Sign Painting Paper Signs for Grocery Stores with John Downer

John Downer taught a day of lettering paper signs, which were an important part of the overall "outer look" of grocery stores and supermarkets. Students honed their letterforms through a hands-on process of practice, personal critique and expert guidance from John Downer, who covered layout techniques commonly used for this specialty type of signage.
The video footage seen here was live-streamed to Facebook.
Although John has been perfecting grocery store banners for weekly specials since 1969, he has not formally taught this craft in a workshop format. We were honored to help John bring this craft to the classroom, and was the first to participate.
The class was be held in the Sign Graphics department at the Los Angeles Trade Tech College. The Sign Graphics program at LATTC is the last remaining trade school in the country with a full blown hand lettering program, as featured in the Sign Painters documentary film. A large portion of ticket sales went towards supporting the Sign Graphics program.
About John Downer
John Downer is an illustrious American journeyman sign painter, typeface designer and logo designer. Downer began his career as a sign painter in the late 1960s. His work was featured amongst that of others in the 2014 documentary film Sign Painters. His typefaces have been published by Bitstream, Font Bureau, Emigre, House Industries, and Design Lab. Downer studied at Washington State University and the University of Iowa. His work was featured in the Sign Painters documentary, New York Times Sunday Magazine and more.
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