This high-contrast gem has me asking "why?" way too often. The sign maker was terrific at measuring but lacked any real knowledge of how letters are built.... especially if it has curves. The S's resemble wrenches. They are so bizarre that I don't know where to begin. If the sign maker would have just looked at a Steelers jersey and checked out how the numbers are built, they would have had little problem straight-edging out some quality S's. The rest of the problems arise when the painter had to fit all the letters into the same size spaces. The A's should not have been angled inward....they look sad and pitiful. The I and E look enormous surrounding the V. And the M.....that M!!!! The M is why I stopped the car at the Westfield Big M to take the picture (nothing to do with the Big M!). I guess the painter didn't want this letter to feel bad next to two O's that have angled corners. Those O's are designed perfectly. Also, maybe he/she couldn't go back and angle the bottom of the U once those O's looked so good. The M just looks like it had to be made with a few of the leftover pieces. Certain letters require more space. W's quite often are wider than M's.....WM....see! The painter counted out the letters, decided on a border width, and did the math. He measured himself into the proverbial corner!!!! Maybe instead of making the I's wide at the top and bottom, how about just a vertical rectangle?...Yikes!
The viewer is left remembering this sign but not for the intended reasons. It has this comic feel and I find myself wincing quite a bit. I can image the owner saying, "we fix cars, PAL!" "Get the heck outta my garage before..." You get the idea.
All in all, I give this sign maker a big thumbs up. I probably wouldn't hang it in my house (it's way too big), but I always give it a glance when heading through Westfield, Pa.
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