Sign maker
Also called signwriter, sign writer, sign installer
Sign makers design and develop signs for a variety of uses such as flyers, traffic signs, billboards and business signs. They use different materials and techniques and if necessary they install the sign on site. Furthermore they also perform maintenance and repairs.
What you'd do
Sign writers, decorative painters, engravers and etchers · ILO- Painting decorative freehand designs on objects, such as pottery, glass, cigarette cases, lampshades
- Transferring from paper transfers decorative or ornamental designs on articles
- Integrating and developing visual elements, such as line, space, mass, colour, and perspective, in order to produce desired effects such as the illustration of ideas, emotions or moods
- Laying out and painting in one or more languages letters, figures, monograms and designs to make signs
- Sketching or tracing design or lettering onto work piece or pattern material to prepare pattern or stencil
- Designing pattern or lettering to paint work pieces such as signs, glassware, pottery or zinc plates
- Using software and routing equipment to produce three-dimensional Carved images for application onto larger signage as well as engraved and inlaid signs
- Designing and producing normal flat cut lettering, or lettering that is shadowed with applied vinyl or lettering that is ready cut for application
- Writing, painting or printing signs or show cards used for display or other purposes
- Cutting out letters and signs for display purposes from wallboard or cardboard, by hand or machines such as electrically powered jigsaw or bandsaw
- Examining sketches, diagrams, samples, blueprints, or photographs to decide how designs are to be etched, cut or engraved onto work pieces
- Measuring and computing dimensions of lettering, designs, or patterns to be engraved
- Engraving and printing patterns, ornamental designs, etchings, trademarks, figures or lettering onto flat or curved surfaces of a wide variety of metal, glass, plastic, or ceramic items
- Etching decorative designs, calibration markings and other figures on glass articles
Develop design plansDesign packagePlan new packaging designsConduct research on trends in designDevelop design ideas cooperatively+ 8 more essential skills
What the work is like
- Mostly outdoors
- A mix of sitting and standing
- Lots of contact with people, including the public
- Some freedom to decide
- Usually 40 hours a week
- Deadlines most weeks
- Some repetitive tasks
US data: based on the O*NET profile of the US job "Highway Maintenance Workers"
Will there be jobs?
Limited prospectsFewer jobs than in most work will need filling by 2035.
Solid: measured. Dashed: forecast.
204,000 replacing leavers
126,000 jobs disappear
Jobs to fill per 100 people working now
Right now
4 of 27 countries report a shortage of sign writers, decorative painters, engravers and etchers, 4 a surplus.
Sign writers, decorative painters, engravers and etchers · EURESWhat does it pay?
About averagePay depends a lot on the country: from about €1,100 a month (Bulgaria) to €4,900 (Denmark), before tax.
Pick a country at the top of the page to see typical pay there, for people under 30, and compared with all jobs.
Among craft and related trades workers in the EU, women earn 26% less per hour than men. Craft and related trades workers · Eurostat
What do I need to study?
Upper secondary or vocationalUpper secondary or vocational training is the usual route.
Highest qualification of handicraft and printing workers (EU, 2025)
Degree 17%Vocational 48%General secondary 11%Basic schooling 24%
Pick a country at the top of the page to see where to study and the official course finders.
Will AI change it?
Very littleAI could help with only small parts of the tasks.
How exposed is this job? ILO scale
Very low
Low
Some tasks
Moderate
Significant
High
Average task score 0.18 on a scale from 0 (AI can't do it) to 1 (AI could do it fully).
See the score for each of the 14 tasks
Integrating and developing visual elements, such as line, space, mass, colour, and perspective, in order to produce desired effects such as the illustration of ideas, emotions or moods0.47
Designing pattern or lettering to paint work pieces such as signs, glassware, pottery or zinc plates0.21
Laying out and painting in one or more languages letters, figures, monograms and designs to make signs0.19
Writing, painting or printing signs or show cards used for display or other purposes0.19
Designing and producing normal flat cut lettering, or lettering that is shadowed with applied vinyl or lettering that is ready cut for application0.18
Etching decorative designs, calibration markings and other figures on glass articles0.17
Using software and routing equipment to produce three-dimensional Carved images for application onto larger signage as well as engraved and inlaid signs0.16
Examining sketches, diagrams, samples, blueprints, or photographs to decide how designs are to be etched, cut or engraved onto work pieces0.16
Measuring and computing dimensions of lettering, designs, or patterns to be engraved0.15
Sketching or tracing design or lettering onto work piece or pattern material to prepare pattern or stencil0.15
Engraving and printing patterns, ornamental designs, etchings, trademarks, figures or lettering onto flat or curved surfaces of a wide variety of metal, glass, plastic, or ceramic items0.14
Painting decorative freehand designs on objects, such as pottery, glass, cigarette cases, lampshades0.14
Transferring from paper transfers decorative or ornamental designs on articles0.14
Cutting out letters and signs for display purposes from wallboard or cardboard, by hand or machines such as electrically powered jigsaw or bandsaw0.12
Based on what AI could technically do when assessed in 2025. It is not a forecast for a future year, and not a forecast of job losses. Scores for sign writers, decorative painters, engravers and etchers. Source: ILO (2025), adapted (credits).