Let the key elements overlap
By signcraft
Posted on Friday, November 25th, 2022
One way to create a unified design is to let the elements bump or overlap each other. Sometimes it is simply the tail of a letter Y encroaching on the panel below. Other times whole words overlap with another key word in the layout. Either way, it creates a cohesive, connected design.
Some sign designers use this technique often. Bob Behounek [Berwyn, Illinois] does—frequently overlaying one element on another to make sure the reader gets the message as one unit.
“When an element touches another,” Bob says, “it becomes a design. The elements are no longer floating around by themselves. They relate. They become one. This concept goes back to the days of Beverly Signs in Chicago in the 1950s. It’s explained in several books on outdoor advertising from that time and it still holds true today. You let key things overlap and all of a sudden you have a design—a logo.”