The Commercial Sign Shop

The commercial sign industry is made up of the vast majority of small signshops across the US and Canada. These are comprised of the signpainters, the woodcarvers, the pinstripers, the gilders, the calligraphers, et. al. In terms of numbers, this is the largest segment of the sign industry -- about 30,000 shops, according to some estimates. Of course, no one knows for certain, because the commercial sign industry is made up not only of a fair number of perfectly reliable and established enterprises, but also includes a number of people who work out of garages, or who hold other full-time jobs, or who don't advertise in the yellow pages, or who make more moves than Mayflower. At present, no reliable demographic information exists which truly tracks this segment of the industry (or defines exactly who belongs to it). To describe the commercial sign industry as "eclectic" would be to understate the adjective.

The Custom Electric On-Premise Industry

This part of the industry is a group of approximately 3000 to 4000 shops which design, manufacture and install several billion dollars worth of internally illuminated signs per year. The custom electric sign industry truly represents the establishment, and as such, is the best defined in terms of sales volume and demographic make-up. It is also the only on-premise sign industry represented by its own trade association: the National Electric Sign Assn.

The custom electric signshop's genesis dates back to the early 1900s. The introduction of neon in the late 1920s fueled its growth. Luminous tube signs were "custom" one-of-a-kind items in every sense of the word. For that matter, they still are. With the resurgence of neon in the 80s, the industry has continued to thrive.

Production Sign Companies

While custom electric sign companies prosper making individual signs for individual businesses, production or quantity sign companies supply the needs of America's franchises. Essentially a cartel of about a dozen major manufacturers, the production sign company does big business with bigger businesses. Included in this list is literally a Who's Who of Retail America: the oil and automotive companies, the food franchises, the hotel/motel chains, the convenience stores, etc. There are probably not too many towns in this country without a production sign or two. Obviously, the major cities are teeming with countless numbers of these production numbers. And their designs have become highly recognizable symbols along roadside America.

The Architectural Sign Industry

What defines this segment of the industry, and separates it from all the others, is its design function: an architectural sign is an integral part of the environment. Thus, an architectural sign company manufactures a product which both complements and compliments its immediate surroundings. An architectural sign company designs for a structured environment such as a corporate or institutional facility. This is as large a market as it is diverse, and it includes a passel of tenants: airports, zoos, hospitals, office buildings, stadiums, hotels, shopping centers, government buildings, etc. To design for it requires a specialized discipline that is preached and practiced by a group called the Society of Environmental Graphics Designers (SEGD). The several hundred core members of this association are primarily composed of design specifiers who sub-contract the actual fabrication to sign system manufacturers. These firms supply a market which could be described as somewhat of a hybrid of the quantity production and custom sign industries. Translated, that means an architectural sign manufacturer must often provide a large number of signs, but each with its own specific purpose.