You can now buy a SIGNED book at Park Road Books and Paper Skyscraper in Charlotte, NC and at 2nd & Charles in Matthews, NC!
Support local businesses and my book buy buying a signed copy from Park Road Books and Paper Skyscraper in Charlotte, NC or 2nd & Charles in Matthews, NC. Use the hashtag #signshavemuchtosay if you see it in the store!
BEHIND THE SIGNS PODCAST
Hosted by: Joe Arenella - Sign Builder Illustrated
Unlock your client’s story with experiential graphic design! In the latest “Behind the Signs” video podcast, provided by your friends at Sign-Tracker.com, host and Sign Builder Illustrated Contributor Joe Arenella talks with Lauren Stern, the face behind Studio 618.
Lauren shares her story and her approach to sign design. She is also the author of the children’s book Signs Have Much To Say!
Helping your clients tell their story is at the heart of experiential graphic design. It will lead to better client relationships, happier clients and more sales.
Learn more about the topic of experiential graphic design in this latest episode of “Behind the Signs”.
To check out the podcast and article written by Jeff Wooten, click here.
Ep. 52 – Signs Have Much to Say Graphics Pro Podcast
Hosted by: Regan Dickinson, Edited by Erin Gaddie - Graphics Pro Magazine
Meet artist, experiential graphic designer, and children’s book author Lauren Stern. Stern shares her journey from being downsized during the pandemic to opening her own successful studio almost two years ago. Find out how she overcame adversity, the keys to starting her studio, her approach to experiential graphic design, and more.
To check out the podcast, click here.
North Carolina Sign & Graphic Designer Releases Children’s Book
Lauren Stern of Studio 618 recently published “Signs Have Much to Say,” a children's book demonstrating why signage and wayfinding matter
Written by: Marie Fennema, Digital Content Editor - Graphics Pro Magazine
Lauren Stern, owner and principal consultant of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Studio 618, recently released a children’s book all about signage and wayfinding, titled “Signs Have Much to Say.”
Within the book, children learn why signage and wayfinding matter. The story follows Lauren and her furry friend, Dewey, as signs help them find their way around town. Their fun-filled adventure will take them to the zoo, hospital, school, and more.
The book is targeted at early readers (3 years and up) and is filled with full-color illustrations to keep children engaged. At the beginning of “Signs Have Much to Say,” the characters, Lauren and Dewey, don’t know anything about signage and wayfinding but learn to appreciate its importance.
Inspiration and publishing process
According to Stern, she was inspired to write the book from her past decade of work as an experiential graphic designer in the signage and wayfinding industry.
“Since I am really passionate about signage and wayfinding, I tried to find children’s books on this field to read to my niece and nephew but wasn’t able to find any, so I decided to write one myself,” explains Stern. “After reading ‘Signs Have Much to Say,’ I hope children, as well as their parents, come away with an appreciation of signage and wayfinding. I also hope that this book inspires young children to become experiential graphic designers in the future.”
However, book publishing comes with a decent price tag. Stern made the decision to self-publish her book with the help of members of the design community for sponsorships to supplement some of the costs.
She tells GRAPHICS PRO, “I ended up getting 21 companies within the design industry to be involved with this book. They are throughout the U.S., and one is in Canada. They are featured in different ways throughout the book. The top-tier sponsor, SouthWood Corporation, has a two-page spread about the company. The top two tiers have their logos artfully and intentionally placed within scenes. All three tiers have their name and website featured in the back of the book and on the book’s website.”
To check out the original article, click here.
Signs of the Times Interview: New Children’s Book About Signs Released
“Signs Have Much to Say” by signshop owner Lauren Stern offers children a new subject to explore
Written by: Chase Martin, Editorial Intern - Signs of the Times
Children now have a new opportunity to appreciate and understand the work of the sign industry. Written by owner of Studio 618 (Charlotte, NC), Lauren Stern and illustrated by James Bevelander, Signs Have Much to Say is a new children’s book that demonstrates the importance of signage and wayfinding.
Based on the book’s author and her furry companion, this children’s book takes readers on a “fun-filled adventure” with aspiring artist Lauren and her best friend Dewey the dog, according to the book’s website.
First-time published author, Stern is no stranger to the sign world, working as the owner and principal consultant of Studio 618. She has worked as an experiential graphic designer that has designed wayfinding elements for small storefronts to facilities with millions of square feet. Since writing stories and poems as a little girl, her dream has finally come true as she combines her love of storytelling and the importance of signage into a children’s book.
“Signs Have Much to Say is a clever way to make young children aware of the signage all around them,” says Sheila Bender, as quoted from the book’s website. “She draws on her own childhood for an authentic, realistic view of a child’s life.”
The book’s production was met with a number of sponsors from the sign industry, whose contributions were highlighted by their appearances as billboards, flying blimps, fabrication cranes, and more included in the book. Stern will be promoting the book at this year’s International Sign Expo where she will share her inspirations and writing process, as well as how she recruited sponsors that allowed her to self-publish her first book.
To check out the original article, click here.
SEGD Interview: “Signs Have Much to Say,” a children’s book about signage and wayfinding
Written by: Liz Grizwold, Special Projects Director - SEGD
In elementary school, Lauren Stern’s love for books blossomed. For several years, she and her classmates were coached through writing and illustration projects, resulting in hard-bound books for each student to enjoy. This process eventually became the seed of a big idea for Lauren. Her first book, “Signs Have Much to Say” is scheduled for publication in early 2023.
Throughout her schooling, Lauren explored her passion for storytelling and creativity, choosing to study Interior Design at Appalachian State and then Exhibition Design at the Corcoran College of Art + Design (now called, “the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design"). Through her course work, Lauren explored visual storytelling and Experiential Design. After graduation, Lauren’s professional career expanded across fabrication shops to experiential design, wayfinding and signage design firms.
Lauren’s passion for storytelling came full circle in the summer of 2021 while visiting her niece. Lauren spent time reading books to her niece that introduced coding and architecture to young children, but nothing represented Lauren’s design field. An idea was born to combine her passion for storytelling and experience design by writing a book about the importance of signage and wayfinding. Signs are everywhere and as her book is titled, ‘Signs Have Much to Say,’ from regulatory signs to information displays and identifiers, the world is filled with signs and visual communications.
This passion project pulled at her heart strings for almost a year. In summer 2022, Lauren decided to act on the idea, and with easy access to self-publishing through online resources, this book could become a reality without securing a publishing house. She leveraged her professional connection to a talented illustrator, whose styles and creative processes aligned with Lauren’s. Located half-way across the world in Australia, James Bevelander is working with Lauren to create these visual interpretations.
Lauren started with an idea that evolved into a creative storyline. The story follows a little girl named Lauren and her dog (a parallel to the real life Lauren and her furry best friend and co-worker Dewey). Lauren and Dewey go on a fun adventure and use signage and wayfinding to help them navigate the world around them and from their experience interacting with examples of signage and wayfinding at the zoo, hospital, school, and more, they learn to appreciate the importance of this field. The rhyming storyline offers a playful tempo for the reader.
Always a creative problem solver, Lauren is developing curated sponsorship opportunities to help fund the illustration and publishing fees. There are three sponsorship tiers that each come with their own special benefits and for two of the tiers, Lauren and James collaborate with the industry sponsors to integrate logos and themes directly into the illustrations. This book is a fun way to teach children the importance of signage and wayfinding and is a way to promote the sponsors involved as it will highlight them on the book's website and in the back of the book. The sponsorship list could come in handy; you never know who might read this book to their child and need assistance on a project. A proud supporter of this effort, SEGD is currently working with Lauren to integrate our legacy of excellence and community of vanguards who represent the pinnacle of experience design for the built environment for 50+ years. As Lauren states on her book’s website, “we are all one big multidisciplinary family, so let’s show it in this book.” Lauren has garnered sponsors within the EGD industry from all over the country and Canada! If you are interested in being a part of this special book, please visit her book's website to sign up. The sponsorship window closes on December 31, 2022.
“Signs Have Much to Say” is scheduled for publication in early 2023. The next time a child asks “what do you do,” or “what is wayfinding,” Lauren’s book could be the spark that inspires a future wayfinding and signage expert.
To check out the original article, click here.
Architecture Anonymous Episode 04
Hosted by: Alex Jeongco, Design Director - Caffeine & Inkwells
Lauren Stern is self-publishing a children’s book on signage and wayfinding. We discuss her passion for story telling and how she collaborated with illustrator James Bevelander to create this cute narrative about Lauren and her dog Dewey discovering a world of signs. Lauren is also the owner and principal consultant of Studio 618 in Charlotte, NC. In this episode she shared how she came up with the idea of writing a children's book and how she decided to start her own studio.
To learn more, please visit this link.
SEGD Feature: Lauren Stern Writes Children's Book about Signage and Wayfinding
Written by: SEGD
Storytelling is a big part of my life; whether it is at my day job as an Experiential Graphic Designer or pursuing one of my other passions such always wanting to create a children's book.
I took those two passions and blended both together and am really excited to announce that I have written a children's book about the importance of signage and wayfinding called, "Signs Have Much to Say"! It combines my love for environmental graphics and storytelling all into one! The character design and children's book illustration work is being done by the talented James Bevelander. The drawings done so far are quite cute!
Follow Lauren and her furry friend Dewey on their fun adventure learning all about the importance of signage and wayfinding!
In this cute story, Lauren and Dewey explore various examples of signage and wayfinding while at the zoo, hospital, school, park, airport, hotel, and much, much more!
This book has been in the works for almost a year. It started out as a spark of an idea during the summer of 2021 and grew from there. We cannot wait to share it with you all and hope you enjoy it as much as we have creating it!
To check out the original feature, click here.