Big brands invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on outdoor advertising (eg billboards, buses, etc) and ambient (non-traditional) media campaigns, in an effort to reach transient consumers. This is because such methods can dramatically increase brand awareness and salience, through mass exposure.

Vehicle signage tips

• Determine your budget. There’s no point dreaming of a full vehicle body wrap if you’ve only got a small budget. However, a small budget doesn’t have to mean that you won’t get noticed.
• Plan the signage carefully. You shouldn’t have to re-sign your vehicle/s for some time, so carefully consider the relevance and longevity of every word and element.
• Ensure the design elements (colours, layout, etc) support and reflect your brand.
• Vehicle signage should be eye-catching, but not an eyesore.
• The most important piece of information on your vehicle/s will be an action prompt (eg a website address or phone number).  This should appear on all sides of the vehicle. A website address is the ideal action prompt, as it provides an invitation for potential customers to gather more information without pressure or obligation.
• Unless your brand is very well known, it is best to include information about the business’ products or fields of specialisation. However, this should be kept short and sweet… a potential customer should be able to read and comprehend the information whilst stopped for 10 seconds at a red light. Dot points are ideal.

http://southernxposure.com.au

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There are countless designs, formats, and styles for business signs, but most of them fall into three distinct categories based on placement:

1. Interior signs are placed inside of buildings. Interior signs are used to direct foot traffic in business areas such as shopping malls and retail stores, and to provide directions for visitors to hotels or multi-tenant buildings.
2. Exterior (building mounted) signs are connected to the outside of buildings, to be seen by commuters and passersby. Building-mounted signs are easy to spot and put the name of your company where everyone can see it. They can be placed on canopies, in windows, on top of shopping centers with multiple businesses, on roofs, on the sides of buildings, or applied directly to a window using etching or stenciling.
3. Exterior (freestanding) signs are self-supporting. They are typically attached to the ground with spikes or screws or stand on poles or legs. The most common freestanding signs we recognize are traffic signs and billboards. Businesses can have freestanding signs that are high-rise or low-rise, are part of a backlit display or awning, or stand at the entrance to your property.

Why do I need signs for my business?

Traditional signs are used to enhance the visibility of your business and to provide guidance to customers. Signs can also be used to indicate where certain companies are in office buildings, label executive offices and common areas, and to list prices or menu items. You can use something as simple as a vinyl banner to advertise a sale, or as high-tech as a plasma display screen for digital signage.

You can select from various materials for your signs. Standard sign materials include acrylic, PVC, plastic, wood, and metal. There are also options for neon signs, custom-made awnings, and electronic message boards. And some signs have hardly any “material” at all – one popular type of sign is a silk screen that adheres to windows or glass doors.

If you have a vision of what type of design you want for your signs, you can present it to a signage vendor to custom build a sign to your liking. They also can develop something that fits your business or use an array of templates with ready-made designs. Signs created from a template cost less than custom signs — and they can be finished more quickly, too.

Depending on the complexity of your signage needs, a vendor can create your finished product by hand or with the help of machinery such as a CNC router. They can use different fonts, colors, and finishes to create eye-catching results.

Signage possibilities

There are nearly limitless uses for signs, some that can last for decades and others that only require a few days of use. Some of the more popular uses for signs include:

• Banners: Clear and prominent messages in a flexible and portable format. Available in a variety of sizes for both indoor and outdoor use.
• Architectural: Permanent designs to display the name of your business inside and outside of your offices.
• Dimensional lettering: Raised, 3D look for permanent signs. You can customize each letter or raise them as part of the overall design.
• Exhibits & displays: Foldable, easily transportable designs for trade shows and special events.
• Lettering & graphics: Etch or apply logos and designs onto glass doors and windows
• Illuminated: For easy viewing day or night.
• Retail: Used for menus, aisle or department markings, posters, and even in-floor designs.
• Yard signs: Commonly used in real estate and politics – easily portable and easily stuck in any lawn.
• Vehicle: Turn automobiles into an advertising opportunity using applied graphics or magnetic panels.
• Safety: For use on roads or in the workplace – OSHA may require specific types of signs.

Sign purchasing checklist

Here are some things to keep in mind when shopping for the signs that work best for your business:

• What type of sign do I need?
• What kind of material should be used?
• Have I worked with a sign company before?
• Is this a permanent sign or for temporary purposes?
• Will I need a weatherproof sign?
• Do I want to use my own designs or have a vendor create one?
• Is there any type of warranty on the signs I purchase?
• Can I get volume discounts from my signage provider?
• Who can I contact within my industry for references?

Sign costs

Costs for signs vary greatly depending on the type, size, and material of the sign, as well as how much labor and customization is required. Pricing is typically based on square footage, although there are off-the-shelf signs that require no custom work and can be purchased in bulk. You also have to factor in design services, shipping, and installation into your total expenses.

At the low end of the scale, you can find pre-made templates for 16″ x 24″ paper banners starting at $10. You will pay a few dollars extra for glossy paper or vinyl material and the price will increase with the size. Ready-to-apply vinyl lettering is available from $1 to $5 per square foot.

Basic banners – typically vinyl – go for around $6 to $20 per square foot. You’ll receive volume discounts depending on how much material you need. Higher quality material like aluminum sheets or fabric will cost more.

Campaign signs, wayfinding indicators, and informational signs start at 12″ x 18″ and are typically sold in quantities of 25 to 2,500. You’ll pay anywhere from $4 to $7 each, depending on whether the number of colors you choose and whether you need dual sided printing. Extra colors cost $2 to $3 for each additional color used. As you get into larger signs (48″ x 96″), you reach prices of $50 to $90 each for 10-unit minimums.

Electric sign pricing starts at $60 per square foot. You can also find generic, non-company specific neon signs (“Open”, “Welcome” “ATM”) available from $75 to $300.

Depending on the customization and complexity of your project, high-end signs can cost thousands of dollars or more. Including raw materials and labor costs of $85 to $170 per hour for designers, engineers, carvers, and installers, one large, permanent, illuminated sign can represent an investment of $10,000 to $15,000.

Signage tips

Check with local zoning laws. There are different rules for sign size, placement, and content. Before you install your sign, make sure you are within legal limitations set by the state, city or town, and building management.

ADA compliance. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), signs in transportation terminals, hospitals, and airports must be are easily viewable and readable for people with disabilities.

Experience counts. The longer a sign vendor has worked in the industry, the more accurate and reliable his quotes will be.

These things take time. Some designs and fonts take longer to work with than others. If you need a quick turnaround with your signage needs, you may want to factor in lettering styles that are easier for sign developers to work with.

Location, location, location. Depending on where you live and how high the cost of living is, you may experience vastly different prices for signs.

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So here are some tips for getting your sign noticed. This applies both to longer informational signs and simple section labels.

MAKE IT BIG: If you can’t read at least part of it from 6 feet anyway, it’s too small. As people get closer, they can pick up more detail, so make the grabbing headline big and then as you offer more info, it can be in progressively smaller type as they get closer to read it all.

I suggest making the smallest type 14 point.

For large section labels, apply the 6 foot rule. For things that really only need to be read while you’re actually standing there (price labels) they can be closer to 14 point.

Don’t forget to include the ANGLE the sign is read at in the distance calculation. Signs above people’s heads or below their knees need to be bigger than ones at eye level to compensate for being read at an angle.

They aren’t looking at it straight on: People are rarely facing a sign dead on. They’re often walking past or approaching it at an angle. Make sure the sign is recognizable (and legible) when viewed at an angle. Stick it above your head, near your waist, and to left and right of you so you can see what it looks like from various angles.

Keep it simple: Oh, the lure of exotic typefaces… just say no to crazy scripts. Most “handwriting” scripts are difficult to read quickly. As someone walks past the sign, you only have a split second to catch their eye. If that second is wasted on them trying to recognize the basic letters in the typeface, they won’t actually read the sign. Keep it clean and easily recognizable.

Just say no to reversed text: White lettering on colored background looks cool, but its murder on the eyes. It’s fine for a headline, but don’t write any of the details in this color scheme.

Use a limited color palette: Often the best sign is a crisp black and white because it’s uncluttered. In a retail store, there’s a lot going on. The starkness of a black and white sign draws the eye. If you decide to go with color, pick ONE. Text should be black on a light colored or pastel background. If you simply must have a more colorful background to match the décor or to contrast with a large stack of black and white items, use color complements. Use a darker one for the text. Cool colors work better for text in most cases. This will make the color ‘pop’.

Complementary colors are the ones that appear across from each other on a color wheel. I’ll just list them here for ease of use. (I’ve put the cool color first)

• Green & Red

• Blue & Orange (gold)

• Purple & Yellow

You can do more complicated splits, but there’s a reason these three appear so often, they work!

Make space for space! A clear, concise sign is more effective than a cluttered one. Make sure there’s space so people can break the text and pictures up into easily digestible chunks. They’ll retain more info that way. If it’s one big mass of text (or too many pictures) they won’t be able to parse it as they walk past.

Proofread! Proofread! Proofread! After you have designed your sign, take a break. Ideally, leave it be for at least a day. THEN proofread. All the errors will jump out you. If you do it too soon after writing it, you will see what you think you wrote, rather than what you actually wrote.

Show it to at least two other people. They’ll pick up some more mistakes and point out spots where things are unclear. You may know what you meant, but that’s doesn’t mean you wrote it as clearly as you could!

Special note: If you are in a multi-ethnic area, grab someone from each of the main ethnic groups to proofread. Its embarrassing to find out what looked like a great sign uses a slang term that is either offensive, confusing, or just plain really funny to your customers. If you’re living somewhere other than your birth country make sure to double check your spelling matches the local spelling! British and American English have lots of spelling differences that can trip you up.

Make a mockup: If you are having fancy signs made that will be near permanent fixtures (such as section labels), have a friend or employee walk around the store with a mockup and hold it in various places so you can see how it will look. You may discover it’s not big enough, a bad color scheme, looks strange under your lights, the finish is too reflective and it’s unreadable, its too cluttered, etc. Nothing beats actually seeing the sign in action.

Put the sign in the right place: How many times have you come in and seen the “big sale!” signs clustered over the checkout? If people are standing in checkout, telling them about the great sale on something in back of the store is not going to work! Sale signs should be where people can act on it. This means either at the entrance or somewhere people can be drawn towards the sale section.

Signs at checkout should either relate to something the customer can get right now (impulse buys), can do at checkout (sign up for our e-mail list), or relates to an event in the future that they might wish to come back for (come see author X next week!).

Don’t lay it flat: Flat is great for eye level or things that are hanging and have writing on both sides. However, if at all possible, signs above most people’s heads should be tilted slightly down so they will appear at a 90 degree angle to someone’s plane of vision when they look up. Signs below the waist should be similarly tilted up slightly. Use a yard stick or long rod on your shoulder to gauge angle. Tilt it so it follows your line of vision to the sign. (if you’re exceptionally short or tall, have an average-height friend do it instead)

For signs that are only meant to be seen close up, like price labels, adjust them to be visible that way. They may be invisible from farther away. Don’t worry about this. For ones that are meant to be seen from several points farther away, you’ll want them at a shallower angle so they can still be read from very far away. Try several different angles before you secure the sign.

You may even want to have two sets of signs! One large sign that can be seen from across the length of the store, plus a smaller one tilted so that people standing within 3 feet of the display can easily read it.

If you REALLY want people to see the sign, stick it next to the cashier’s head. Or get the cashier to wear it. Don’t block the view of the cashier’s face, or have the cashier’s head in front. You want it where it’s in the sweet spot around the face so its in line of sight, but not distracting.

If it’s a sign that will be nowhere near stationary people, you can cheat and put a face on the sign. It doesn’t even have to be a particularly accurate face. WalMart, love ‘em or hate ‘em, has perfected the “look at the face” trick with use of the smiley face to draw attention to signs. A symbol that didn’t read as a face wouldn’t draw nearly as much attention.

You can try a variation on “look at the face” for large signs by sticking it next to, or in the arms of, a stuffed animal. Animal faces work almost as well as abstracted human faces. Or, if you’re really going for attention, stick a mirror there. The only thing better than someone else’s face is the customer’s own face!

No matter what you do, you’ll still have some customers that don’t read the signs, but now you have a fighting chance!

Extracted from a post written by Nora O’Neill of Rainy Day Paperback Exchange. http://www.rainydaypaperback.com

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