‘Sign History’ Articles at Visigraph

The Custom Wood Sign: Shaping Up the History of Signs

Barry K. Brown — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:24:24 +0000

It is highly likely that the first signs that man made in “prehistoric” times were made from wood. And here I have to digress. How does anyone know when prehistoric times started and ended? And if they’re prehistoric, who determines where history began? So really, does “prehistoric” just mean we don’t know our own history?

How Custom Wood Signs Shaped History – Or Did History Shape It?

At any rate, since that custom wood sign decayed thousands of years ago, nobody knows the moment when the first human being, using a CNC router and engraving machine,

Keep Reading →

Part 5 – History of Custom Signs and Printing in the 21st Century

Barry K. Brown — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:47:24 +0000

Well, I thought I would be done with this series last time on custom signs and printing, and I did actually get into the late 20th century, but I didn’t really get to where the two crossed paths. So this time, I am going to attempt to explain how they got mixed up together into one big happy family!

In recapping the previous four articles about this topic, I’ve written voluminous verbiage about where customized signage came from, East and West, and how wood items have been replaced by electrical and neon in the past 100 year.

Keep Reading →

Part 4 of The History of Signs and Graphic Printing

Barry K. Brown — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:46:47 +0000

In this installment of the history of signs and graphics printing, I’ll talk about the vast improvements in from the mid-1800’s until late in the 20th century. And where the two trades intersected to create a significant change for many sign makers.

To recap the previous three articles on this history series, we’ve talked about how signage came to be used in the West and the wood type gave way (mostly) to electrical and neon in the past 100 years or so. The end products have never been so fascinating – much of this information is new to me,

Keep Reading →

Part 3 History of Signs and Printing from Papyrus to Gutenberg

Barry K. Brown — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:11:39 +0000

The world is full of signs and printing in the 21st century. Even in “3rd World” countries, there are lots of this telling you where to go shopping, what to buy, and telling you when you get there. And while most of us may give passing thought about them, that’s probably the extent of your thought on the subject.

Recapping the previous two articles on this history series, we’ve now covered what signage and print pressing were used for and the standard media that displays were made of – wood – up through electrical and neon in the past 100 years or so,

Keep Reading →

Part 2 of the History of Sign Makers and Sign Making

Barry K. Brown — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:46:35 +0000

In this second article on this history series, we’ll cover everything from the 17th and 18th centuries until the present, and my hope is that you’ll have a great handle, whether you wanted a handle on it or not, all about the signage making and the producers.

Hi again…as I said last time, if you look around, or drive around, when you live in any industrialized country on earth, your locale is full of signposts. Most of us simply accept that a sign maker made all of them, but that’s pretty much the extent of anyone’s thought on the subject.

Keep Reading →

Part One of the History of Sign Makers

Barry K. Brown — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:38:05 +0000

I’m going to give you a brief history so you’ll know, whether you wanted to know or not, all about signs, printing and the makers.

When you look around, or drive around, if you live in most industrialized countries on the planet, your world is full of signs. If you’re like most people, you simply accept that they are made by sign makers, but you don’t give it much thought; you pretty much just take them for granted, at least until you get lost!

Possible Story of the First Prehistoric Sign Making

In the Stone Age,

Keep Reading →

How the Sign and the Printing Industry Improved Each Other

Barry K. Brown — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:04:24 +0000

In this final article on the history of signs and printing, I’ll show how the two came to be combined in such a way as to make the two categories as one. Flexography, offset printing, and lithography have all been magically combined into a new category (although the old categories have not completely disappeared) called digital imprinting.

Well, I thought I would be done with this series last time on signs and printing, and I did actually get into the late 20th century, but I didn’t really get to where they and makers crossed paths.

Keep Reading →

History of Printing: Lithography, Offset Printing and Flexographic

Barry K. Brown — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:59:50 +0000

In this installment of the history of signs and printing, I’ll talk about history of printing system in human civilization with the vast improvements from the mid-1800’s until late in the 20th century. And where the two trades intersected to create a significant change for many sign makers.

To recap the previous three articles on this particular topic, we’ve talked about how signage came to be used in the West and the wood display gave way (mostly) to electrical and neon in the past 100 years or so. This history has never been so fascinating –

Keep Reading →

The History of Printing from Gutenberg to Bullock 1863

Barry K. Brown — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 04:16:26 +0000

The world is full of signage displays in the 21st century. Even in “3rd World” countries, there are lots of signs telling you where to go or marking stores or advertising. And while most of us may give passing thought to sign makers and printing, that’s probably the extent of your thought on the subject.

Recapping the previous two articles on the brief history of signs, we’ve now covered what they were used for and the standard media (wood) ones were made of up through electrical and neon in the past 100 years or so, hopefully this is somewhat interesting –

Keep Reading →

The History of Electrical Signs: Neon, LED, and Internally Illuminated

Barry K. Brown — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 02:40:00 +0000

In this second article on the brief history of signage, we’ve now covered everything up until the 18th century until the present, and my hope is that you’ll have a great handle, whether you wanted a handle on it or not, all about sign making.

Hi again…as I said last time, if you look around, or drive around, when you live in any industrialized country on earth, your locale is full of signposts. Most of us simply accept that sign makers are all about signs and printing and that’s the extent of your thought on the subject.

From Neon and Internally Illuminated Signs to Full Color LED Displays

18th to 19th Century

As I stated in the final part of the of the last article,

Keep Reading →