You might feel like creating an outdoor sign is a big job. But we’ll walk you through it (and give you complimentary graphic design service). Let’s start at the beginning.
Why do you need an outdoor business sign? One reason: to get your message across. The ultimate goal for your sign is to give people info, whether it be directions or the name of a business. Basically, you want people to look at your sign. And people only want to look at something interesting and visually appealing.
So it makes sense that your sign will be most effective if it’s exciting to look at. But how do you make that happen? By following these six secrets to creating visually stimulating outdoor signs that we’ve established here at TheSignChef:
1. Size
2. Font
3. Emphasis
4. Color
5. Value
6. Shape
Each element is looked at in terms of contrast. You’ll know what I mean by that in a moment!
And as you become knowledgable about what each of these elements has to offer, you will be able to imagine and create an effective and stimulating custom outdoor sign.
Size
If all the words on your sign are equally sized, how will people know which part of the message is most important? And how visually interesting would it be? Not very. Even the headline and subheads on this page are of different sizes than the copy itself. If all of the text was in 12pt. font, you wouldn’t know what part of the article was what. And you wouldn’t be interested in reading it.
The first secret to creating a visually appealing custom sign to is to have words in contrasting sizes. But be careful not to use a lot of different sizes, which can make your custom look cluttered and confusing. Even just two font sizes will give your custom sign more interest. On a sign for “Amy’s Flower Shop,” you could make “Amy’s” a smaller font and place it in the top left hand corner.
Font
Obviously the font you choose for your outdoor business signs is important. It should convey the appropriate feeling to your audience. A law firm needs a professional, high-end looking font, while a flower shop can use a more playful font.
The second secret to creating a visually appealing sign is to use contrasting fonts. Different typestyles make for a more interesting sign. They give people more to look at - more reasons for the eye to travel across the sign. As with size, don’t use too many different typefaces on one sign (two is usually best) to avoid amessy look.
Emphasis
Emphasis can be as simple as putting some words on your sign in italics, in bold or by underlining them. You can also add emphasis by putting a border or adding a shadow around certain words.
The third secret to designing a visually exciting custom sign is to use emphasis to contrast words. You can italicize certain words on your sign so they appear linked. For example, take “Amy’s Flower Shop.” The most significant part of the message here is “Flower.” People need to know that this shop sells flowers. You might place “Amy” above the F in “Flower” and “Shop” below the R. You can then make those two words smaller than “Flower” and italicize them so they are cohesive.
Color
Obviously, choosing a color theme for your custom sign is vital. You want a certain feeling to come across. Blue is a calming color, which might be nice on a business sign for a spa. Red connotes excitement or passion and would be nice on a firehouse sign. And your business may already have a specific color theme. Great!
The fourth secret to designing a visually stimulating custom is to use contrasting colors. You might consider making “Amy’s” and “Shop” red and “Flower” pink. And that might look good. But to create real visual interest, you want to use two colors that contrast more than pink and red do. How about a grass green and a dark pink? See the difference? The feelings evokes by these colors also contrast. The green is mellow while the pink is bright and lively. Now the vital part of the message stands out more, but the eye is still drawn to to all of the text.
Value
Value refers to the amount of pigment in a color. What if the color theme for your business is navy blue and light blue? You probably want to emphasize those colors because they’re already associated with your brand.
The fifth secret to creating a visually interesting sign is to use contrasting color values. This is similar to using contrasting colors. Maybe your business colors are navy blue and light blue. While the effect of value combinations is different, it still makes your sign visually appealing. And it definitely looks unified and put together.
Shape
This doesn’t refer to the shape of the overall sign. Rather, it refers to the shape of the text on your sign. Maybe you want “Flower” to have a small curve to it. In that case. Stay away from changing the shape of the other two words.
The sixth and final secret to creating a visually exciting custom outdoor sign is to use contrasting shapes. If all the words on your sign are shaped the same, which ones pop? None of them do. Try giving your main text a curvy shape and keeping your other words horizontal. Try out different shapes, but use just one on your sign.
With contrasting size, fonts, emphasis, colors and shape of the text, your outdoor signage will have visual interest. Your potential customers will be attracted to your sign, which is the first step to making your business sign effective!