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NAIT Offers Canada’s Only Training Program for Sign Makers
By Kristen Vernon
A Graphic Sign Arts certificate from the Northern Alberta Institute Technology (NAIT) gave Shawn Dechaine the skills he needed to go straight to work at his first job in a commercial sign shop. “NAIT’s Graphic Sign Arts program taught me the essentials of sign design and layout,” said Dechaine, who graduated in 1994.
After graduating, Dechaine ran his own sign shop in northern Alberta for seven years. For the past four years, he has worked as a sign maker for Northlands, whose facilities include Rexall Place, the home of the Edmonton Oilers.
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NAIT’s eight-month certificate program – Canada’s only training program for sign makers – focuses on the graphic design and graphic production of signs.
“The sign industry is huge and diverse, and production methods vary from shop to shop. But the skills required to make signs that catch people’s attention – that doesn’t change. And that’s what we teach our students,” said Susan Ward-Cornish, Head of NAIT’s Graphic Sign Arts program. “When our students leave here, they can go straight to work in a commercial sign shop.”
NAIT’s Graphic Sign Arts program provides students with practical, hands-on experience that includes making signs for NAIT and non-profit organizations, as well as a two-week work placement.
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Students are trained in design and layout, and the effective and appropriate use of colour. They are also trained on computer-aided equipment, such as plotters, CNC routers and large-format digital printers.
Each year, NAIT accepts between 20 and 24 students into the Graphic Sign Arts program. The program largely attracts students from Alberta, but it also attracts applicants from across Canada and around the world.
Graduates can work anywhere in the world. “Signs are everywhere,” said Ward-Cornish, adding that one alumna is a sign maker in Australia.
There are at least two jobs for every graduate – and the jobs come in from across Canada, Ward-Cornish said.
In September, the Graphic Sign Arts program moved to a new home at NAIT Main Campus in Edmonton. The renovated building has two new computer labs, as well as overhead doors, which allow students to install signs on vehicles on site.
In addition to the full-time Graphic Sign Arts program, NAIT offers on-demand training in boom truck and crane operation across Canada and the United States for the Sign Association of Canada and the International Sign Association.
NAIT is one of the largest institutes of technology in Canada, providing education in business, advanced technologies and skilled trades to more than 67,500 students annually at eight campuses in Alberta. NAIT graduates are qualified to become skilled members of the workforce required to support today's global, knowledge-based economy.
For more information on NAIT’s Graphic Sign Arts program, visit www.nait.ca.
Kristen Vernon is in the Corporate Communications department at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
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