Picking The Best Font For Your Custom Signs
Your sign pulls double duty. Yes, it gives your target audience information – it tells them the name of your business and conveys what type it is. But your sign also standsas a form of brand recognition for your business. When you select a distinctive and appropriate font for your business, you create and reinforce brand recognition within your community and among your customers and clients. A common way to design a business sign that creates this brand recognition is to use two typefaces and two colors.
Your business sign conveys a message that is dependent on the typestyle and colors you choose, so it’s important to choose the right ones. A bright, slanted or curly typeface will send the message that your business is “cool” and “fun.” Something with long, straight letters in a subdued tone will give the sense that your business is professional and conservative.
No matter what fonts and colors you want to use, the most important thing is that your business sign instantly recognizable. Your aim is to design an unique and different sign that will become the symbol for your brand.
More Than A Feeling
Every font conveys a different mood. While your potential customer may not look at the font you choose and think “wow, that font makes it seem like this restaurant will be a lot of fun,” that is essentially what they’re unconsciously thinking. It’s your job to pick the font that will put the message you want in their mind. The subtle influence of the style of your sign is extremely important.
All fonts can be put into two broad categories:
1.Playful, warm and casual
2. Professional, serious and traditional
There are degrees of professional and playful, and some fonts can be both. The key is to choose a font that is appropriate for what you want to say. If you’re creating a sign for a law office called “Goodridge and Brown,” which font would be more appropriate, Curlz MT or Garamond??
Obviously, the second font is more appropriate for the professional,upscale feeling a law office would want to suggest.
Make It East
What? You want to make sure your sign is extremely easy to read. If a potential customer cannot read your sign, it’s not doing its most basic job, which is providing information. If a person can’t even read your sign do you really think they’ll walk into your business? Of course this seems obvious, but it’s easy to overlook the clarity of your sign when you’re focusing on making it look pretty. Words that look fine up close can be difficult or even impossible to read from a distance.
Don’t Overdo It
Making your text curvy or curled can give your sign some great visual interest. But if it turns your text unreadable, it becomes a problem.
Tips and Tricks
You can convey the feeling and message you want on your custom outdoor business sign with a few simple tricks.
Don’t take it over the top. Anything more than two fonts and two text colors per sign will look confusing and cluttered.
Make sure your primary message stands out above and beyond all other text. For example, this is not a sign with the right primary message:
People will care that the business has been around for so long. It’s a good idea to put that on the sign because it demonstrates that the business is successful. But if only “Since 1985” stands out, no one will remember that it’s Dani’s Day Care that has been around so long.
Figure out what your primary message is before you settle on a typeface. If you want people to recognize that your day care is the most fun around, you’ll want to look for a playful font.
Getting a second opinion never hurts. Ask a friend or fellow business owner what they think the mood of your sign is. It can be difficult to get out of your own head long enough to find a fresh perspective.
Take A Page Out Of Their Book
If you look at the signs of well–known businesses, you’ll see how strikingly simple and readable they are. And you will automatically be familiar with the sign because they have created a recognizable brand.
Could they be any clearer or easy to read?
Best Examples
In the end, less is more and simpler is better. This doesn’t mean you can’t be creative and have a completely unique sign – it just means that it’s best to put clarity first.
To learn more about custom signs, Mr. Holsing invites you to check out TheSignChef.com, where “Signs with Class are Delivered Fast.” TheSignChef is constantly developing free-to-use sign design software, custom sign decision-making tools, and How-To videos to make your sign buying experience efficient and your new custom signs effective.
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