Smart business owners know the value of well-designed signs. They capture the customer's attention, provide the first impression and communicate the type of business. Sign Gallery 7 offers a wide ...
David Hassan produces quality dimensional signage
By Steve Aust
When he decided he wasn’t happy with his collegiate career, David Hassan faced a life/career crossroads. Rather than persevering in an unwanted major or taking an unsatisfying job, Hassan risked setting out his own shingle and started a sign business.
Through 37 years of playing his trade, Hassan has moved into several different workspaces within his hometown of Cohasset, MA, and embraced the technological and material changes necessary to remain competitive in today’s market. Also, although a lack of available tutelage forced him to resort to trial and error to further his skills, Hassan graciously offers his time to teach up-and-coming signmakers to perfect their craft.
From sigma to signage
In 1970, as a sophomore at Bridgewater State College, Hassan, then a math major, decided calculus wouldn’t serve as an ideal medium for him – thus, he followed a different tangent. One year later, he left school and opened his own shop. Hassan’s beginnings were humble – he and a cabinetmaker friend rented a run-down garage from a retired police officer.
“He looked at us like we were crazy,” he said. “We told him we’d fix it up and rent it for $50 a month. There was no heat; we had to bring in a wood stove to get through the winter. It was a rugged way to make a living, but I guess people were more used to it back then.”
Because he needed a band saw to form a block of wood to create a sculpture, Hassan approached Mr. Plante, his former industrial-design teacher, about using the school’s shop tools. Plante agreed, but asked Hassan to make a sign for him in exchange. Having no signmaking experience, he purchased a Speedball handlettering book to take a crash course. His high-school, wood-shop teacher, Plant proved a willing guinea pig for his first sign – “I carved his name by mimicking the Olde English font used on the Boston Globe’s header, and a houseplant to represent his last name.”
He cites several heroes who’ve inspired his career: “Mike Stevens vocalized the nebulous and made signmaking a scientific, straightforward process. Also, I’ve always admired the work of Noel Weber, David Butler and Gary Anderson, among others, and I’m proud to be part of this industry.”
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