Subway Art

I absolutely have loved this $650 Subway sign wall art from Resto (as my best friends' mom refers to it) shout out to Rosie

However, I do not have $650 lying? laying? lounging around. So, I had to figure out how to get this for myself on a smaller budget. I actually did a design project for our church this Christmas, and used this idea to promo an upcoming sermon series.

Well, then I needed to have them for my new house. Instead of using street names, ie New York City, etc, I decided to use tons of inside jokes, our old addresses, our kids' b'days, etc.

Here's a pic of how they turned out. I know you won't get the humor (and it IS funny), but just go with it.

My great graphics friend, Ariseli, was able to do this. Here's her little blurb about how she did it:

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Back in December Lauren come up to me and asked for help with creating subway signs for our church’s outreach event. She showed me a sample and I said "Sure I can help with that fun project. Just send me text and I’ll get right to it." It was a pretty simple project using Adobe Indesign.

Lauren was very pleased with the end product that she asked me if I could help her with her personal subway signs to displayed in her new home. I already had a template to work with so it was a quick project that I could do for her in no time.

So this past week she sent me an email to inform me of her cool new blog. She asked if I could help her with a quick blurb on how to create these cool looking subway signs. Piece of cake if you have Adobe Indesign, a graphic design program. But I got to thinking, what if you don’t have Adobe Indesign at home? So I decided I would create a subway sign using Microsoft Publisher. I know, I know…this not your ideal graphic design program but for someone who does a little design here and there, without having to spend a pretty penny on Adobe products, this works. Mac users maybe use iWork programs?

Here are simple steps, using Microsoft Publisher.

1. Create a document 24 in x 36 in
2. In the master view set your margins or guides to 4.5 inches all sides
3. Create a black box w=15 in x h= 27 in, same size as your margin
4. Exit master view
5. Create another box outline only, no color fill, and set the line to a white color. This is a temporary guide that will help in placing your text. The size is w=14 in x h=26. Set weight at .75
6. Select the outline and on the toolbar click on Arrange/Align or Distribute. Select align center then align middle. This should center your temporary outline.
7. Insert WordArt and type whatever you like. Make sure to use a nice fat font and make the text white. Good fonts to use are Ariel, Helvetica or a nice block font.
8. Keep the text within your temporary guide (outline) and extend the handles to the edge. Tip: with the text selected, right click to format WordArt if needed.
9. Space your text evenly and delete your white outline guide when you are done placing all your information.

I hope I’m clear with these steps. If you have any question please feel free to contact me here

So, there you have it! I was able to get these frames at CostPlus for only $30/pc. And done! Try it yourself!!