As with most areas in these United States, the Valley of the Sun,  i.e. Phoenix and surrounding cities, has  a wondrous array of sign ordinances that vary by city. Sign codes exist for various well-intended reasons, the primary being to foster a safe and pleasing visual environment for the citizenry. Specifically, the regulations   are designed to balance the need to protect public safety and welfare, with the need for a well-maintained and attractive community while providing for adequate identification, communication and advertising for land uses. Listed objectives for one municipality include: 1)      Ensuring that signs are designed, constructed, installed, and maintained in a way that promotes public and traffic safety. 2)      Allowing and promoting positive conditions for sign communication while maintaining an attractive environment. 3)      Reflecting and supporting the desired character of zoning districts. 4)      Preventing over concentration of signage. 5)      Protecting the constitutionally guaranteed right of free speech. All of these are admirable and mostly beneficial goals for the regulations. The issue for me is the vagueness of the goals. For instance, what exactly is an attractive environment?  How many signs constitute an over concentration of signage? For some observers, an attractive environment means absolutely no signage at all, a condition that also eliminates over concentration! Possibly, item five above protects business owners from those folks. Since every city in the Valley of the Sun has its own character, each also has its own set of sign regulations. And since the goals of the regulations are somewhat vague, the variation from one city to the next is dramatic. The way that cities police conformance to the regulations is through sign permits and even the permitting process differs widely from one city to the next. This is either an opportunity or a pain in the back-side depending how you approach it. Designs Phoenix has become known for creative window graphics and we have several projects in process in different municipalities. While sign ordinances vary across cities in many types of signage, window graphics is possibly the area with the most dramatic differences. Areas of variation include allowable window coverage; how coverage area is calculated; what content is allowable; and whether or not a permit is required. Phoenix and the surrounding cities make up an area roughly one-and-a-half times the size of Rhode Island (I wonder if Rhode Islanders get annoyed at all the comparisons, but that is another topic) and it takes hours to drive from one side to the other. Designs Phoenix therefore concentrates on five cities. But even among the five there is great variation. Here is a listing of the window regulations: Two allow 100% coverage with no permit required; one allows 30% with no permit; one requires a comprehensive sign package for every multi-tenant property, with a 25% no-permit guideline; and one allows 30% with a permit required for each window panel along with a substantial review fee. The obvious question is why the variation – would it not be easier and more conducive to an attractive overall environment to have a uniform guideline? The current situation leads to confusion and lack of uniformity. We are actually working on a window project for a client that would not be allowed if they were located on the other side of the street. Anyway, the point of all this is that sign codes do exist and you need to choose a sign company that can navigate the regulation and permit maze.