Maya Modeling :: Applying Letters To A Keypad?

I'm trying to model a cellphone and I'd like to know what the best way is (by best I mean the way that gives me the highest flexibility later on) to add the signs and letters on the keypad.

The buttons are made out of NURBS, so I thought I might be able to use curve projections on them. However, it seems pretty tedious and after I trim the projections I end up with a hole , on a NURBS that can't be filled in.

The reason why I'd like to create the letters as independent surfaces is so I can later change the type of material, color , reflectivity and all that good stuff.

I'll attach a screen capture.