Why I Like Making Signs for Eastern Mennonite University
LONG PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP
It’s been going on for decades! Why I like making signs for Eastern Mennonite University, that is.
You see, back in the mid-90’s when I owned and operated Tree Street Signs, I did a few sign jobs for their Facilities Management Department. You know I can’t even remember the jobs from way back then, but at that point I was used as a pinch-hitter when they were having some issues with their usual sign supplier.
CENTRAL LOCATION FOR MANY SIGN SHOPS
Harrisonburg is in a great spot for any organization needing quality signs and service. For large projects and custom electric signs, Eddie Edwards Signs is right there in town. For quality trophies, plaques, banners, and just about any type of custom commercial signage, there’s Signs USA, where I worked on jobs for Eastern Mennonite once again in the mid to late 2000’s (…that’s always a weird decade to denote, the decade from 2000-2009, I hope I got that right!) At any rate, back then I did several custom wall lettering jobs. I remember designing and 
installing dimensional letters that commemorated a major donor, naming a new wing in his honor. Also, I remember lettering room names with dimensional wall letters after new construction.
COLLABORATING WITH MARKETING AND FACILITIES MANAGERS
Then, from 2011-2015 when I was an account executive with Holiday Signs of Chester, Virginia, I worked with the university again to design, manufacture and install an entire exterior wayfinding system after discussing their signage needs with their Director of Marketing. It was
at this point that I began to serve them with pole banners,large banners for their athletic fields and events, and yet more exterior directional type signs.
A CONTINUING BOND
After a year of being back in full-time business for myself with Augusta Signs I continued serving up custom signage for the school. Banners, site signs, wall signs, displays, office signs, window signs, light pole banners, dimensional letters, vehicle lettering. These are some of the types of sign projects I’ve been involved with.
My expertise in making signs for campus-type customers goes all the way back to my beginnings in the sign industry,when I worked as an intern at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center’s 44-acre campus in Maryland. After that I was a signpainter at Joint Base Andrews where I 
developed my skills in signs and customer service at a facilities management level. Eventually I made it back to the Bethesda Naval Hospital where I morphed into an engineering technician for many years. It was in this role that I developed my skills in signage design on a facilities management level.
I moved to Waynesboro, Virginia in 1988 and worked for two years as an intern architect in Charlottesville, further developing my skills in design. It was in April 1990 when I plunged full-time in the sign biz. At Tree Street Signs I was active in the design, manufacture, installation, and maintenance of many sign products for colleges as well as lower education facilities. I produced signs for BRCC, WWRC, EMU, and more public high schools, middle schools and elementary schools than I could even think of listing!
But to answer the question of why I like making signs for Eastern Mennonite University: because I enjoy making 
signs that fulfill the combined needs of facilities and marketing managers. Marketing people want their school brand to be recognized across the campus while facilities managers want people to be able to find their way around campus and also want them to be safe out there. I believe my signs help. And that’s why I enjoy making signs for Eastern Mennonite University. Many thanks to my college sign customers there and across Virginia!
Mark Hackley is owner of Augusta Sign Company located in Staunton, VA
Afton, Crozet, Massanutten, Middlebrook, Goshen, Clifton Forge, Mount Sydney, Mount Crawford, Dayton, Broadway, Timberville, New Market, Stanley, Luray, Front Royal, Woodstock, Mount Jackson, Edinburg, Strasburg, Stephens City, Kernstown, Winchester, Fairfield, Natural Bridge, Fincastle, Troutville, Buchanan, Vinton, Rocky Mount, Ferrum, to mention a few!
Churches, Medical Offices including Dental, Optical, and Veterinary, Professional Offices, Parks and Recreation, Public Works, Downtown Retailers, Specialty Shops, Hospitality, Private Farms and Residences, Industrial, Specialty Services, Schools, Libraries, and Museums.
area churches of all denominations and many times I will donate my time to install them if they are reasonably close to my shop in Staunton, Virginia. I make simple banners in my shop using pre-cut and hemmed rolled one-sided banner stock material, a white 13 oz. material that has a glossy sheen. I design the banner layouts on my computer design software and use a vinyl-cutting machine to cut the graphics that I later apply to the blank, white banner. The banners come with pre-spaced grommets that allow for hanging on poles with hooks or attaching to walls and other flat surfaces with screws and fender washers. For more detailed banners or ones with more than one or two colors, I send them off for digital printing. In my small shop, banners may take longer 
to complete than some of the other shops in my area. If people are in a big hurry, I usually suggest they contact “All Phase Graphics” in Staunton, or “Viking Forge Design” in Waynesboro. Both these shops have in-house digital printers and may produce banners faster than what I can do. If you plan ahead, it takes about 1-2 weeks to get a banner order out during normal production levels at my shop.
viewing distance and speed limit. Most letters are in the 3″-8″ range for the church marquees I have made, and the letters are typically black on a white background. A church situated on a high-traffic highway may be more inclined to invest in an electronic marquee which has many advantages over the manual marquee signs that I can produce in my shop. I recommend churches interested in electronic signs contact “Holiday Signs” in Chester, VA.
The church raised enough money to purchase a new sign and they had a friend lay the brick at its base. Money raised this way could also be used for a comprehensive marketing campaign for a church event or events.
It takes some planning to make and install a large free-standing sign in the ground and install it where everything is relatively level and plumb. 
tables, disassemble them, then assemble them again in the field when I know that everything will fit together nice and square. Most of the time the land in which the sign will be erected is not flat, so I have to take into consideration that either one hole will be deeper or one post will be longer to compensate for the difference. Once the holes are dug and the poles are hoisted in place, I attach my own clamping system, one of Augusta Sign Company’s ingenious intellectual properties, that keeps signposts plumb in both directions (forward-to-backward; and side-to-side).
Applying vinyl lettering and logos on interior walls is an easy and relatively inexpensive way to draw attention to your brand as customers enter your organization. A few weeks ago I was hired to do exactly that for a local Waynesboro, Virginia business expanding into Winchester.
This particular customer has had me incorporate their brand into their fleet of vehicles, their front door and also on their interior entry walls. The benefits of using the same sign company for all your sign branding include: a) colors and typestyles and proportions are consistent across the various places you post your branding signage; b) you have a good idea on upcoming costs when budgeting your sign marketing for new offices, or new vehicles; c) if a sign or letter gets damaged in the future for some reason, you have a source of the original design artwork used to cut your designs, saving a lot of time and potential cost in repairs and maintenance.