{"id":20925,"date":"2025-03-31T21:51:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T21:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nzsda.org.nz\/?p=20925"},"modified":"2025-09-23T03:09:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T03:09:30","slug":"lg-creative-setting-the-standard-in-signwriting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nzsda.org.nz\/index.php\/2025\/03\/31\/lg-creative-setting-the-standard-in-signwriting\/","title":{"rendered":"Member Spotlight: LG Creative Setting the Standard in Signwriting"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Member Spotlight: LG Creative Setting the Standard in Signwriting<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Leon Guerin from LG Creative has made his mark in the industry as one of the first two sign makers in New Zealand to achieve the prestigious Master Sign Maker accreditation under the NZSDA\u2019s new certification process, alongside the legendary Jeremy Hunt from Big Brown Industries in Auckland.<\/p>

As a second-generation sign maker, Leon was introduced to the industry at an early age, quite literally growing up inside it, with his family\u2019s sign shop operating within his childhood home. After experimenting with other industries, Leon was drawn back to sign writing, describing the creative variety of work the \u201ccooler option.\u201d From hand-painting shop windows to making 3D objects for TV commercials, every day was unique and engaging.<\/p>

Leon\u2019s career really took off when he headed overseas to run sign companies in Melbourne and London. \u201cThe sign shops there were just so organised. When I had 15 staff to manage, it seemed so easy as we all knew what we were doing so long as I kept good communication between each department.\u201d Leon also thanks Andy Lowe from Imagecreators for helping him progress in the industry, saying, \u201cAndy helped me understand the nuance of how great design is crafted, but also the story you have to sell to the client during the process.\u201d<\/p>

After gaining all the ideas and techniques he needed, Leon returned to New Zealand and started a sign shop of his very own. His vision was \u201cto create a sign company that was known for quality and pride of work, but also to educate the public to show what true \u2018good\u2019 signage and design could do to enhance a client branding.\u201d But this undertaking was not without its difficulties as he began his business with zero cliental, no established reputation and no premises. \u201cI had to follow up on leads and not give clients any excuse to look elsewhere once I had done work for them. It was about getting my name out there until I started to get referrals from referrals. People would say \u2018I like what you did for my opposition, can you design something better me.\u2019 I knew I was starting to get some traction and from there it\u2019s been all about growth without compromising on the values & ethics that originally got us new clients.\u201d<\/p>

Leon says that investing in high quality equipment has been one of the most critical aspects in the development of LG Creative. \u201cThat means the equipment is time efficient, reliable, and easy to maintain.\u201d He also speaks to the importance of outsourcing work when required, so he can focus on areas where his strengths lie. Aligning with the NZSDA has also played a role in his growth and development, enabling him to grow his network and learn from some of the most talented Sign Makers in the country. Leon is grateful to the NZSDA for providing opportunities for him to connect with other sign writers on a personal level. \u201cHearing their stories and finding no matter how \u2018big\u2019 we are we all have the same wins and losses.\u201d<\/p>

Now, Leon has reached a peak in his career, achieving the title of Master of his Trade; a true mark of quality and craftsmanship. \u201cPersonally, I\u2019m so stoked to have that level of accreditation, but professionally I think it\u2019s a great way to stand out from your opposition. I really brought into the new application process and like how going forward you can\u2019t just rest once you are accredited, you\u2019ve still got to strive to be better and engage with the NZSDA every year to keep your accreditation, that\u2019s where the real value is to me.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Leon Guerin, LG Creative<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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When asked what advice he would give to others seeking the accreditation Leon said, \u201cKeep a good photo record of all your projects as you\u2019ll find filling out certain sections much easier. Read up on what is required and if you don\u2019t have them yet, try and find projects where you can tick that box in the future.\u201d<\/p>

Leon is now looking to the future of the industry and the innovations to come, namely AI and the impact that might have on sign making. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a fantastic tool to those who embrace it in our industry, rather than ignore it. The more you learn or try now, the easier it will be for you to implement in the future. For myself, the future will always be in the sign industry. Hopefully training the next generation of sign writers or designers.\u201d<\/p>

For those curious about the NZSDA and the Master Sign Maker Accreditation, you can visit our website nzsda.org.nz<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leon Guerin from LG Creative has made his mark in the industry as one of the first two signwriters in New Zealand to achieve the prestigious Master Sign Maker accreditation under the NZSDA\u2019s new certification process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sign-shop-exposed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzsda.org.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzsda.org.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzsda.org.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzsda.org.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzsda.org.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20925"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/nzsda.org.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20981,"href":"https:\/\/nzsda.org.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20925\/revisions\/20981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzsda.org.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzsda.org.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzsda.org.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzsda.org.nz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}