(Irving, Texas)  Jeff Youngblood and Cory Merchant, co-owners of the FASTSIGNS^® sign and graphics center in Irving, made good on their commitment to give back to the community.

After purchasing the FASTSIGNS center in 2005, Youngblood and Merchant challenged their staff to select a local business/organization to receive a free signage makeover. After extensive visits and drive-bys to charitable groups across the area, it was decided that the Irving-based DFW Humane Society’s Pet Adoption Center was a prime candidate for such a project.

FASTSIGNS of Irving staff donated their time, labor and resources for the entire process. This donation, valued at over $5,000, included pre-makeover meetings, the design process, manufacturing the signs and installation of the 20+ signs at the shelter on Sept. 30, 2007. “This project gave our staff a fantastic team building moment,” said Youngblood. “We all joined together to do something good for our community.” 

In initial meetings with the staff at the Humane Society, the FASTSIGNS team learned that the shelter’s existing signs were so old no one on the Humane Society’s staff could recall how long they had been installed. Several were rotted and falling apart and were deemed eyesores for the surrounding businesses. The makeover process included meeting with the management of the shelter to review several key issues that both parties felt were important to accomplish, and determining the best methods and steps to achieve those goals. Key issues identified which would be corrected with the makeover were:

• Replacing the current deteriorating exterior signage
  
• Promoting the main purpose of the shelter
  
• Creating new interior signage
  
• Updating the look of the shelter’s logo
   

Replacing the worn out signage
This was addressed by replacing or resurfacing the exterior signs. A total of four signs were replaced on the exterior of the shelter.Promoting the shelter
The exterior signage has one main purpose, to identify to passers-by that this building is home to an organization that adopts pets. Keeping this in mind, the focus of the exterior signs was to advertise the “Pet Adoption Center” and place less emphasis on the actual name of the organization.

Another important fact identified was that the shelter operates on the weekend to be more accessible to prospective pet lovers. That issue drove the decision to include the normal operating days on the large exterior signs.

New interior signs
Because the shelter has a limited operating budget, the staff typically creates and posts “copy paper signs” around the interior of the facility. FASTSIGNS designed and installed new signs for the center including warning, informational and directional signage.

Updating the logo
The shelter had used their logo for decades and there was a significant equity in the logo and brand identification. Both parties felt it was best to keep some of the logo’s existing elements but to incorporate them into a new updated design. Ultimately, a revised, more modern version of the shelter’s logo was created and approved.

“We are so grateful to FASTSIGNS for providing our shelter new signs. They certainly bring a lot of class to this old building,” said Sarah Kammerer with the DFW Humane Society. “There is no doubt that the public will now know exactly what our purpose is in the community. We thank Jeff, Cory and the whole crew at FASTSIGNS for their time and effort in this project.”

Youngblood sums up the fulfilling work by saying, “As the business owners, Cory and I are pleased to be in a position that we can give something back and we're very proud of the effort our staff put toward this project.”Jeff Youngblood and Cory Merchant’s FASTSIGNS center serves the Irving/Las Colinas area. It is located at 4070 N Belt Line Rd., Suite 114, and can be reached by phone at 972-255-2022, fax at 972-570-3111. 

FASTSIGNS^® sign and graphics centers use innovation and technology to make the sign buying process simple by offering consulting, design, production, file transfer, delivery and installation for a full range of custom sign and graphic products.