Aspen, Signs of History • Stories & Scalawags

The history of sign making in Aspen, told by a working sign painter

Before Aspen became a global luxury brand, it was lettered by hand.

This is the story of sign making in Aspen - told from the street level, through nostalgia, by a working sign painter and artist who lived through the town's transformation and helped visually shape it along the way.

Blending graphic design history, commercial art, memoir, and regional storytelling, ASPEN - A History of Sorts documents how hand-painted signs, storefront lettering, advertisements, and visual craft once defined the identity of a mountain town long before digital polish replaced brush, quill, and enamel.

Through short stories, personal recollections, and visual history, this book captures a disappearing trade and the culture it served - where typography wasn't theoretical, design wasn't disposable, and every sign had a job to do.

Inside, you'll explore:

• The evolution of hand-painted signage in Aspen
• How sign painters and designers shaped the town's visual identity
• The relationship between commerce, craft, and place
• Stories behind businesses, buildings, and the signs that marked them
• Northern Canada chapter focused on the Yukon, where isolation, climate, and necessity shaped a parallel sign-painting tradition rooted in durability, ingenuity, and place

This is not an academic design text - it's a working history painted instead of digitally created, grounded in lived experience, visual problem-solving, and the realities of making a living with your hands and your eye.

For graphic designers, sign painters, typographers, historians, and anyone who cares about the soul of places shaped by craft, this book preserves a visual language that is rapidly disappearing.

Order your copy today and step into Aspen as it was painted - one sign at a time.