In the sign making and printing industries, design is an integral component that is critical to getting your message noticed and remembered. In this article, we present a number of concepts that will help to maximize effectiveness and minimize frustration in the production process
Pre-Planning
I once heard a proclamation that “you can’t get lost if you don’t know where you want to go”. The message is both wise and telling. Any journey should begin with a plan or you’ll never know if and when you’ve arrived. Regardless of the type of sign needed, design should be given consideration early on to ensure you accomplish what you set out to do.
Research the costs associated with design since this will impact your budget. If you have the expertise, time and ability to create your own artwork, verify the format required by your sign maker in advance. If you don’t have a graphic artist with experience in the sign industry, most sign companies offer design services. Computer hardware, software, peripherals, training and the graphic artist’s wages are some of the expenses your sign company must recover, so don’t expect design services to be free. Here again, having a plan in advance will help minimize the costs associated with design services that may otherwise be iterative.
Your Message
Consider the message you would like to convey, how that message will be presented, and how to get your message noticed by potential customers. These factors will have an impact on all other design considerations going forward as the message is your goal or destination. It’s a good idea to review your goal periodically in the production process to ensure that you are on track.
Choose the Right Design Tool
If you will be creating your own design, review requirements with your sign company. Whether your sign will be a a digital print, cut vinyl, routed or engraved, most sign making today starts with artwork designed on a computer. However, the mere creation of artwork on a computer doesn’t mean your artwork will be usable by your sign manufacturer. To avoid unwanted surprises, check with your sign company about costs associated with making your artwork production ready. Artwork that looks great when printed on paper may not be usable for printing an 8 foot wide banner.
The type of sign being made will generally determine the software and file format required for production. For example, bitmap artwork created in Photoshop may be suitable for printing a poster provided the artwork is at reasonable resolution when scaled to the target poster size. For a large banner, this may not be possible or desirable since the resulting file size would be huge. For a sticker, either bitmap or vector art may be suitable, though if your sticker is to be contour cut, you can expect a design charge associated with creating the cut contour – and this charge may be more for bitmap art than for vector art.
In addition to determining the proper design tool, inquire about additional requirements. For example, your sign manufacturer may ask you to outline fonts in your art to avoid possible font substitution. Other common requirements may include:
- Flatten Transparencies
- Convert Stroke to Outlines
- Specific File Format and Version
Keep It Simple
Wording on a sign should be limited to only that which is most important. A sign is no place for paragraphs or your message will be lost. Few, if any will take the time to read it. If you can your customers’ attention and they’re interested, additional detail can be provided in another manner. For example, if your company is having a sale, a banner outside your store will spark interest; detail can be provided in a flyer once the customer enters your store.
Though color is an important consideration in designing a sign, overuse of color will make your message difficult to read. Design elements that are not part of your message should be limited so that your message isn’t overpowered. For example, scrolls, borders, clip art, and flourishes in a variety of colors throughout your sign may get attention, but can detract from the message if overused. Colorful backgrounds, gradients, drop shadows and other text affects may showcase your artistic talent, but should be used sparingly – only to the point that they support message conveyance.
Design Element Resources
When computers became popular, I recall an artist lamenting “more bad art”. Sadly, there is some truth in his observation – owning a computer doesn’t make you an artist. Bear this in mind when looking for design elements. The internet makes it easy to find inexpensive, and even free clip art, fonts and other design elements. We have encountered a number of these “free” resources that range from problematic to completely unusable. These include:
- Fonts with poor metrics and hinting that require manual adjustment to letter spacing and kerning
- Illustrator brushes with corner elements that don’t align with horizontal and vertical elements. A border created with this type of brush will look fine on screen, but the alignment issue becomes apparent when printed on a large banner.
- “Vector” files with content that is actually bitmap. Saving a bitmap in a vector format doesn’t make it scale better.
- Vector art that uses text created in custom fonts. If your sign company doesn’t have these fonts, they’ll be substituted. The designer should have converted the text to outlines before making their “free” design available to the public.
We’re not suggesting that usable design elements aren’t available at no cost, though generally you get what you pay for. If you use free design elements, be aware of issues you may encounter, and be prepared to accept the possible consequences. These consequences may include unexpected quality issues, or additional design fees charged by your sign company to fix issues encountered in your artwork.
Legibility
Your choice of font, letter size, colors used and location all affect how legible your sign will be. Your sign company’s designer can help you make good choices. If you’re unfamiliar with the many factors that affect legibility, consult with your sign company or research online by searching for terms such as “sign legibility contrast” and “sign legibility distance” for guides and rules of thumb.
Though other materials are available to our customers, one such guide is published on our website here: Contrast And Legibility
About Spectrum Signs
Spectrum Signs is an independent, locally owned, full service sign manufacturing company located in south Orange County – Mission Viejo, California. We are affiliated with over 240 independent sign companies with access to resources nationwide. This affiliation provides significant discounts from sign suppliers, and allows us to offer competitive pricing without compromising in quality and service.
For more information, contact:
Spectrum Signs
23382 Madero Suite L
Mission Viejo, CA 92691
(949) 297-3800
