John Taylor established taylormadesigns back in August 1992. Having studied graphic design at RMIT for three years he wanted to be more hands on and decided to undertake a sign apprenticeship at Landells Signs in North Melbourne. He eventually moved on to Luke Signage and quickly assumed the position of Production Manager. Luke Signage was more focussed on the creative, design driven aspect of signage with clients like the Princess, Comedy and Regent Theatres and Village Cinemas way back when they used to hand sketch and paint their billboards. But he still itched to do his own thing and so from humble beginnings at the back of screen printing premises, taylormadesigns grew legs.

growth

Business grew and so did his crew. Having shifted into bigger and better premises a few times he has maintained facilities in the South Yarra – Prahran locale. With the National Gallery of Victoria being a long standing client of his, the position has provided easy access.

Most client work is generated this side of the inner city. Always thinking up new ideas, but never the time to implement them the business is now set up to go alone. He still oversees operation for taylormade but his focus has now gone 360 degrees back to his design roots and the ability to focus on product creation to suit the market he knows so well.

team

The team at taylormadesigns is made up of past and new associations. Dean Young (’’dinosaurus’’ – one of the original original 16 year old apprentices who has clocked up 36 years of experience in the trade). John did his apprenticeship under Dean at Landells Signs.

Dean is account manager for the National Gallery and is our most senior and experienced team leader. He has now been with taylormadesigns for 10 years. (Update – Dean Young retired in April 2008).

Rik Price, who did his apprenticeship under John at Luke Signage, is our Production Manager. Trent Haverkamp, who also studied graphic design and photography, has been with us for several years and is our Print Manager and takes care of all aspects of digital and inkjet printing – quality, output and maintenance of machinery.

Jon Young, Dean’s son recently finished his sign trade apprenticeship and Trent Caulfield who is in his third year of a four year apprenticeship. It is a pretty incestuous crew but we like to work with who we know, enjoy and can trust. A recent addition to the apprentice team is Clayton Roddy.

specialising in

• Signage
• Fascia
• Window Graphics
• External Building ID
• Totem
• Environmental Graphics
• Internal Signage
• Pull Ups
• Wall Decals
• Point of Sale (custom)