A sign designer is a bit of a maverick to the world of graphic design. A designer in the signage industry incorporates aspects of technical computer-aided design (CAD) drawing with traditional graphic design sensibility while also considering the technicalities of fabrication, architecture, municipality guidelines, and the science of sign effectiveness.
Designers, like the team at Lemberg, use their knowledge in these areas to create visually appealing designs that meet the customer’s allocated budget and their business communication goals.
Ultimately, signs exist to convey a message, be it brand awareness, an instruction, a warning, or notification. Much of the scientific research around signage is related to highway and safety signs. However, according to the Sign Research Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the science behind the effectiveness of signage within communities, there are three components of effective signage that are consistent across all types of signs.
1. Sign Location
Signs are viewed within the context of where they are located. How long a viewer has to read the sign, the viewing angle, how distracting the surrounding signage may be all play a part in a sign’s effectiveness. Whether your sign is intended for a driver or a pedestrian, the sign's size and text are critical to how quickly a viewer can absorb the message and react.
2. Sign Viewer
Whether your sign is meant to be read by a driver or a pedestrian, where a sign sits within the viewer’s line of sight is important. The most effective signage is viewed naturally, without causing the viewer to turn, strain, squint, or otherwise work to read the sign. Ease of viewership is especially important when designing signs meant to be read by drivers. Factors like age, corrected vision, night blindness, and other eye issues further complicate sign design. If a sign is to speak to an older audience, these factors need to be considered when designing and placing a sign.
3. Sign Design
Elements such as logos, color, contrast, letter size, font choice, and lighting are very relevant no matter the sign’s message or purpose. These essential design elements can create memorable signage that causes viewers to know your brand instantly. Consider well-known brands such as NIKE, Starbucks, Apple. These brands have harnessed recognition so much that they don’t need the text portion of their signs to be recognized.
Sometimes creative designers pair with architects to create signage that is integral to the building architecture. It makes a statement that surpasses brand and messaging and takes the viewer to an emotional place that relates to the architecture. Consider the Minnaert Building in Utrecht, Netherlands, where the signage appears to be supporting beams for the structure. Similarly, at the House of Terror in Budapest, Hungary, the signs are made by the light shining through stenciled letters on the rooftop.
General Principles of Signage Design
Basic principles of design exist in all types of sign design. These include legibility, contrast, and negative space. Professional sign designers are trained to use these principles in various ways to create successful compositions.
Legibility
Legibility is defined as the ease with which a reader can distinguish one letter from the next. It affects the readability of a sign and is dependent upon elements like font, size, space between letters and lines in a paragraph. These can range widely from flowery script to simple block lettering with no “serif.” Legibility can also be affected by sign placement, the distance a viewer is from a sign, or the speed at which the viewer is passing.
Contrast
Contrast is essential to the viewer’s ability to absorb a sign’s message quickly. Contrast is the difference between colors and where they are used within a sign design. Colors with high contrast sit opposite one another on the color wheel, a tool used by artists and designers. Examples of these are black and white, red and green, purple and yellow. Using high contrast colors, like black text on a white background, can improve legibility and create a more energetic design. Low contrast colors, meaning those that sit next to one another on the color wheel such as yellow and orange, create a calmer design.
Additionally, colors also have varying degrees of luminance, which is the color’s reflective quality. Darker colors like red, navy, and black are less reflective than lighter colors like green, yellow, or white.
Negative Space
The space around the text and objects in a sign is considered the negative space. These spaces have shapes unto themselves and provide the viewer with a place to rest their eyes as they absorb the sign and message. Negative space can be blank as it would be on a sign with a basic shape, or it can be filled with visual distractions of the surrounding area as with an architectural sign. Consider the FedEx “arrow” that appears in space between the “E” and the “x.” It’s a clever way to hint at fast delivery.
A good designer will take your sign’s specific intended location into account when designing your sign to avoid negative space distractions or cleverly use negative space to your brand’s advantage.
Challenges to Signage Design
Sign designers are often met with challenges that they need to work with and around in order to create pleasing designs that meet both the customers’ expectations and the restrictions of placement. Restrictions might include municipal codes, fabrication, architecture, or sign placement.
Municipalities and Codes
Reputable sign companies like Lemberg have extensive knowledge of municipal restrictions and how they might affect a sign’s design. For example, a customer’s logo might fit the front of a building and be most legible at a certain size, but the municipal code only allows for a sign half the size. The tension between municipalities and customer expectations can create a tight squeeze on designers resulting in less effective sign design.
Brand Guidelines
Graphic designers understand the value of a solid set of brand guidelines, and make every effort to work within those. There are times when designers have to stretch the rules to translate what might look great in print onto the larger and three-dimensional world of signage. Uncompromising brand guidelines such as the amount of required space around a logo or allowed background colors can also create less effective sign designs that may not illuminate well when put into place.
Fabrication Methods and Materials
The majority of signage is created from sheet aluminum and plastic substrates, which have limitations. A professional designer understands the fabrication process and will steer clear of designs that will be difficult or costly to create. For example, a channel letter is a very common and widely used sign type, but shapes of letters with a stroke (or thickness) of less than 1.5-inch become very difficult if not impossible for a fabricator to weld.
In the example here, this is exactly the case. The customer requested a lighted sign in a minimal, interior space. To achieve the proper effect without taxing the budget, the team left the logo intact and created a cloud shape around the logo. They proposed a black backdrop for mounting to enhance the design.
Architecture and Land
Architecture and the land at the sign installation site also need to be considered. Smart designers often incorporate architectural elements from the building and understand the ultimate location for the sign. This is especially important in the cases of monument or wall-mounted signage. Simply repeating building materials and colors helps to establish a connection between the sign and the building. When a sign family is being designed, it’s important to consider existing materials so that all signs are cohesive and relate to one another, creating a visual wayfinding experience.
The Ultimate Purpose of Signage
The role of a sign is to either:
- Publicize the brand
- Send a message
- Inform
- Direct
- Or several of the above
The components, elements, and challenges discussed here are all considered against the backdrop for how well the end product will publicize, inform or direct.
Sign designers must understand two other areas to create effective signage: ADA compliance and wayfinding.
The American Disabilities Act sets parameters for signage that is considerate of those with vision or mobility disabilities. Designers who work with customers to produce a family of signs will likely need to integrate ADA compliance into the design. Knowledgeable designers will be able to offer expertise and guidance where this is the case.
To learn more about ADA compliance for business and accessible signage, read this blog.
As buildings and campuses become more and more complicated, signage is being used to assist visitors in finding their way to parking, the appropriate entrances or exits, and even to a specific location within a building. This type of signage is referred to as wayfinding signage. Colors, shapes, and even sounds are integrated to create a memorable breadcrumbed path or “mental map” for visitors to follow to and from their destinations. Hospitals, airports, universities, and even city subway systems are common areas for wayfinding signage.
Building Signage Ideas and First Steps
When deciding on a new sign design, it helps to do a little research first. You can find indoor and outdoor building signage ideas and inspiration by visiting our projects page and looking through some of our recent signage projects.
If you want to learn more about the step-by-step new sign process, from design to maintenance long after installation, download our Ultimate Guide to Choosing and Maintaining a Business Sign. This guide also covers:
- Types of business signs
- Lighting options
- Construction options
- And more!
Contact a Lemberg sign representative today to get a project started at (267) 781-1500 or email at info@lembergelectric.com.
Eric has sixteen years of design experience in the sign industry and has been with Lemberg since 2012. He holds a B.F.A. in Illustration from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD). He thrives on the creative process and design challenges of his role. Eric is a master in vector-based Technical Drawings, utilizing the Adobe Creative Suite / CAD Tools. He has a background in signage production with experience in CNC routing, vinyl graphic application, digital printing & interior sign fabrication.