He has some exposure to signage as part of a studio project last summer that analyzed a three-mile commercial corridor with its array of signs, both conforming and non-conforming, utility poles, parking lot cut-ins, etc. But here is an opportunity for him to turn theory into practice. What do you show him? What does he actually do for six weeks?

 

These were the questions that faced Duane Laska, president of North Shore Sign in Libertyville, Ill., this spring when Cody Meyer, a student in the School of Planning at the University of Cincinnati, arrived to begin a “co-op” internship at North Shore. I visited Duane and Cody just as the “teacher” and student finished their weeks of instruction.

 

 

 

 

UC PLANNING BACKGROUND

First, let’s set the stage. Readers of my Sign Law & Policy column will no doubt recall my recounting the excellent work done last summer at a “studio” project by UC planning students under the tutelage of planning professor Menelaos Triantafillou. The project reviewed hundreds of permanent on-premise signs in a commercial corridor in Anderson Township just outside Cincinnati city limits.

 

While the bulk of North Shore work is electrical, here Cody is beginning the reconditioning of a wood sign for a law office.

One student in the studio knew that corridor better than anyone, Anderson Township native Cody Meyer. UC is known for its creation of the “co-op” program, and its planning school touts that it is the only school of its kind in the U.S. with classroom instruction combined with periodic professional experience.* 

 

The goal of a UC co-op slot is to integrate theory with experience in an environment aligned with the planning profession. It’s a given that city planners grapple with signs in the “built environment” routinely, and often make recommendations under the twin and hostile circumstances of code and community. For Cody, a total immersion into a full-service sign company won school approval for a well-targeted co-op experience.

 

VALUABLE EXPOSURE

In late April, Cody arrived at North Shore. His internship had been carefully thought out earlier in the year by board members of the Signage Foundation, Inc., including Duane Laska. 

 

Teaching any young person or newcomer the sign business can be daunting. In today’s reality, the sign business combines a huge variety of skills and knowhow in one setting: sales and marketing, management, engineering, design, electronics, fabrication, installation, service, finance, legal, etc. One day the sign company owner is facing a variance, the next day he’s telling a customer that his daughter’s ill-crafted logo won’t look right up in lights.

 

Cody’s time at North Shore involved a great deal of hands-on work, here learning basic letter assembly.

To this challenge, I believe Duane Laska achieved a superior result. Cody Meyer, after six weeks of training at North Shore, may not be ready to run a sign company, but he now has gained valuable insights and personal exposure to the inner workings of a company exactly like those that members of his profession regulate every single day. That’s more real-world experience than any other planning student in the United States.

 

Consider Cody’s co-op regimen: he got to see how a sign company is managed and administered, including estimating, scheduling and billing. He worked with Art Solis, the veteran design director at North Shore, to understand “selling by design” and how particular materials and manufacturing processes get specified for different jobs. Cody went out on sales calls and saw the entire sales process from initial contact to securing permits.

 

HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE

The hands-on aspects can be seen in the photographs accompanying this story. But I suspect Cody emerged from his time at North Shore now able to dazzle friends and family with the intricacies of when to use neon vs. LED in channel letters, why acrylic sheet is used for much of letter fabrication while polycarbonate is used more for formed faces, etc. 

 

Art Solis, North Shore design director, with Cody as initial sign design and specifications are detailed.

In particular, Cody, having been up in the sky helping on a service call at the downtown Chicago Marriott, never again will see a sign guy up in a bucket truck and not think to himself, “That’s a tough job.” 

 

The final component of his internship is fairly unique to the custom electric sign company—installing signs manufactured by another company, national in scope and more concentrated in its manufacturing. Here, Cody dived into scheduling multiple installations of signs for the PNC Bank changeover program in greater Chicago. At a certain time on a certain day, the shrouded new signs were unveiled. Since not every installation was the same, managing the fleet of North Shore service trucks and personnel was tricky. 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

Some final thoughts. 

 

First, to Duane Laska: Well done! It took a seasoned and grounded sign professional to pull this off, and you were equal to the task. 

 

Second, to Cody Meyer: Congratu-
lations! You have an entry on your resume different than any other planning student. I hope you caught the sign “bug.” It’s incurable, and the sign business is wonderful most of the time. (Plus, you got to see your first Cubs game at Wrigley.)

 

Third, to the Signage Foundation and to the University of Cincinnati: Build on this. Every quarter (soon to be semester) at UC could place another planning student out on a signage co-op. Over time, we could see an entire cadre of planning graduates with detailed direct exposure to the sign business. Over time, those same graduates might meet us in a variance hearing or in a re-draft of a sign code. We could meet, then, less as adversaries and more as fellow and respected colleagues.

 

Main shop area at North Shore Sign.

Finally, to sign company owners reading this article: You could be next. The monetary costs are minimal but the investment of time and experience are critical. North Shore Sign is a long-time World Sign Associates (WSA) member. The UC co-op program is a perfect opportunity for other WSA members to explore as potential sponsors. 

 

UC co-op slots could flourish from San Diego to Albany and in Canada, too, but not just electric sign shops. Architectural and digital sign firms could also teach a future planner what goes into making and installing a sign, and why. We could become teachers, six weeks at a time.

 

Over a generation, from the ground up, we have the potential to build a better understanding of our profession among the professionals whom we most need to persuade to complete our business. Capitalism meets academia: this is a win for all.  

 

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Back in the Classroom

What it takes to become a professional planner

 

Cody Meyer recently spent six weeks of his academic career at the University of Cincinnati on a “co-op” assignment with North Shore Sign, an electric sign shop outside Chicago. For six weeks, he learned the sign business under the tutelage of Duane Laska.

 

But what does a planning student like Cody go through in class over four to five years to earn a degree in planning from UC? Planning Theory focuses on two places, what planners call the “built” and the “natural” environment. 

 

First, UC’s School of Planning is part of the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP, for short.) It offers both undergraduate and graduate programs in planning, with specialization in areas such as: economic development, environmental planning, historic preservation, housing and community development, international planning, land use and zoning, and urban design.

 

(Question for UC planning faculty: what would a Signage specialization look like? And would that not be completely distinctive among all planning schools around the world?)

 

A first-year planning student at UC might take courses in sociology, design graphic communication and introduction to urban planning. The second year, a student would go much deeper with courses in GIS applications, planning statistics, site analysis, land use controls and economics. 

 

In later years, planning students would begin specialized electives and studio projects, plus be ready for courses such as urban planning law, housing systems, mediation skills, and ethics. At the end of usually five years, a UC undergraduate degree in planning is awarded. 

 

And then, of course, reality sets in. With the economy still dismal, especially at the state and local government level, job openings for beginning planners are tight. A distinctive resume just might be the difference—one showing practical insights into the appropriate regulation of signage to the betterment of both community and business. All gained from what initially started with Cody Meyer and six weeks of co-op time at North Shore Sign.