Why Your Sign Sucks (and how to fix it)
When you’re in the sign industry, you start to notice signs everywhere, especially bad ones! You know your sign sucks when your audience doesn’t understand your message or can’t find your storefront or you get actual complaints. What are the common reasons why some signs suck? Here are five of them along with the pro-tips on how to fix it:
Bad Design Choices
This is the big mistake that sucky signs show right away (here’s our blog on some sign design basics). Poor fonts and non-contrasting color combinations will lead to a barely legible sign. A sign is a functional piece of communication that should be always as accessible as possible. Even though fancy and ornate fonts may be tempting to use because they look nice, the words will be very difficult to comprehend. Go with the easiest font-type to read: sans-serif. Understand the letter height needed to be seen at great distances (it’s taller than you think). Make the sign background a darker color with the text in the foreground a lighter color to achieve high contrast.
Too Much or Not Enough Information
Simple wording is to-the-point and is the best way to get your message across quickly and succinctly. Utilize universal symbols to communicate even faster and transcend language barriers. On the flip side of this point, your sign may not have enough information or is too vague. Make sure you put yourself in the shoes of your audience when you’re drafting up the copy for your signs.
Bad Sign Location
Make sure that you’re aware of any new trees that have been planted around your building. Young trees, and even some shrubs, eventually become big trees and they will obstruct the view of your sign. Plan the installation of permanent signs – like channel letters and monument signs – with consideration of how the surrounding landscape will change over time.
Sign Damage and Inconsistent Maintenance
Consistently check your sign for problems like fading, misfunctioning illumination, or broken letters. This is relevant to all types of signs, but especially for exterior permanent signs like channel letters. Create a routine maintenance schedule to inspect and clean your business’s signs. This ensures that you or your employees discover the sign damage before a customer complains!
Misspelled Words and Bad Grammar
It’s a true embarrassment if your sign ends up being a funny meme on the internet for a rookie mistake like misspelled words or grammar mistakes. Prevent this from happening by having multiple eyes proofread the sign’s copy. As you’re drafting up your sign’s message, read the words out loud to yourself to see if it makes sense. If the text is confusing to your ears, then it will be confusing to your audience.
How to Prevent These Problems from Happening
If you’ve read through this blog and want to make sure that your sign won’t suck, contact Connecting Signs today. Get it done right the first time and your sign will last a long time. We will work with you on every detail for a sign that fits your business. It will be worth your time and money, we promise!