Sign designer has special connection to letter K
Graphic artist Gary Millband created the images on Corner Brook’s new sign
CORNER BROOK — Gary Millband has designed a lot of signs, but there’s something different about his latest project.
“We’ve never done anything like this before. We’ve never done like a story kind of thing,” said Millband, the graphic designer with Speedpro Signs who created the images depicted on the new Corner Brook sign.
Millband usually works on designing vehicle wraps, mostly for commercial businesses, so to work on something more tourism-based was interesting.
“It was a nice refreshing change for me,” he said.
Orginally from Preston in Lancashire, England, Millband completed a standard degree in art and design after high school and then went on to do animation and film before specializing in graphic design.
He worked in the sign industry and at carpentry in England before coming to Corner Brook 20 years ago after he married a local woman, Penny (Kennedy) Millband.
“Jobs in graphic design aren’t easy to get. There’s a lot of people who want to do it and there’s not a lot of jobs going around,” he said.
So, when he first came to Newfoundland he worked at carpentry.
The job with Speedpro came up about 10 years ago.
“And I thought it was the perfect opportunity to jump back into doing what I primarily wanted to do,” he said.
Each project he works on is individual, depending on what the client is looking for.
In this case, Glenda Simms, the city’s tourism co-ordinator, came to him with what she had in mind and the theme she wanted it to take.
“To basically tell the story of Corner Brook, past and present,” said Millband.
They discussed what could be done, “and came up with a list of things that were iconic to Corner Brook and the surrounding area, the things that identify with the local area,” Millband said.
“What we were really trying to achieve is for when people come and visit the town, they can look at the letters and they’ve got a visual history past and present of the town.”
Millband then set about finding photographs that would fit with that, including a picuture of a Capt. James Cook statue and another of a recreation of Cook’s ship, the HMS
Endeavor. An image of a caribou came from a picture taken at the Newfoundland and Labrador memorial at Beaumont Hamel.
And then there’s the image of Craig Kennedy on the letter K, an image that has a special significance for Millband.
Kennedy, who died in October 2018, was Millband’s brother-in-law.
Kennedy was captain of the Corner Brook Royals when the team won the Herder Cup in 1986, and the image on the sign is from a family photograph taken right after the win.
“And in the original photograph right between his legs is the Herder Cup,” said
Millband. Knowing Kennedy, Millband said, he probably would have considered it foolishness.
“Craig wasn’t about being in the limelight. He was more of a man to be in the background and trying to get things done.”
Given Kennedy’s history with the city — he was also a city employee for 36 years and was the supervisor of public works at the time of his death — Millband thought having him on the sign was fitting, and it’s something his family is happy with.
“It’s nice to see him there.” Once the images were selected, Millband said, they didn’t want to just put photographs on the sign.
“We wanted to have more of a graphic element to it.”
So, he took the photographs and created graphic images from them.
Millband said the process was a learning experience.
“I learned some history that I didn’t know.”
He is enjoying the positive reaction the sign has been getting.
“You take a bit of pride in it.” Simms is also quite happy with the results and reaction.
She said sometimes when you have a vision in your mind it’s hard to sell that to other people, and she is glad she was able to do that with the city.
The city could have gone with a plain sign, but anyone who knows Simms knows that wouldn’t work for her.
She said a lot of places that use a plain sign put them by or near some focal point, like a fountain or a museum.
“My goal was to help to bring people to the downtown core. Some people would come to see the plain sign, but I really like to focus on the fact that we can kind of tell stories a lot here, whether we’re young or old or in between.”
To get a feel for those stories, she talked to people of different ages, including members of her family, asking what they would like people to know about and what would they like to tell others about their home.
“Because that makes it really genuine when you’re trying to create. It brings a personal touch to it,” Simms said.
“I want people to come here and shop, but I also want people to come here and relate and feel like they’re at home.”