Know Your Sign: The Elements of Effective Physical Signage

Several signs at night

Despite the greater focus on digital media, physical signage still serves a key role in drawing customer attention to your enterprise and its products and services. A good set of signs will serve your business well for a long time.

In an increasingly digital world, with its focus on social media and mobile presence, it is easy to overlook the value of a well-designed physical sign. In truth, signs in physical space still contribute to a remarkable volume of sales for many businesses. Well-designed logos and advertising signs can be an excellent means of getting an enterprise to attract buyers, something that small and medium-scale enterprises have time and again rediscovered.

Unlike most forms of advertising (and in much the same way as a social media and mobile presence), physical signage promotes your enterprise round the clock. People see your enterprise’s

A signboard is a tangible reminder that your business exists. For many businesses with a physical presence, even one good signboard can mean a world of difference to their enterprise. Your campaigns in social media and mobile might get people to notice your business over their devices, but being seen by your potential customers in the real world is a different matter.

Exterior and Interior Signs

The signboards outside your door are just one of several signs that businesses use on a regular basis. An entire family of signs with different purposes exist. Within the business itself, interior signs direct your customers to your selection of products and services, along with any promotional specials you would like to offer.

Much like your enterprise’s logo, your business’ signs are a reflection of its identity. The signs represent your enterprise brand as much as the logo that emblazons it and should consistently follow the brand identity of your enterprise. When your business enters a trade show, for instance, your roll-up signs should encapsulate not only your business’ logo and services but also your ideologies. Your interior signs, meant to showcase your products, should strike a balance between legible and brand-consistent.

A Lasting Impression

Your signs should reflect the current state of your brand and remain consistent for as long as your brand identity remains in the direction you take. Re-branding your enterprise can reinvigorate your business’ image, but it shouldn’t be done on a whim and should not deviate too much from your previous recognisable image.

Your business’ signs should be durable. Too often, a business’ sign that goes into disrepair could lead to a terrible (though admittedly humorous) view of the brand. Sign making services with large-format laminating machines and other tools provide entrepreneurs with options to create large durable signage, which can effectively point to their enterprise for a very long time.

Hoisting the Colours

Signs aligned together

How your brand should be presented would vary, and generations have been known to favour different approaches to the aesthetics of their outdoor signs. Older entrepreneurs, for instance, have typically favoured signs that are simpler and less embellished. New businesses, meanwhile, are more likely to embrace more elaborate designs.

No single approach fits all businesses, and both elaborate and minimalist aesthetics are valid design choices for an enterprise depending on the brand identity they choose to project. What is important, however, is that their sign’s signature colours stand out in the crowd and the logo emblazoned is large enough to be identified by visitors.

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