Spelling out the positivity: Graphics company creates, distributes signs of hope amid COVID-19 fears

At a time when anxiety and fear might creep in as the COVID-19 or coronavirus developments continue, it’s sometimes difficult to see the positives that still remain.

But one local company is, quite literally, spelling it out for residents to remind them “we are united.”

Creative Graphic Services, located on Centre Pointe Parkway, has created and distributed more than 250 signs and stickers of encouragement across the Santa Clarita Valley at high-profile intersections, schools and hospitals.

One large sign, for example, in big, bold letters and bright colors, reads, “Thank you healthcare workers!” and is located just outside the SCV Medical Plaza.

Other signs read: “Don’t lose faith in humanity,” “We stand together,” “Stay safe SCV” and “A community united.”

The idea came just days prior to the statewide order for residents to stay at home and for businesses to temporarily shut down in an effort to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, said Creative Graphic Services Vice President Jim Niner, who added that the company made the decision to voluntarily

reduce its operations and later close on March 20 “with the health of our staff in mind.”

“Our primary goal was, on a day that we all were heading our separate directions with zero knowledge when we would be together again, to leave the community with the positive messages many have seen,” said Niner.

The signs would be created by five staff members tasked with designing material that promotes “unity, hope, encouragement, thanks to our health-care workers and grocery workers, and just to put a smile on faces in our community,” he said.

Much like several other businesses in and around the SCV, Creative Graphic Services was forced to place “a significant number” of its staff on furlough,

“with future employment decisions pending the duration of the crisis,” said Niner. About 90% of business in its Santa Clarita and Jersey City, New Jersey, offices “has temporarily been lost.”

In the midst of it all, however, their goal of spreading a message continues, even if it’s to bring “one single person a more positive outlook on their day or their situation,” said Niner, who grew up in the SCV and has children who work in the local school and medical fields.

Dan Watson/The Signal A sign encouraging Santa Clarita residents to “Stay Safe SCV” amid the COVID-19 pandemic, by Creative Graphic Service, can be seen on Golden Valley Road.

Dan Watson/The Signal Signs designed to encourage Santa Clarita residents during the COVID-19 outbreak, created by Creative Graphic Services, can be found throughout town, including the one above on Railroad Avenue at Lyons Avenue in Newhall and below on Golden Valley Road.