Design Your Own Custom Indoor & Outdoor Signs

What can custom signs do for your business? They can help build your brand and name recognition; they provide useful information for customers and clients; they allow you to get your message out to the world and display your uniqueness; they are cost-effective. Personalized signs are wonderful for every type of business, from real estate agents announcing open houses to contractors displaying their company name on jobs. Here are some tips that will help you design great custom signs for either indoor or outdoor use.

The first step is to determine where your sign will be. This may sound obvious, but there are different materials - vinyl, aluminum, magnet - and considerations for signs that will be hung outdoors. You should check with your local zoning board or city commission to see if there are any restrictions on outdoor signs; many municipalities and states ban signs over a certain size, and there may be color restrictions as well. These restrictions or guidelines will be important in helping you design your sign online. Before you spend your time and money on a sign, make sure you can hang it!

After you have been given the go-ahead from your local government or zoning board, it is time to choose the material from which your sign will be made. To ensure that your sign stands up to outdoor use, determine what kind of weather to which the sign will be exposed. For instance, a sign in sunny California will be constructed of different materials or thicknesses than a sign in snowy Minnesota or one in seaside Cape Cod. Should you use corrugated plastic or aluminum? California Signs and Graphics, your professional sign maker, can help you with these more technical questions. Indoor signs receive far less exposure to sun, wind, rain, and other elements, so they can be made from less expensive materials, such as vinyl.

As far as the appearance of the sign, this is largely a matter of your personal taste and/or the image you want to convey for your business or organization. There are, however, some general guidelines you can use to make sure your sign is effective. The first is to choose the coloring.

You want to make your signs as readable as possible. Colors that contrast – darks and lights – are best. For instance, if you would like your background to be green, choose white or yellow letters. If your company colors are blue and black, it will be hard to read the text. We have all seen web pages with black backgrounds and dark text: they are impossible to read, and people will just navigate away. You don’t want this to happen with potential customers.

A good rule is to only offer the most important and eye-catching information that you need on your sign. For instance, if you are a hair stylist, you want to include your name or a business name, phone number, physical address, and a brief summary of your offerings, such as coloring, cutting, manicures, etc. The key is to only provide the necessary information. Signs are signs, not novels. People need to obtain the relevant information as they pass by – or they need to be interested in the sign, and that leads us to graphics.

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Graphics are important, and they can incorporate your business’s logo or a relevant picture or flourish. The hair stylist, for example, may incorporate a graphic of scissors in some creative way. Use your space well, and experiment with shadowing, borders, and other design elements.

Using a program like Adobe Photoshop or the step-by-step tool on a good sign maker’s site can allow you to experiment and see what works for you in terms of color, lettering, and graphics. You do not have to be a graphic designer to create a great, professional sign for your business, but you do need to have the willingness to explore, experiment, and keep an open mind.

When you have a design for your sign or custom banner, test it out. Show it to friends, family, or preferred customers. Get feedback – and take it seriously. The best tip, however, is to enjoy the experience. This is your business’s face, and you get to create it.

 

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