The sign industry today — jobs, customers and future
Where do sign technicians work, and what does the future bring?
Signs are everywhere: shop facades, company vehicles, trade shows, directions, window displays and large building banners. Behind them all stands a sign technician. This makes the profession broad — and it gives you several types of workplaces to choose from when you're trained.
§Where do you work?
- 01Smaller, specialised sign and advertising companies
- 02Advertising agencies and graphic companies with their own production
- 03Decoration and assembly departments in larger firms
- 04Companies in the metal and plastic industry that make signs and items
- 05Own business if you want to be self-employed.
§What do customers demand?
Companies need to market themselves and a sharp professional appearance on facade and vehicle is part of it. Car wrapping and full wrapping of company cars has become a large market and the same applies to facade signs with lighting window films and fitting out of shops and trade fair stands. There is also ongoing need for maintenance replacement and rebranding when companies change logo or move.
§Technology shifts the profession
The sign trade has become highly digital. Large-format printers, CAD/CAM-controlled cutting machines and advanced design software means that today you are both a graphic designer and a craftsperson. That development continues: better print, new materials and more automation in production. It demands that you keep your digital skills up to date — but it also makes the work more creative and precise.
§Demand and the future
Sign technician is a small, specialized profession with relatively few newly trained people each year. This means that skilled craftspeople are often sought after because there aren't many around. As long as companies need to be visible — and they do — there's a need for someone who can design and build the signs. The combination of creativity, technology and craftsmanship makes the profession difficult to fully automate.
“Every time a company wants to be seen, there's a need for a signage technician.”