When the Principal at my son’s high school found out I was a graphic designer, he asked if I could help brighten up the campus over the summer with some signs to help new (and even current!) students find their way around the campus’ maze of near-identical cinder block buildings.

Principal Bill and I scouted out the best places to put signs, then I mocked up a system of big block letters with long drop shadows that would be easy to paint and see from a distance. We included the solid color behind the type so that when the walls are repainted, they won’t have to paint between the letters.

To prepare, I measured the available spaces, and designed the letters and signs to fit on a grid where one inch = one foot.

Bill assembled a crew of student leadership members and art students, bought paint, and scheduled us for an afternoon weekend.

We started with the large letters, drawing on the wall using a measuring tape and chalk lines.

I showed the kids how to roll out the large areas…

… then brush the corners and details.

For the more complicated signs, we painted yellow first, then covered the areas we wanted to keep yellow with painter’s tape.

They rolled blue on top, and once it dried, pulled the tape off to reveal the yellow underneath.

Lastly, they painted the nearby display boxes to match.

Working in the physical world was a fun change of pace, but challenging! The bumpy stucco walls were difficult to paint sharp edges on. And of course there’s no Undo command.

But the results turned out pretty cool!