LEARN SIGN DESIGN
by Matt Charboneau
Charboneau Signs - 1985
About this old newspaper clipping:
In 1987, only 2 years after hitting the streets as a sign painter, I took a leap of faith and volunteered my talents by painting two CSU logo's onto a washer and dryer pair that had been donated to CSU's athletic department. The pair was raffled off as part of CSU's annual fund-raising campaign.
"Let's do this inside of Sears"...
I suggested it might help bring more attention to the auction if I painted the logos right there, inside of Sears at the Foothills Fashion Mall in Fort Collins, Colorado. Of course, the Newspaper showed up, and it gave both CSU's auction, and my capabilities a beneficial boost in awareness.
It was an awesome feel-good pay-it-forward opportunity and a profitable auction item for CSU!
continued from home page
With a brand new baby girl to provide for, this seemingly crazy move to walk away from the insurance industry left me with few options but to succeed. It was definitely not a hit with members of my family, and my father-in-law thought I had completely lost my mind!
I mean, really... this was a huge demand that I could not say no to. God told me to become a sign painter and not knowing what else to do, I did what I was told and began to teach myself how to design, apply for permits, prep, paint and install the hand-lettered signs I created, as well as providing amazingly memorable vehicle graphics and other marketing graphics.
I had no choice but to learn how all of it was done as training for the sign industry simply did not exist.
The designing of logos and graphics for the restaurant and service industries were door openers for getting on the bid list for those larger sign projects... and I got real busy really fast. The God-given gift that I was now nurturing was doing it's job and bringing me lots of business.
Soon, I graduated away from the stresses and deadlines of the retail sign market and focused on providing wholesale design services for other electric sign shops in different cities and states around the U.S.
Over the years, my solution-provider approach to sign design elevated me to the status of providing design and fabrication consulting. I was soon providing creative electric sign and standards packets for larger, more challenging design projects.
Then in 2017 I started to shift my focus from consulting to helping other designers expand their sign designer skill sets, and the training platform of LEARN SIGN DESIGN.com
was born.
In 2022 I was commissioned by Graphics Pro Expo to develop and present two 90-minute live training seminars which were presented at six different regional trade shows.
Those reviews reflected a 98% positive and feedback score with lots of great compliments from those in attendance.
And in the spring of 2023 I was asked to develop a live, technical training session for the designers who belong to this nation's largest sign franchise organization. That agreement is on-going - and I am fortunate enough to present live 4-hour classes on a weekly basis.