What’s Your Sign? The signs you use in and around your place of business fall into two categories. Many of them are “first impressions”, as they may be your first contact with a person who is just passing by. Others are almost “subliminal” in the way they reinforce your brand image through the use of your logo and colors and the professional message that they send.
How big should your sign be? The size of a sign is directly related to how far away you expect the reader to be. For instance, you might reasonably expect a person to need to read the sign on your door from the curb, maybe 15-20 feet away. If you want to place a sign that will be visible to drivers as they approach from a block away, obviously, you’ll need a larger sign. It is possible to make a sign TOO big, however. If you are placing a sign near a reception counter or desk, it needs to be small enough to be easily read without the reader feeling like they need to back up! A good guide is to look at a business card. Hold it at a comfortable reading distance, and stand at the distance you want your sign to be read from. How much space on the sign surface does the business card cover? At a distance of about 20 feet, it should cover an area about 4 feet wide and 2 feet tall… an appropriate size for a readable sign at that distance.
What should your sign say? Your sign should say as little as possible! Don’t assume that your reader has a long attention span or is interested in reading your sign, especially if it is a sign that people might see only in passing. Get your message across as simply as possible, with the minimum number of words, very legibly. Only use images if they clearly reinforce the message of the sign. If possible, produce all signs in the colors you have chosen to represent your brand identity, and include your business logo.
Who should design your signs? You may be thinking that you can easily design your signs in-house, or just tell a sign shop or printer what you want. You could do that, but the results will not likely support your brand image as well as allowing your branding agency to handle it for you. Your in-house sign designer isn’t likely to have the experience to do much more than just put some words on a sign without giving it much more thought than that. The sign shop just wants to print a sign, so they’re not going to do much more, either. We’re going to take the time to look at the sign, where you intend to put the sign, how the message of the sign reflects your corporate identity, and make sure that everything about the sign is perfect, from colors and logo to fonts, size and layout. Contact us today, we can help you create proper signage that will have an impact on your corporate identity!
