Introducing ICONsign on youtube.com!

Well I have finally uploaded our first series of "How To" videos taken here at the shop. The plan is not to give away our "trade secrets" but to be a helpful source for people who are wanting to learn more about different printing and sign processes. I decided to start with a handful of canvas wraps we had to complete for one of our healthcare customers. Chance, our go-to employee for stretching canvas, was more than happy to walk us through each step of the process. Check out our new YouTube channel for the Canvas Wrap Part 1-4!

ProCare Restoration is growing!

We are excited for our friends at ProCare Restoration who are really growing their business. They started with lettering the first vehicle earlier this year and have now added a couple more to the fleet. We recently completed their third truck as well as some window graphics at the new location at 44th and Broadmoor. Congratulations, guys!

Wall mural for the man cave

With football season approaching, you may be doing some serious game day party planning. If your man cave or media room is going to be used primarily for football game viewing, you might consider adding more than just HD and surround sound.
A high resolution image is all you need to create an amazing conversation starter like the easy remove vinyl wall mural pictured above. A 144 DPI full size photo is ideal for a print that large, but is tough to achieve unless you have access to expensive equipment. Since most people can't supply a photo that large, there are stock photo websites such as istockphoto, or shutterstock where you can purchase a royalty-free high resolution photo which is ideal for a print of this size. Personal photos or images found on a google search are generally small and would be barely visible up close after being blown up that large. If you have a photo of a decent resolution, we can always do a test print of a section of the mural at full size to see if it would work for your space. Email jenny@iconsigncompany.com if you would like to learn more about wall murals.

Art Prize A-Frames

There was a bit of excitement around here as the A-Frames for Art Prize were delivered today. We are looking forward to putting together the signage for this event...and we have to do it fast because September is right around the corner.



Meet Chris Mikrut, Jake Mikrut, Sam Waite, Jim Mikrut, and Jake Koelewyn. Don't they look proud?

Stay tuned for more cool Art Prize signage that we are working on.

Canvas Printing

Over the past couple of years we are finding ourselves printing more and more canvas art or photos for our customers. There are various websites out there that you can order a canvas print either stretched around the frame or simply rolled to allow you to finish as you see fit. ICON offers both of these services at similar to lower prices. Our local customers love this because they don't have to pay for shipping. We typically will use our Aqueos printer for these projects because it puts out a rich, color saturated print that is archival quality and will not fade. We can do any custom size up to a 36" wide by any size length. All we need is a high resolution photograph and we can do the rest.

And we thought summer was going to be slow

Typically July slows down a bit for us but thanks to two very large (and very cool) projects, we are running full speed into fall. A couple of weeks ago we got news that we won the bid for Art Prize signage (yeah, Art Prize). If you are not familiar with how big this is, check out the ArtPrize official website to learn more about the event. If you went last year you probably saw the orange logo everywhere around downtown....I can tell you this year will not disappoint. I can't wait to post some pictures of us in action! Right now things are pretty hush hush so there is more to come on that topic.
The other project keeping us busy is the movie 30 Minutes or Less that is being filmed here in Grand Rapids this summer/fall. Ben Stiller is producing and Aziz Ansuri and Danny McBride will star in the film. I can't wait to see this movie and point out some of the work we did for them. They filmed at Vito's Pizza on the West Side and needed new menu boards. We also printed some signage for one of the movie's locations "Major Tan" which was filmed at Mirage Tanning on Plainfield. Just this morning I saw them shooting at my fave hole in the wall restaurant Taco Boy! They are keeping us busy with a lot of fun little projects that I will share with you soon. This one has to stay on the down low as well so as soon as I get permission I will post some pics.
-Jenny

Welcome to Icon Sign

Thanks for visiting our new blog! We hope you will follow our company through some exciting times that we thought were worth documenting. The goal is to let you in on the fun we have here at "the shop" as well as give you a little sign education along the way. We are learning new things about the industry every day, and we want to share them with our current and prospective customers. Happy reading!
-Jenny