Published October 2004

Russell Sign Co.:
Lynnwood company’s handiwork
evident on businesses, in school gyms

Photo courtesy of Russell Sign Co. Colorful, creative signs like this one for Olive’s Gourmet restaurant in Edmonds are a specialty for Doug Russell’s 12-year-old sign company that expanded in a move from Perrinville to Lynnwood three years ago. The firm has doubled its business over the past five years, Russell said.

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

Russell Sign Co. has come a long way since it moved from its Perrinville offices three years ago to a new location in Lynnwood, expanding its markets, staff and sign specialties for businesses.

“We’re even more involved in custom jobs, working off customers’ designs or logos, doing more for them than just rectangular signs. Often, they know they need a sign but they’re not sure what kind, so they come to us to create a unique one for their particular business,” said owner Doug Russell.

Customers not only like his creativity but also the variety of materials he uses to build his signs, from wood and vinyl to aluminum with a bronze laminate, copper etched and painted to look like granite, high-density urethane foam, acrylic and other materials.

Most of the work is done in the firm’s shop by a staff that has expertise in a variety of artistic and construction fields, assisted by modern computer programs that create many of today’s color graphics and custom designs.

A former Seattle Art Institute graduate, Russell began his business in his parents’ home, doing custom airbrush work on Harleys and four-wheeled vehicles. Formed in 1992 as N.W. Airbrush & Sign in Shoreline, Russell’s business grew into larger quarters near Edmonds in 1994, changing its name to Russell Sign Co. a few years later and moving to its present location in Lynnwood in 2001.

Last March, Russell grew the business again when he bought J.E. Sign Design, a fixture in Edmonds for 30 years, moving the company’s assets and customers to his Lynnwood facility.

“One of that firm’s big activities was ‘sport boards’ for high school gyms, showing off the school’s championships in football, basketball, wrestling, golf, tennis or softball,” he said. “We have more than 50 schools all over the state, and we need to keep them updated each year. We also have a few in Oregon and Idaho and want to expand more in those areas.”

Russell employs six at the Lynnwood site, including Scott Simmones, hired recently as production manager to coordinate all of the firm’s work for clients such as Cycle Barn, Windermere Real Estate, Tully’s Coffee — one of Russell’s major accounts — and the new Lynnwood visitor information and tourism center in Heritage Park near I-5.

He gets a lot of referrals from other sign shops, and his Web site provides a lot of exposure, he said, attracting customers as diverse as a museum in Chicago to an insurance company. Most of his work is local, however.

“We add customers by doing things our clients and other sign companies don’t want to do, such as getting permits as well as building the sign and installing it. A lot of signs these days require permitting,” said Russell, who recently added a boom truck to his business. “It not only reaches up to 35 feet but also — because our sign is on it — gets us a lot of exposure everywhere it goes.”

More than 200 of his clients’ vehicles carry corporate signage designed by Russell, creating a growing fleet that must be maintained from year to year, providing another busy arena for Russell.

“Over the last five years we’ve more than doubled our sales,” Russell said. “My plan is to build to around 10 employees, to keep it manageable. We like challenging, different projects. That’s our niche.”

Back to the top/October 2004 Main Menu