In this first of our series looking at regional town and city sign businesses, we visit David Marshall's Sign City Plus in the beautiful coastal town of Port Macquarie, NSW. David quit the 'big smoke' of Sydney ten years ago and has never looked back. His work is to be seen all over Port Macquarie and the Hastings area, brightening up streetscapes and businesses.
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| SignCity Plus is riding out the Covid era in Port Macquarie and the Hastings River region |
"All-round sign services" hardly begins to describe David and Elena Marshall's Port Macquarie, NSW sign business SignCity Plus. The very welcoming Marshall walked us through the vibrant streets of Port Macquarie where many examples of his business's work are on display. One, at the iconic Majestic Cinema combined print, neon, LED and TV monitor for a foyer sign system worthy of Hollywood.
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| David Marshall with his Majestic Cinema sign - print, LED and neon combo |
"We take great pleasure in creating the signage that makes people go 'Wow' - the signage they see every day which becomes part of their lives.” says Marshall, "When you do that, you have to be prepared to back creativity with outstanding quality. Any shortcomings will be noticed."
The five-person (including contractors) business was established in the 1980s as Clarinda Signs and rebranded by Marshall when he and his wife took over. His 20-year+ experience in big city marketing and PR obviously injected a drive and dynanism into the enterprise that has paid dividends.
The addition of an Epson Surecolour S50600 eco-solvent printer around five years ago was also a good move, coupled with Marshall's knowledge of colour management and profiling. "We have a fully colour-managed workflow and we make our own profiles," he says. Disenchanted with the support from major Rip suppliers, he searched the internet and found the Aurelon Print Factory Rip with advanced colour management. Purchased as a SaaS cloud licence, Aurelon together with SignCity Plus' deep colour management knowledge enables the Epson S50600 to produce colour that no one else in the area can match. Being a solvent printer with dual CMYK printhead carriages, the S50600 can burn the rubber at over 51 square metres per hour for general production signage if required. At draft speed it can hit a staggering 91 sqm/hr At slower speeds and more passes it can match or surpass quality from most printers thanks to its
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| Epson S50600 like Sign City Plus' |
1440 x 1440 dpi Epson micropiezo printheads. “The Epson has surpassed my expectations in every way. It’s fair to say that when this printer is replaced, it will probably be with another Epson,” says Marshall.
The Epson UltraChrome GS2 pigment-solvent inks are odour-free and require no extra fume extraction.
Sign City Plus also provides signage on rigid ACM, such as the stunning Port Macquarie Cruises terminal, also printed on the Epson SureColour S50600, laminated down and overlaminated for extra durability of over five years. Also in its wide offering range are dye-sublimated flags with all printing and finishing carried out in-house.
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| Port Macquarie, mid-north coast of NSW |
Port Macquarie, with a population over 48,000 and rising, is a very important city in Australia's history. Founded as a penal settlement in 1821, inhabitants finding it difficult to leave seems to be a continuing theme. The overall Port Macquarie-Hastings LGA now has around 84,000 residents, expected to exceed 100,000 in the next few years. Our first Prime Minister Edmund Barton was the Member for Hastings - Macleay at the time of Federation. There is a statue to his memory on the foreshore of the Hastings River. The climate is rated as the best in Australia, an attraction for both retirees and sea-changers.
Tourism is a vital industry for the area and naturally, this has been impacted bt Covid-19 but there is more depth to the areas' $6 billion economy with Healthcare, Education, Forestry and Agriculture being leading economic contributors. Sign City Plus has a footprint in all of these areas.
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| David Marshall at the entrance to Port Adventure Cruises' terminal - a SignCity Plus project |
