A recommendation, a phone call, an interesting brief and four months to ponder my next move!
The studio phone rang one Friday afternoon back in November (2021), a lovely lady called Helen from a Parish Council in the North East of England introduced herself from the other end of the line. She went on to explain that she had been given my name by a local recylced furniture company who were manufacturing a lectern for the parish and wondered if she could request a quotation from me to create a graphic for the aforementioned lectern?
Helen, then began to explain what the parish council required...
We are looking to replicate an Honours board.
The Board was made shortly after the end of the First World War to honour all the men and women of the village who served during the war, and was initially displayed on a tree outside the local community hall (known as the Reading Room). However, over time it deteriorated with the exposure to the elements, and eventually was brought inside, and now hangs in the Reading Room. There have been a couple of attempts to renovate it with limited success. Also, it is only accessible to the general public by specific arrangement. The Parish Council would like the names of those who served to be publicly commemorated and therefore wish to incorporate a suitable plaque into a garden area on the village green which is proposed to be planted next year. Hence - they are considering the lectern purchase...
You will see on the photograph (below) that the Honours Board is a triptych, comprising a central panel with a gold cross and the names from 1914 displayed, and a panel on each side displaying the remaining names from 1915-1918 with a triangular heading above.
Ignoring both the large backboard, and the rectangular shelf below the centre panel, they would like to reproduce all the names on the triptych in some suitable medium which is going to be durable, in a design which is sensitive to the design of the original. Helen continued, 'I appreciate it is short notice, but it would be really helpful if you could let me have this in time for the Council Meeting on Tuesday, if at all possible. As I mentioned earlier, the Council would not be in a position to place an order until after 1st April (2022).'
I submitted my quote. (November 2nd)
February 17th.
I received an email from Geoffrey...
We’re sorry to have been so long in acknowledging your quote to Helen...
I’m pleased to say that finance for the proposed project is now in place. The project is now fully scoped, and I anticipate that at its meeting on 1 March the Parish Council will authorise the necessary orders with you, manufacturing's running about a 6 week lead time, and therefore we are working towards being on site somewhere around Easter.
Five months in, one more parish council meeting and we might just be all systems go!
The go ahead quickly followed the morning after the meeting - as expected.
After ironing out an issue on the hand-painted original - they had discovered that one name on the original board had been misspelled in error – only coming to light now as a result of some genealogical research by a family member, although the original board was made about 90 years ago! The correct information was verified and I was off.
First layout and grid off for approval (proof v1)
First up, I made a start on the general layout with a basic framework showing initial timbers (which would be tonally addressed at a future visit) to make sure I was on the same page as everyone in the reading room (geddit) and also the members of the parish council.
A prompt reply and a 'thumbs up' from Geoffrey and his fellow members.
Shadows, highlights and some sample text (proof v2)
Highlights and lowlights followed - then some shadows and additional texturing before addressing the type.
The highlights weren't a problem - but I was realising that there was a lot more text than the original with more information that had come to light over the years since the original was created. Time for another parish council meeting I think... proof number two dispatched for discussion with an additional gold text option.
Afternoon Geoffrey, I'm after your opinion regarding the text before getting too far in…
The descriptive text was much larger than the original version, point size and legibility had become a little bit of an issue. With black text on wood - clarity was a problem, even when the background was lightened, so with the addition of a halo effect to lift the text but I was hoping that it would appear more authentic - more legible. The other option was to go with the text in gold with a blurred shadow underneath. I hit send and awaited a response from the councillors and Reading Room members.
And also Lighter or Darker?
A week passed by before my mailbox lit up again with a response from the ever efficient Geoffrey... apologetic as ever!
Sorry for delay – I had to consult with the Reading Room as well and they didn’t meet till last night. General feeling is that from an aesthetic point of view we should go for the gold lettering on the lighter background.
Happy with their correspondence I was off and running again.
Apart from a couple of little issues, a five point star morphed into a four point star after a close inspection of the original - a regiment and medal alteration or two and that was that. The remainder of the process was straight forward and passed through the studio at a pleasant pace.
The completed job was ready to send off for approval to print.
Geoffrey swiftly replied on behalf of his members...
Many thanks for this. It’s all looking good! Yes – please proceed!
Finally the job was approved on April 22nd 2022, we didn't make Easter but jobs with large groups seeking approval just take a little bit longer, it had been a pleasure - Geoffrey (and Helen) were lovely clients, very professional and easy to work with.
The approved panel was uploaded and off to print production, directly printed onto a 3mm aluminium composite panel with an anti-graffiti over-laminate and supplied in to the third party for manufacturing.
Our invoice was submitted and before I could blink I had a 'cheque' (I know, but its a parish council) sitting on my desk just 'two' days later.
After an issue with the manufacturers and a false start it was returned to their factory for some tweaks...
A few weeks passed by and I received this email:
'Good afternoon Pete, I’m pleased to report that the lectern was returned to us with the necessary modifications and re-erected on site about ten days ago – and it now looks as it was always intended to look and will surely stand the test of time!'
The good news is that comment over the last week or so has been very positive – and you’ll be pleased to know people have been admiring your art-work.
'So all appears to be in order now – and thanks again for your part in the project. We hope to proceed with planting of the shrubs in the next week or so. Meanwhile I attach a photo for your interest.'
A nice way to conclude a lovely project and remember those who fought for us in the 14-18.
Thank you Geoffrey!
#warheroes #firstworldwar #forgodkingandcountry #thereadingroom #honoursboard #design #artwork #pjrcreative
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