Every brick and mortar business invests in interior and exterior signage. Whether the goal is to advertise or communicate, you must ensure your signage stands out. But what makes a perfect sign? You need to take several things into account: The best colors for signs, your messaging, your typography, the signs viewability, and much more. Let’s take a look at factors such as size, scale, design medium, font, placement, creativity, and the best colors for signs that can affect your bottom line.
What Is Your Intention?
Before we get to anything else, set the intention for your signage. Will it be a primary entrance sign, promotional, or for functional purposes such as safety, directions, or communication?
The average business posts a variety of signs. Some are designed to blend in seamlessly while others are designed to attract attention, turn heads, and drive conversions. The best colors for signs designed to stand out require contrast between the text and the background.
How Long Will It Be Posted?
Static signs such as your primary entrance sign will be posted long-term but most promotional signs will be posted a few months or less. Branding signs posted long-term should be investments. Short-term promotional signs are still an investment, but since most can’t be reused be sure to set a budget. Or have the sign designed so that it can be reused, such as a holiday BOGO or a digital sign design that can be tweaked to use seasonally.
Where’s The Best Spot?
Eye-level isn’t the best height for every application, so consider sign placement. Think about how and where your customers will be viewing your sign from. Exterior signs are often placed at least 9 feet off the ground, sometimes much higher. You may even want to strategically place them on more than one side of your exterior location or have both an elevated exterior sign and one that is eye-level for those walking by.
Interior signage can be a mix of eye-level and elevated signs, depending on the angle and location consumers will view the sign from. For example, strategically placed signage at the cash register.
How Far Should It Be Visible?
After determining the best place to post each sign, you must consider how far away you want guests to be able to view your sign. We mentioned cash register signs, which are small and only need to be visible while standing in line. These kinds of sign placements might include:
- Upsell signage
- Payment processing options
- Upcoming events
- Return policies
- Branded hashtags
- Online review requests
- And more!
The best colors for signs at the register is stark white with black text or vibrant text colors such as red, pink, or electric blue.
How Will It Reflect Your Brand?
Now it’s time to consider the fun part, the sign design! Reach out to your go-to sign designer to ensure that your sign is branded, engaging, and creative. Yes, there are tons of DIY design tools, but signs are most effective if they are designed by a professional. If you don’t have a branding sign designer, printed signs (such as banners) can often be designed or further perfected by the company you are ordering from.
MEGA Sign Inc offers an incomparable offer. We will design your first sign, and create your first 6 backgrounds for free! We have a dedicated design team at our facilities with a combined experience of 40 years in the industry! We can and will create the most effective sign for you without even having to hire a designer. Find out more here.
The exception to the sign design rule is digital signs, which provide you with far more DIY options. For example, if you are only posting text, you can do it yourself with your sign software. Depending on how advanced your sign is, you may also be able to upload HD photos and videos. However, working with a professional photographer, videographer, and sign designer will make the most of your multi-media LED displays.
Should It Be Print Or Digital?
The world is going digital, including signage! Most businesses choose a mix of static, print, and digital signage. With the right design, both print and digital signs can turn heads and be highly effective. The primary advantages of digital signs are that you can:
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- Alternate a variety of cohesive or mixed-messages
- Pre-schedule signs by the time of day and day of the week
- Update signs in real-time from anywhere with internet access
What Are The Best Colors For Signs?
Once your sign designer completes your sign, consider mixing up the colors to see how it changes the visual impact of the message. With print signs, there are a few best practices, but things are a bit different with digital signs.
Color Combinations For Print Signs
Avoid the temptation to only use your logo colors as they may not stand out. Here are some of the best color combinations for printed signs.
- Black background with white or yellow lettering
- White background with black, dark blue, gray, or red lettering
- Red background with yellow or white lettering
- Yellow background with black, dark blue, or red lettering
- Dark blue background with white or yellow lettering
- Light blue background with black or red lettering
If the sign is a poster, your color combinations are endless. Instead, focus on crystal clear imagery and enticing text.
The Best Colors For Digital Signs
LED signs are available in single, tri, or multi-color with the most popular option for text-only signs being red, green, yellow, blue, and white. When it comes to multi-media displays that can post videos and images you can choose from over 1.7 billion colors!
Do you need that many colors? Maybe not, but with the vibrant impact of LEDs you aren’t as limited as you are with printed and static signs. As long as you hire a digital sign designer and utilize HD photos and videos, every color combination will be crystal clear on your digital display. You can even post artistic displays.
What Are The Best Fonts For Signs?
In addition to considering the best colors for signs, you must consider the best fonts. Signage must be easy to read, both close-up and from far away. So, avoid the super cute artistic font that you may prefer for your letterhead, email signature, or online order inserts—and utilize bold and clear fonts. Some of the top choices for signage include:
- Bodoni
- Clarendon
- Franklin Gothic
- Frutiger
- Futura
- Garamond
- Helvetica
- Myriad
- Optima
- Trajan
- Any font included with your digital software
The only thing you have left to decide now is how to frame and mount your new sign! (Which MEGA will also do for you).
Want To Learn More about LED Signs?
If you would like to learn more about upgrading to LED signage, we invite you to reach out to Mega LED Technology today!
