Creation Process

The Creative Process

At least once a month, I field questions about the Corporate Logo/Sign creative process. My friend Ross and I decided to document the creation of the sign for Wattenbarger Architects, the premiere Senior's Housing firm in the Northwest (and some say nationally!). The design criteria were simple: 1) High Quality Materials, 2) Hidden joinery and mounting, 3) Metal Only, 4) Multidimensional, and 5) True to the new Corporate Design....and it needs to be done in less than two weeks due to an open house!

The Wattenbarger Design Team developed the new logo, the design criteria and approximate size needed for the office. Now to make it real...The design was converted to digital format and the letters cut from 6061 aluminum by my friends at DaVinci's Workshop (www.davincis.org) as the material was too thick for the Steelhead Fabrications plasma to cut well. The stainless cross members were cut to size and milled to fit tightly together after practicing in soft aluminum to get it right.

The Architect and the unemployed Chemist (at the time) at work trying to decide on the proper fit and finish of the pieces. Ross is using a new electronic German tool for finishing the Aluminum letters...pretty cool, but not what we were looking for. I guess the old fashioned way is better sometimes. (Editorial comment from John: I didn't notice it at the time, but the amount of white and gray hair really throws off the balance of the photo. Funny, we never used to have that problem!). We finished the Aluminum by hand and the Stainless with nonwoven abrasive discs.

The fitting process took much longer than planned (almost 5 hours more than we had hoped), but the sign is built to last for a long time and without any visible sign of support. The cross members were MIG welded together after careful cutting with carbide tools and fitting using special abrasive discs designed for rapid stainless stock removal without overheating (and coloring) the material. Threaded studs were welded onto the cross members for structural integrity and to anchor the heavy aluminum letters to the stainless. Additionally, studs were welded onto the "back" side of the stainless cross members to allow the sign to be mounted into the sheetrock. Once everything was in place, studs and individual letters were coated with high tensile strength clear epoxy and clamped for 24 hours...a tense time, as you are never quite sure how it will come out and the only thing to do at this point if an error is found is to start over. In the end, everything came out great...with almost 24 hours to spare!

In between helping with this project, Ross had to finish the wall in "eggplant", run some new lighting, and prepare for a tremendous open house. I work with many technical and artistic folk from all over the United States, but have run into few with Ross Jones's skill, attention to detail and grace under pressure. This project showed me just how fortunate I am to have such wonderful and talented clients...and friends.

www.wattenbarger.com

Last Updated: October 01, 2007