By Bob Behounek
Posted on Friday, June 21st, 2024
Monotony can kill our sign layouts, choking off any possibility of communicating our client’s message. As sign designers we must constantly find ways to squelch boredom in sign design.
On the fast track to effective layout, we first arrive at the main feature or the attention element. This is paramount. It is the key message of the sign. Our surroundings deliver constant blasts, so to speak, to attract our undivided attention. It’s almost impossible to drive around town without these messages cluttering up the scenery. (Wasn’t there a song with those words?)
Imagine looking down from a 10th floor high-rise window and seeing many people wearing black hats. Then, out of nowhere, we spot someone with a red hat. That would demand our attention. Why? Because it’s in direct contrast to all those same, look-alike black hats. Effective sign layouts work the same way, in contrast to the monotony of everyday layouts.
Many of our clients try hard to produce advertising for themselves, whether for phone book ads, newspapers or flyers. The results are usually like forcing 100 pounds of verbiage into a 10-pound bag. Unfortunately, they are often under the assumption that print and signage mediums function alike. But they are quite different. Each calls for careful attention to copy presentation.
I can’t stress enough how every sign must feature a strong attention element. I also feel this can be accomplished by simplicity of design—less is more. (And where have you heard that before?) The bold use of contrasting colors and appropriate graphics will convey a simple message.
Excess copy must go
As we continue our journey through the map of idea development, we find resting along the road the next element of importance: the meaning of our sign—the mere words that convey a message. Many of us try to capture the attention of the eye and mind, yet wind up not even presenting a meaningful idea. Designing signage can be carried way too far—so far that the meaning is lost or cluttered.
The meaning must be clearly visible and communicated quickly and clearly. More often than not, our clients try their darndest to pack in as much clutter as they can—clouding this important element in every way possible. The very reason for making the sign gets compromised. We need not be afraid to remove a lot of this extra subject matter for simplicity’s sake.
Lead viewers to action
As we merge into the passing lane on this design highway, we encounter an element that really makes us accelerate: persuasion. We’re persuaded by action words. They have motivational and psychological importance because they create aesthetic value, feelings or stimulation. Their purpose is to stimulate a viewer into action by just viewing the graphic communication. Hopefully the viewer will want to buy the product or service now.
Design requires discipline
Zooming along, our readability will diminish unless we are professional speed-readers. The sign observer has plenty to distract him or her from concentrating on signage. Commercial districts have quadrupled, there are billboards every 200 feet, vehicles are rolling advertisements—all of these compete for our attention.
Our responsibility to our clients requires us to omit items that are truly not necessary to the subject matter. I always print out a copy of the proposed sign and pin it on the wall in the office, step back 10 feet or so and look at it for about three seconds. This tests it for clarity and lets me know if it will read well once it’s a real sign in the real world.
We are often asked to incorporate logos, trademarks, color combinations and other elements that separate the client from their competition. These special items give a design a recall value. There is an art to conditioning through repetition and exposure. Most of us remember things seen before and can immediately associate with the psychological effect it has on us.
There are so many options—icons, type styles (fonts), graphics—that can be utilized. It’s very difficult to use what’s needed and eliminate the rest. It takes discipline to stay on the task of creating a design that does its job. Even if we’re given a simple message, we still struggle to separate what’s important or not.
Case study: Oaklawn Auto Service
Using Oaklawn Auto Service as our hypothetical client, I decided to separate the copy into four areas. The attention blast is in the round capsule telling the most important message. The persuasive word, “Service,” can activate our client’s customers into action. Contrasting color and shape brings in the blue sharp-cornered arrow shape with the contrasting, harder-to-read script pointing toward our main attention element.
I’m sure the city name is important copy to our client, but in reality we are not selling the town where this service is offered. I’m also positive anyone who is seeing this message already knows they are in the town of Oak Lawn and doesn’t care if it is Burbank, Berwyn or Bumbleville.
Let’s move along to the secondary copy, which explains the services in an easy-to-read medium, contrasting color to the background. It simply tells what type of service is done. As it looks, I think they do it all. It’s an explanation, if you will, of the round encapsulated area, but in no way competing with it.
The way to get in touch with this service is again a squared, geometric shape contrasting in neutral black with maximum visual contrasts. This is for our busy viewer who, while driving by, needed to single out the phone number (while his car is sputtering) and make a quick call to schedule repairs.
I’m sure this sign could have used all the logos of the auto manufacturers to represent the various makes for that instant recall value. But this would have totally cluttered the message. Instead, I chose to use a simplistic stylized, swashy arrow to help speed the eye toward our main feature, filling up the unused open area.
This design is simplistic yet functional, telling a message without monotony. The elements are in contrast to one another in a non-competitive way. Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to work?
The basic copy for this sign is just lines of lettering that compete with each other because everything is equal.
Pulling out the company name helps by organizing the copy in a non-competitive way.
For the sign layout, I separated the copy into four messages and used contrasts in line value, color and shape to make it more appealing.
This article appeared in the July/August 2005 issue of SignCraft.
Bob Behounek has spent over 40 years as a sign artist and pinstriper in the Chicago, Illinois, area.
