Give the main message the space it deserves

By signcraft

Posted on Sunday, October 20th, 2024

Ever wonder why some signs have so much more impact than most of the others? It’s because the designer used basic design principles that have proven to increase a sign’s effectiveness. The first of those principles involves deciding what is the sign’s primary message and what is the secondary or supporting copy. The remaining principles involve knowing how to emphasize the primary message.

A viewer can only read one message at a time. Most only take the time to read one message before deciding whether to continue reading the rest of the sign. As a sign designer, you want to make sure that they get that primary message first.

Bob Behounek [Berwyn, Illinios] once shared a time-tested way in SignCraft that ensures that the primary message gets read and gets read first. It involves knowing how much of the total sign area to devote to this essential message.

Bob says to allow about two-thirds of the sign’s total message area to the main message. He learned this guideline as a young apprentice from Ken Millar, the well-known sign designer and instructor at the union school in Chicago. Majority rules, and the primary message should get most of the total area of the sign.

And it’s true. It doesn’t matter how appropriate or cool the typeface that you chose for the primary copy is or how interesting the graphic is if it isn’t given the majority of the space on the sign–or at least half the total area. If the sign is for informational rather than advertising purposes, this formula doesn’t always apply. But much, if not most, signage is meant for advertising, so that’s our focus here.

You’ll see this principle in much of the highly effective sign work you see on SignCraft.com. These examples show how much impact this adds to a sign.

At first, two-thirds of the sign may seem like a lot of real estate to take up for just a few words and maybe a graphic. But that primary message is the most critical part of the sign. If readers miss that, all is lost. By devoting plenty of the sign’s space to this message, you’re taking the first step towards ensuring that most viewers will get that essential message—then continue on to read the secondary information if they want.