7 Mistakes That Will Ruin Your Signage

Yea...I know. Not the most optimistic headline. But as a signage professional you start paying attention to the storefront signs a little more when you're out and about. And sure, there are those that spark some inspiration and really catch your eye, but unfortunately there are a lot that are really rough around the edges. Like those that are too small to read, hidden behind a tree or just have a logo with an image and you have no idea what they do. At times it's enough to make you cringe. 

We could focus on all of the ways to make your sign look amazing, but let's just pump the brakes a little and start with what not to do. Some of these might sound obvious, but just take a drive through a busy business district and I'm sure you can probably spot an example of each.

Here are 7 things to avoid when brainstorming your next sign.

1. Bad Sign Placement

The placement of your signage is extremely important yet often times overlooked. According to a study by FedEx Office, 80% of surveyed American consumers enter a store because of the sign. With that kind of impact on foot traffic it is crucial to seriously consider where you place your sign. 

One key component of the location is the wayfinding element. If you are implementing a roadside sign make sure it aligns with your entrance. This seems obvious, but often times businesses choose to place the sign in an area they feel will get more exposure, which it might, but it instead causes wayfinding confusion and results in a frustrated customer experience. A sign needs to welcome, inform and guide a customer to your doorways. Causing any confusion or friction can result in lost business. For example, don't do this:

Source: Buzzfeed

Lastly, safety needs to be taken into consideration when selecting a location for your signage. We've all been in that position where we are pulling out of a parking lot onto a busy road and have to keep inching out because their is a huge sign blocking our view. Don't be that business. Make sure people can enter and exit as safely as possible.

2. Poor Readability

Colors play a huge role in the readability of your signage. Some color schemes might look good on a piece of paper or tie perfectly into your branding, but at the end of the day if people can't read it while driving by then your signage won't be doing you any favors. Here are a few color combinations that you should definitely avoid using. 

• Blue copy or Green copy tends to blur out on channel letters. If it's a must have color then you should always add a white border to make it stand out more.
• If you're putting the sign on a wall, make sure it contrasts with the wall color. Don't use Black letters on a brick wall. Use White letters instead.
• Blue and Red together without any color in between is really hard to read (clearly). So unless it's the 4th of July - try and stay away from too much blue and red combos.
• Yellow and White may seem clean and subtle but it's near impossible to read. Try reading this: How hard did you just have to squint?
• The side of your channel letters (known as the "return") should always be a darker color than the face. A lighter color makes it difficult to read and the same color tends to make the letters blend together. 

Another item to consider when it comes to readability is how well your logo will scale to a sign format. Some logos are extremely intricate with fancy fonts. These look great on menus or on a business card but when you scale it up and are trying to use it to get new customers in the door, it can make it very difficult to read and identify with. This is especially important if you are new to the market and do not have an established brand identity. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to understand who you are and what you do. Also, just because you have a high resolution version of your logo, doesn't mean it will scale well for a sign. Often times lettering needs to be thickened and letter spacing needs to be expanded in order to make it more legible. It's important to keep an open mind when creating a sign and to be willing to make slight modifications in order to make the signage as effective as possible.

Lastly, here is a table provided by the International Sign Association that demonstrates how far away someone needs to be in order to see your sign depending on the speed limit of the road they are traveling on.

3. Incorrect Grammar & Spelling

I wish this one went without saying, but the fact of the matter is that spelling and grammar mistakes continue to show up. There are some situations where you might be able to get away with a spelling or grammar mistake. Maybe you tweeted something out and used "then" instead of "than"... or wrote a blog with questionable grammar usage (I'm sure you could sift through this one and find a few). Yea, these should be avoided but they aren't beacons bringing customers into your doors like signage. If you forget to triple check the grammar or spelling of your signage then it can really turn into a costly mistake. Not to mention it really hurts your brands credibility and image.

Let's use this billboard by Miller as an example. See any issues?

Source: Mascola

This one plays with your eyes a bit, but as you probably noticed they mixed up the "t" and "c" in contradiction. This is obviously not okay and a terrible look. Print projects are scary because there is no going back without incurring extra costs. Please always be sure to get a few different people to take a look at your signage before moving forward with production. That is unless you use us and we will take care of that for you (insert shameless plug into blog...check!).

4. Over-Branding

This is a topic we've touched on in the past in our blog 5 Reasons Why Your Signage Doesn't Need Your Phone Number. In that article, we focus on why it's not the best idea to try and cram every bit of contact information onto your signage, in particular your phone number. One of the primary reasons is that you will overwhelm your prospective customers. In the digital age, we are evolving to filter out content that we feel is irrelevant. However, if you provide too many distractions then those filters get thrown off and don't work as well. This will result in an overwhelming customer experience, which leads to a person driving down the road to move on to the next visual cue.

People are naturally curious and want to look around and process information. Those businesses that make that processing of information as straightforward and easy as possible are the ones that get the best results and establish the strongest brand identity. Steve Krug, a digital user experience expert wrote the book Don't Make Me Think, which focused on how you can make your website easier to navigate. We feel that there are some lessons to be learned from this book in the signage industry. Take this quote for example, "Get rid of half of the words on one page, then get rid of half of what's left". It showcases the importance of simplifying your content delivery for not only your website but in all forms of marketing communication. Unless it's an article like this, content should be concise, goal oriented and focused on fulfilling the needs of the customer in that moment. People driving by don't need every bit of information about your business. They just want to know who you are, what you do and maybe what differentiates you. As long as you're able to establish an identifiable brand image, then you should be able create some recall with your audience in case they decide to Google you. Once they find you online, that's where you need to make sure you have all of your contact information and story accessible.  

5. Cheap Materials

The materials that we use to build our signs are extremely important. The wrong material can really compromise the quality and longevity of your signage. Here are a few questions that you should ask your sign vendor when starting your project. 

• "Will the sign be indoors or outdoors?" - This of course determines whether or not the sign will need to be made out of weather proofed materials. 
• "What kind of paint do you use?" - They should be using paint that can stand up to the extreme weather conditions that we encounter in the Pacific Northwest. Using automotive grade paint will help fight against color fading due to over exposure to sunlight and will hold up against a substantial amount of rain. For example, we use AkzoNobel and Matthews Paint, which are both categorized as automotive grade paint.
• "What type of metal will the sign be made out of?" - Your two primary options will likely be sheet metal or aluminum. Aluminum is a better quality product and will not rust over time.
• "Should we build our outdoor sign out of wood?" - Wood is best used for interior or temporary signage. If you are just opening your business and want to put out a "Coming Soon" sign then a wooden sign would be a quick, easy & cost effective solution. But as a long term solution, wood doesn't do a great job at holding up to the daily exposure of outdoor elements. 
• "What type of light should you use to illuminate the signage?" - The three primary options are LED, Neon or Lamps. LED is our preferred method as it allows for a longer material warranty and reduced energy usage. 

6. Multiple Brand Personalities

This is an important one. Before you start on your signage project you really need to think about your overall brand image. To establish a lasting brand identity and improve your chances of brand recall, you need to be consistent across the board and not market yourself in silos. You can make an eye catching sign, but if it doesn't match up with the interior look and feel of your store then there is going to be some friction and some dissonance when a customer enters.

This mistake is especially important to avoid for small businesses who are just getting off the ground. Prior to diving into signage they should really build out a brand strategy that can scale from their signage to their interior decor to their website and onto their social media channels. Establishing consistency throughout all of these channels will provide reassurance to prospective customers. For example, say someone drives by and catches a glimpse of your sign but really doesn't see it that well. They are now on a mission to Google what the business is. They have a part of your company name and type it in to Google or Twitter to see if they can Sherlock Holmes their way to find out who you are. All of a sudden a picture of your Twitter avatar pops up and it matches your color scheme and font from your signage. They know right away that it's you and can continue doing additional research on you as a business. Now they go to your website and once again it's perfectly aligned with your brand image. This provides a positive user experience and can help build brand equity for your business. 

Your branding for each of these areas could be extremely creative but if they aren't consistent then they have the potential of doing more bad then good for your business.

7. Wrong Vendor Selection

I know, I know, big shocker we'd include this one. Honestly though, this is an extremely important component of getting your signage right. While you're shopping around for sign vendors, cost will likely be your top priority. We just ask that you make sure you do your due diligence and make sure that low costs aren't making up for lack of quality and accountability by your vendor.

There is of course more to a signage project then just design, fabrication and installation. The coding and permitting phase may not be as "sexy" but it's what will keep your sign standing. If you work with a vendor that lacks the experience in this area then you run this risk of committing violations that could result in your signage having to be completely redone or relocated, which of course turns into additional costs.

In addition to coding and permitting, you should make sure your vendor has all of the appropriate certifications to do business in your area as well as keep your signage up to safety standards. This is especially important if you're thinking about having an electric sign made. Check to see if your vendor is qualified to UL sticker your signage. Legally, electric signage has to have a UL sticker on it and not all vendors have the authority to sticker signage. Here's what it looks like:

Source: Wikipedia

Building a sign for your business doesn't happen overnight. There is a lot of back and forth from the initial design phase to fabrication and all the way through to the installation. You want to make sure you are working with a vendor that doesn't keep you in the dark and makes sure that the communication lines are always open. A project of this size can take some time and there's nothing worse then not knowing what's going on behind the scenes. Effective communication and transparency tends to be a sign of a business (no pun intended) who holds themselves accountable and are aiming to provide their customers with the best experience possible. 

Lastly, don't fall victim to a vendor that doesn't have any sort of service level agreement for future signage maintenance requests. Things happen, light bulbs go out, be sure that you have an established vendor relationship in place so that in case something does go wrong you have someone who can come out and fix it as soon as possible. You don't want to be that company with illuminated channel letters on the side of your building and one of the lights goes out. That's not a good look. Also, if something does happen to your sign and your vendor doesn't have any digital records of your signage then it makes it that much more difficult to fix anything. They will have to take new measurements and find the right materials all over again. If they have everything on file then it's that much easier to get things in motion and get your signage back to working order in the shortest amount of time. 

Want to start planning your mistake-free signage?

If you'd like to chat with us about your signage plans, please click the button below to get started on the opposite of #7 of this blog...The right signage vendor selection.