neon sign design - Kate Widdows

NEON SIGNS

I'm not a tube-bender but I love to design neon signs.
More about how I can help you with your neon project is here.

A lit neon sign, designed with expressive blue script lettering, spelling out the word

Crybaby

Portland's Teardrop Lounge needed a neon piece for the interior wall of their newly annexed private event space called Crybaby. Teardrop celebrated it's 15th anniversary with the grand opening of the new space.

More images and background on the project here.

A pair of authors and their small dog sit on the porch of their house, holding a lit aquamarine blue neon sign that says

Page in a book featuring a photo of a pair of authors and their small dog sit on the porch of their house, holding a lit aquamarine blue neon sign that says

Thank You

"Thank You" neon lettering design for co-authors Dydia DeLyser and Paul Greenstein, used to light up the author photo on the “Acknowledgements” page of their book, Neon: A Light History.

Olympian

Portland's Kelly's Olympian needed shadow lettering and new tubes to match the style of the original "Butler" on this repurposed sign. A collaboration with Michael Mintz of Neon Gods, tube bending by Mike Heist at Neon Distributors.

More images and background on the project here.

A capital letter “Q” custom designed neon sign in turquoise with a unique, fanciful typographic design.

A&Q

“A” is for Audrey, and “Q” is for Quin, two sisters who got custom-designed neon signs for their birthdays, at the request of their Dad. Super fun project for “bedroom neon” designs, what a great gift idea! Bending by Peter Thanh Cao at Artico Lite here in Portland. "A" is made with Electric Blue tubing, made for standing mount; "Q" is in Turquoise tubing, made for wall mount.

Turn! Turn! Turn!

Scott, the owner of Turn! Turn! Turn! — a bar, music venue, and record shop in Portland, Oregon — asked me to design a neon sign for his window. Rather than use the existing logo he wanted something fresh. I designed this sign to be a tad fancy but not snooty, with a hint of classic beer label design (beer is Turn!'s specialty). A tight budget prevented us from using the word in triplicate, so my solution was to underline the word with 3 lines, and limit the sign to 3 colors. Tube-bending by the amazing Peter Thanh Cao at Artico Lite.

More images and background on the project here.

Tu es gentil

This sign is a personal art piece I created for my solo exhibition at Portland bar and music venue Turn! Turn! Turn! in 2014. "Tu es gentil" is a French phrase which translates to: you are kind (helpful), used to convey gratitude or sarcasm. This is custom-lettered neon, designed by me and crafted by master neon bender Peter Thanh Cao at Artico Lite. The Tu Es Gentil sign also appeared at Portland's inaugural Winter Light Festiva l in February 2016, along the Willamette River at OMSI.

More images and background on the sign here.