By signcraft
Posted on Monday, January 12th, 2026
If you read Jeff Cahill’s article this week, “Should you emphasize the name or the product/service?”, we’d like to know your opinion on this topic. There are sign designers in both camps who have their reasons for what they believe should get top billing on a sign or vehicle: The company name or the product or the service that they offer.
Given that most people are moving when they see a sign or a truck on the road, Jeff’s case for making “Appliance Repair” more prominent than “Eastside” makes sense. Why emphasize “Eastside” when, in those precious three seconds of reading time, what most viewers need to know first is that this company does appliance repair?
On the other hand, when you consider that the town may have three or ten or twenty appliance repair companies, is it important to let viewers know that this is the building or vehicle of one particular appliance repair company and they need to remember that company?
The third viewpoint straddles both sides of the issue and says viewers need to get the whole message in one bite. The entire company name, “Eastside Appliance Repair,” should be equally emphasized.
Of course, the sign designer often doesn’t get much control over the emphasis. Some business owners want to see their name in lights and make it clear that’s what they want. But we’d like to know which approach you prefer when the business owner leaves the layout up to you or when they ask you for a recommendation on which should be emphasized.
We hope you’ll take one minute to tell us where you stand on this issue. We’ll tally up the responses and share them in next week’s eletter, along with the comments we receive. Thanks for being a part of this!
In this layout, the name gets all the emphasis thanks to the large size, carving and gold leaf.
There’s no doubt what Susan sells on this sign by Randy Howe, [Getzum Exposure, Port Dover, Ontario, Canada].
On this van by Paul Martin [Martin Signs & Lines, West Allis, Wisconsin], the name and product/service get equal billing.
