Commercial Signage: Strategies to Creating Effective, Custom Business Signs

When it comes to creating attention grabbing commercial signage, clarity, layout, and brevity are essential. Without these 3 key components of successful business signs, your business signage gets lost in the traffic. The following strategies will increase the effectiveness of your commercial signage.

Brevity

Douse your audience in TMI (too much info), and you'll drown their attention spans. Remember to get to the point at a glance. Truly effective business signage is that which says the least. When your audience does a drive-by, how much time do they have to understand the sign? Traffic lights might buy you some time, but not much, especially if there's a good song on the radio. Business signs should scream one or 2 words at the most. You can follow that up with a phrase, but those 1 or 2 words should be something that viewers can really bite their teeth into.

The object of commercial signage is to get them in the door or get them online. You don't need to detail products or services. Pictures say a million with one look. Logo is important as brand placement, but don't forget those one or 2 focus words that are the real hook of your custom signs.

Clarity

Background designs should be compelling, not confusing. Don't let them overpower the main message of your business signs, those few focus words that grab your viewers. Today's technology can craft a beautiful background for business signage. Add a message, and you might think you've got custom signs that work as art. Watch out. What looks good on a computer screen isn't always readable, especially if you're flying by in a Corvette doing 90. Background colors and patterns may add zip to a sign, but there's a limit. Don't overpower the eyes. You'll lose the message.

Layout

When designing commercial signs, start with the message, not the background. Your message is the most important information on custom signs. The background is, well, just background. It holds your message. It doesn't make it. Remember, brevity is best friends with business signage. Your key message should be the largest and most noticeable element in your commercial signage. Once you've located that prominently, you can add some contact information, ideally one source such as a website, phone number or location. These days, a website may very well be your best bet.

Keep these 3 key elements in mind when designing your business signage. Designing custom signs is an art that really is about simplicity. Business signs need to be striking, but they don't need to detail every aspect of your business. Get them in the door or have them find you online. Then you can get into the key aspects of your business. Consider commercial signage as your business card. It's what starts the conversation. Once they're in the door, you can take it from there.

About the Author:

Carl Jain is the author of this article on Custom Sign. Find more information about Commercial Signs here.