Case Study: Halsey Design
“When Kelley Create showed up, we were ready to roll.“
Jason Halsey, Owner, Halsey Design
How Kelley Create Helped Halsey Design Print Big and Breathe Easy
When your business is built on signs, you canât afford to misread them. Especially the ones that say âPrinter Offline.â
Meet Jason Halsey, founder and one-man powerhouse behind Halsey Design, a commercial signage company based in Bend, Oregon. Specializing in architectural signage for large-scale apartment complexes, Jasonâs work is less about walk-ins and more about walk-throughs. His projects often span years, not days. âWe donât deal with the general public,â Jason says. âWe work with general contractors on big builds. One job can take two years from bid to install.â
That kind of timeline demands precision, reliability, and a printer that doesnât tap out when the going gets busy. For a while, Jason relied on a smaller Mutoh printer. It did the job — until it didnât. âIt just couldnât keep up with the volume,â he recalls. Worse, the company he bought it from was on the East Coast, and their support was⌠letâs say, time-zoned out. âIf the one guy who could help was on vacation, I was out of luck. That burned me bad once. I had to outsource a job because I couldnât get help for a week.â Enter Kelley Create.
After reaching out to Mutoh directly, Jason was referred to Kelley Create and connected with Craig Stegall. âCraigâs the real deal,â Jason says. From the first call, Craig made it clear this wasnât going to be another faceless transaction. He invited Jason to see the larger Mutoh printer in action at Icon 3D in Portland. âI wasnât going to drop that kind of money without seeing it run,â Jason says. âCraig made it happen.â
From there, the Kelley Create experience only got better. Craig helped Jason prep his space, ensuring the new printer had a clean, dust-free home. âI built out a whole new room in the warehouse before it even arrived,â Jason says. âWhen Kelley Create technician, Brandon Bussard, showed up, we were ready to roll.â
Brandon, by the way, is now on Jasonâs speed dial. âHe always answers. Always helps. Thatâs huge for me.â
Why? Because in Jasonâs world, timing is everything. âYou canât print signs six months in advance. Things change. You wait until itâs go-time, and if your printerâs down, youâre calling the superintendent to say youâre going to miss your install window. That messes up the whole project.â
When a part failed earlier this year, Jason was down for three weeks. But thanks to the relationship heâd built with Icon 3D during that initial visit, he had a backup plan. âThey printed for me. Saved my bacon.â
And when the part failure turned out to be due to a misunderstanding about the printerâs capabilities, Craig went to bat with Mutoh. âHe got them to send me free ink to offset the cost. Then he drove from Portland to Bend to deliver it himself. Who does that?â
Today, Jasonâs back to doing what he does best: crafting ADA-compliant signage that meets code and looks sharp. Heâs even printed on bourbon barrel heads for a local distillery. Because why not?
So, whatâs Jason most proud of? âStill being in business,â he laughs. âIâve been doing this almost 30 years. Iâve kept the same two major clients the whole time. One of them is 80% of my business. That kind of relationship doesnât happen by accident.â
Neither does great support. With Kelley Create, Jason found a partner who gets it. And gets it done.
Industry: Sign Manufacturing. Company Size: Small business. Location: Oregon. Services: Printing Solutions
“When Kelley Create showed up, we were ready to roll.“
Jason Halsey, Owner,
Halsey Design