By signcraft
Posted on Monday, October 2nd, 2023
“Lately, I’ve been using a lot of white lettering on dark backgrounds,” says David Showalter [David Design, Bryan, Ohio]. “The dark-colored backgrounds help provide the punctuation and emphasis. White on black or another dark color has a lot of impact.”
David has always liked dark backgrounds, but during COVID and shortly after, supply chain issues made it hard to get high performance vinyl film in many colors. He ended up buying a few long rolls of black and white and started using the background to deliver the color on the sign.
“Since then you’ll see a lot of white lettering on dark colors in my work,” he says. “White lettering on a dark panel always looks better to me. It’s more dramatic than color combinations that have less contrast.
“I sometimes use yellow along with white primary copy. Like white, yellow looks great on black or a dark background though it’s not as powerful as white on black. Yellow is always a commanding background color, too. Yellow is very pleasing but it can shout, too.
“Shades of black—the gray tones—are also good on a dark background. It’s subtle and it gives you contrast against other white lettering on the sign. You can do the secondary copy in gray to let the white lettering on the main copy to stay in the foreground.”
Make it bold
David usually couples the white of the primary copy with a very bold typeface. It exaggerates the extreme contrast of white on black or other dark color. Secondary copy is usually handled in a lighter weight of the same typeface or some contrasting typeface. The result is a sign with a lot of impact yet a very clean, professional look.
“Other sign designers, like Randy Howe [GetZumExposure.com, Port Dover, Ontario, Canada] use this approach, too. I like his work because he often uses just two or three colors. He uses dark backgrounds with white copy and accents with one other contrasting color. Maybe it’s bold white copy on a black background and then there’s some orange in there. It works because he’s a designer—and he knows when to quit.”
Set your work apart
The last thing you want to do is to have your signs look like most of the signs you see around town. Similar letter styles, similar layouts or similar colors will make your signs disappear into the sea of signs that look generic. This approach separates your work from the crowd.
“Of course you can’t use this approach on every sign,” he says. “White on black isn’t appropriate for every business. But white or light-colored lettering on dark backgrounds is different—most of the signs on the street use dark lettering on white or light backgrounds. Doing the opposite capitalizes on that to make the sign more unique.”
“The red on yellow has a lot of contrast,” says David, “but not as much as the white on black. The top panel is fairly bold, but it steps back from the main message which is ‘Family Store.’
“The different colors for the dots on the ‘I’s adds a little interest, too. It’s something the reader isn’t expecting. Whether the reader knows it or not, they get it subconsciously and it attracts the eye. They realize that something different and unexpected is going on here.”
“Here’s another example,” David says, “done with the same group of colors—white, black, red and yellow. The red and black background panels create a lot impact, and the white lettering is powerful. If you’re driving along looking for Real Products or the upholstery shop, you’ll get that first. If you want more details like what they work on or their phone number, that’s there, too.”
This approach works just as well with other colors when the impact of black, white, yellow and red wouldn’t be appropriate.
