 😆 😆 😆

[Phill Fenton]

Thanks for the constructive criticism Rob. Now that it’s been pointed out to me, I can see what you mean about the G and the S being too close.

I’m trying to experiment a bit doing signs differently than I used to . Mikes CD has shown me how much more can be achieved using vinyl and I’m trying to introduce some of his ideas into my designs. On this particular van I had a version with the telephone number “Tumbling” the way Mike suggests on Gavins WP van but felt it didn’t quite work – and the customer wasn’t ready for it yet 😉

[Robert Lambie]

hi phill
i have used your design and font to recreate what i tried to explain.
not being good at explaining i hope this shows what my vision of what it could look like with some minor tweeks here and there.

as you can see ive simplfied the font for painter and decorator. and i have used a simular font to yours for the tel number… but this time increased the kerning to about 150% to fill the space.
its somtimes just down to it “being your cuppa tea” but i look and vehicles and advertising with… “get your attention”, then “let them know in an instant without having to look hard what they do”… if at this point they still are interested, any other info they need, they will make time to find.
not saying by any means you cannot get this from your design. im just trying to make things that little bit easier on the eye, thats all… 😉

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[Phill Fenton]

I really like what you’ve done with that Rob. It’s much more attention grabbing and interesting than what I’ve done. Well done 😀

[Martin Pearson]

Phill, can I point out another small critisism of this work, the photograph !!
I dont know how to fix it as I am no expert but looking at it I know the van looks much better than the picture. I had a picture of a speedy keg van in here and eddie made a comment about the colour, I had used a bright red on the van and it really stood out but on the picture it looks really flat and drab, I have since taken another picture under different lighting and it looks much better. I an now a little bit more careful about photographing the work that I do as I am trying to build a descent portfollio.

[Robert Lambie]

Thanks for the kind comment phill

The constructive critisism?
To be honest it is much easier from my end of the deal on this site than that of you and the visitors.
I just sit here and see a post being made and stair at it. 5 mins later I pull it to shreds…”gently”
And sound as though I “maybe” know what i’m talking about.
I, as well as most make mistakes everyday with my designs. When trying to run a business and sit back for 5 mins to do something worthwhile and to be proud of seldom comes about.
If I get the chance to design something the best bit of advice is start it… get into it. When you feel yourself scratching your head. Save it and go onto something else. Even take a cuppa tea… “I know mikes never done doing this part” 😉 When you go back you feel a bit more open minded. See bits you should alter and the like.
I hate mentioning kerning all the time etc on the site in reply to designs. But, I think its one part of designing we all falter.
Keyboards and computers are designed basically for typing text etc. not designing text…
We all tend to just type in a line of text & leave it with the spacing values that are set for it. Even though those values are originally for on screen viewing and A4 paper. I know the argument could be that once scaled up it should still look fine as it is in exact proportion. Correct, but we do not look at it from the same distances of proportion. Or varying daylight settings…. As we do a monitor or a book.
We must work this one out ourselves…
Take what you have said about my variation of your work. Looks interesting etc..
It’s almost the exact same design you did. But…
Take the heading…
The same as yours, but I increased the kerning about 115%
Makes distinguishing the letters much easier…

Take line two…
Simplified the font, opened the kerning & made the “&” symbol a new colour and size…
Doing this, takes the focus of the title being part of the second line. And vice versa. Making both that bit more legible. Using a lighter colour for the not so necessary “&” symbol. Does the same as above for the two trades.

The panel is just the same thing again…still your design
But smaller text with the kerning open wide. It fills the space and increases the value of each letter because they are much easier to distinguish… I chopped the end off the edge of the panel for the same reason as above.
It has to be there but it’s not a necessity to have it in your face.

Hope this helps a little with what I did & said above.. and doesn’t sound like another ramble

[Robert Lambie]

another wee sample of the kerning thing phill…
look at the image above… the quality isnt great but it does show two very differnt types of text. the top text is twice the hight and about 5 times the thickness of letter as the text below it. sitting back looking at them both.

does the top one “really” stand out better? or should i say “is the top one more legible”

too much effort to be noticed can have a reversed result… in my veiw anyway 🙄 😉

[Martin Pearson]

your right Robert, you do keep going on about kerning all the time, but dont stop. Since reading some of your comments about other peoples work in this forum I have started to pay more attention to details like the kerning and it does seem to make a difference. If I had not read some of the posts I might never have made any changes as being self taught its not the sort of thing that you might think of.