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(December 2008) posted on Sun Dec 28, 2008

Thriving in a small town on Route 66 suits multi-faceted Diaz Sign Art.

By Steve Aust

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In honor of November’s presidential election, ST is profiling a signshop from the state represented by the victorious candidate. Given President-elect Barack Obama’s (D-IL) victory, we’ve selected Diaz Sign Art to represent the Land of Lincoln.

Life in contemporary, small-town America can be tough. Most factories and mills that once functioned as the lifeblood of such communities have shuttered their facilities or mandated major cutbacks in staffing or worker salaries and benefits. And, although the Information Age theoretically connects everyone from coast to coast, large urban centers possess the greatest technological amenities and 21st-century economic opportunities that attract Gen-Xers and younger.

However, U.S. socioeconomic trends don’t worry the Diaz family – father Bill, wife Jane and sons Ben and Joe – that’s operated Pontiac, IL’s Diaz Sign Art for more than 30 years. Although Pontiac isn’t immune to tough times, the Diazes have adapted their business to changing times. They’ve expanded their coverage area, played several roles in promoting their community’s image and legacy, and are branching out their business to accommodate new technological demands. However, the foundation of the family business, vehicle graphics, remains prominent to its bottom line.

Good timing

Bill says the family entered the sign business somewhat by accident. “I’d earned my master of fine arts degree, and was looking to become a teacher,” he said. “While waiting for positions to open, I worked for a builder designing homes and painting and decorating their interiors. I decided I liked this, and, around this time [in the late ’70s], our local signmaker closed his shop and moved to Arizona. People knew I had an artistic background and began calling on me to make signs, and pinstripe and decorate vehicles.”

Bill decided he enjoyed making signs and, by the early ’80s, devoted his shop solely to fabricating MDO and painted-metal signage, and vehicle graphics. In Diaz Sign Art’s early days, the shop primarily fabricated handpainted signage and pinstripes and graphics commercial trucks and semi trailers. Since, Diaz Sign Art has abandoned MDO for such reliable substrates as HDU, Nudo Products’ AlumaCorr® and other, composite-material panels. Sandblasting and glue-chipping are among the shop’s varied fabrication techniques.