A business sign is considered to be the cheapest form of advertisement. All you need is a wall, a small area to put it up. Some buildings would even rent their exterior to have signs hung up. You can even put it on a lamppost, the bench, a small area outside of the house. With all these areas to put up signs, why do some businesses do poorly than others despite having signs everywhere? How does a sign stand out from others? Why is it that some businesses that only have one sign in front of their store can outdo their competitors that had spread signs all over the place? Making sure that your business sign design has an impact will take you a lot of planning.
When designing a business sign the target audience/customers, location and purpose should be considered. Demographics is very important in marketing. Each client responds to signage differently. As for location, you have to know which area your business is located in. You would need a sign to stand out whether you are in the middle of downtown or by the highway, the business sign must have visibility. Understanding the purpose of the signage is important, designers need to know why you are putting up the sign. Signs can have different purposes, it can be to show that there is a new business, an existing business or it can also be to show a new product. There are different purposes for putting up the sign. Understanding these three will be able to make you decide on the design of the business sign that you will be putting up.
Every word in the sign should be relevant. Do not put anything unnecessary, less is more. do not overcrowd the design It should not only be the visible sign, whatever is written on it should be visible too. The audience must be able to understand what is written and what the sign is all about. Making business sign design interesting is important so even in a split of a second it will be noticed. The type of font, color, and graphics used must be considered. When talking about visibility it is not just the size of the sign, it is how the sign advertises the kind of product or services you offer. Choose the right combination of colors when making designs. Interesting signs always attract customers. Then again, look into your demographics and see what kind of font suits that certain demographic, does a more funky font work better or a formal one will create more impact?
Words are the first thing you see in the design of a business sign. That is how important the font you are using when designing a business sign is. Make sure the font can be read the moment the customers lain eyes on it. Customers do not have more than 5 seconds to waste time understanding what is written on the signs. Do not use more than two fonts in a sign. The first font must carry your message and it must stand out over the second font carrying more information. When working on the design, always ask for a second opinion. How a business owner sees the sign might be different from those who are patronizing the product or services offered. The audience’s opinion about the sign should matter since they are the ones who should be noticing it not the business owners.
Improving the signs could take a lot of time but this will add more impact. Adding graphic design elements or pictures to the sign may even add more retention from the viewers, but be careful as not all signs need an extra graphic or pictures. Graphics and pictures could sometimes result in an overcrowded sign resulting in people paying less attention to the sign. Also, pay attention to the color combination when making the design. Contrasting colors are always attractive and visibility is always better. Choosing white as a background color gives you a lot of choices for the font since white goes with almost every color. In choosing the shape of the sign, you have to check the location where you are putting the sign first. Whether it is placed on the wall, by the sidewalk, on the side of the building, on a billboard, you have to see which shape best fits the location of the sign. Illuminating the sign can also help in its visibility but how the lights will be used should also be considered. There are a lot of factors to consider when deciding on the business sign design. While the planning is always between the owner and the graphics designer, the audience is always the primary factor to consider in the design.
