Don’t create a layout or legibility problem for yourself

By signcraft

Posted on Monday, May 30th, 2022

Sign design can be challenging enough without creating problems for ourselves. Clients make demands, budgets are limited, deadlines are looming. Why make it harder by making a layout mistake that shoots you in the foot before you even get started?

Here are six “Don’ts” that will help keep you out of trouble and spare you a lot of needless suffering—followed by a dozen idea-packed photos to inspire you:

Don’t place text over photographs. That creates clutter that makes the letters harder to read. Your goal is to make them easier to read, right? If the photo has to be on the sign, keep the text off it.

Don’t use low levels of contrast between the lettering and the background. Unless, of course, you DON’T want the message to be read quickly and easily. But who spends money on signs that they don’t want people to read? Ivory lettering on a pale blue background doesn’t work. A sign with a soft, laidback, tasteful feel still needs contrast if you want it to be read.

Don’t forget the time the reader has to get the message quickly. Consider the average reading distance for the sign and how fast the average reader will be moving. If it’s 50 feet off the road and traffic moves at 45mph, they will have about three seconds to read it. Simplicity and contrast are your friends.

Don’t waste the budget on things that won’t deliver much impact. Unless the viewer has time to notice and appreciate them, he or she won’t get the cool effects. From 75 feet away, a woodgrain background is barely perceptible. A pale gray outline will disappear. A complex illustration will become just a blob of colors.

Don’t use a vertical oval. Or at least avoid it, unless it’s a low-impact graphic like a residence sign. It’s very hard to make a sign on a vertical oval and have it read effectively. If you use one, get the important text in the optical center. Otherwise our attention goes right to the center of the matter and there’s no message there. There may be a nice image, but it may not be enough to get the point across. At least with a horizontal oval you can usually make the lettering large enough to hold its own.

Don’t use long skinny panels the reader has to read from top to bottom. We’re trained to read left to right. Reading top to bottom, one letter at time, really slows us down. Unless you’re trying to simulate a period sign and the word is short and easily recognized, avoid that type of layout.

Don’t compromise the main message. Every sign has a primary, essential message which is the very reason for making the sign in the first place. Everything else on the sign should be used to make that primary message more effective and appealing. If it doesn’t, get rid of it.

So if those are the don’ts, what should you do? Here are some great examples of effective layout that avoid these pitfalls and keep your next layout project on track. Enjoy!