Sign Factory appeals to the kid in all of us that sees a traffic sign and thinks, "It would be funny if it said..." It can even transcend to become a portable sign layout and illustration tool for the iPhone.
As a printer of large-format signs, I just had to see for myself how this iPhone application works and if the results are suitable for printing.
How it Works
Yes, it works. The interface could use some refinement. But after a few signs, a user can get the hang of it pretty quickly. The app builds sign artwork in layers and has an optional auto-center feature. Choose to begin by editing an existing sign, copying it as a template or starting with a new sign. Any element displayed can become a graphic or text. All buttons display graphics instead of text descriptions so it helps to read instructions displayed with the info icon.
Until you master at least four things, Sign Factory may be frustrating.
- Edit objects by first selecting them in the layers palette.
- To create text, highlight a graphic or add a new layer before pressing the text button. As you type, the graphic will change to text. By default all text is uppercase.
- Each object can be assigned a stroke and fill color. Stoke width can be controlled with a slider. To the right of the slider is a button that toggles between stroke and fill.
- Multiple objects can be grouped. However, they must be ungrouped to edit their colors.
Duplicating objects, reordering layers and aligning elements are more advanced features to read about in the instructions.
Quality of the Prints
To back up signs or share with friends, a proprietary format can be emailed from within the application. (GUI could use a bit more work here.) You can print your signs on a desktop printer. Essentially, the application takes a screenshot that shows up in the camera roll. The JPEG images exhibit some artifacts and some rounded corners don't quite line up. For high quality results, the images can be used as a background template in Adobe Illustrator.
For the first release, Sign Factory exceeds expectations and is fun to use. It's a great sign prototyping tool that won't put Adobe out of business any time soon. If you create a a great sign idea within Sign Factory and would like to have it made into a large poster, Reactive Imaging can convert the JPEG to vector art with Adobe Illustrator for high resolution printing.