By Bob Behounek
Posted on Friday, October 31st, 2025
Communication arrives in various formats these days—some carefully thought out; some not so much. If we are the least bit alert and looking for things to read, there’s certainly plenty to pick from. It’s our choice what we choose to look at and try to understand.
Every day in our travels, we come across the messages of so many businesses, whether it be an advertisement or some general information. Our lives are so much easier when this information can be comprehended clearly and somewhat quickly.
Our design clinic this time centers around a common white box truck displaying a grouping of text with very little difference in height and weight. That’s right—little or no contrast within the text or the design. There are three lines of black letters and numbers that look all about the same. I really don’t see anything here that pops forward or dominates this information in any way.
As always, we do not know why this truck has such a generic look. We can only speculate. Was it a cost issue to not sink any design time into this ad? Maybe the client ordered the vinyl graphics and applied them in house? Maybe all that was required was to have some basic information to identify this vehicle?
I’m sure we have all known businesses who would rather be heard and not seen. But whenever a project like this came through the shop, I would definitely offer an alternative to the basic identification we see here.
After careful examination, we see that this white box truck is a delivery vehicle. It’s a special service offered by our appliance store to their customers. That is important. Those three phone numbers at the bottom of the text tell me that this vehicle may also be parked out front often, masquerading as an advertisement.
But these two items, “Delivery Division” and the phone numbers, are both struggling to catch our attention! Gosh, by the time we figure all that out, this white box truck will be in another ZIP code.
Let’s start with a pencil sketch of a new version that will deliver more advertising value. Then I’ll hand letter a version in color, the way we did in the good old days.
To improve the appeal and readability, I’m going to start by placing the company name in a large geometric reversed black shape so folks will instantly know whose truck this is. Downsizing the Co. and Inc. will allow our company name more room so that it will be seen first.
Since this is a delivery truck, I’m going to emphasize that feature with the big red script overlapping onto the black shape. This creates a visual flow from the company name directly to the truck’s purpose, left to right.
The word “Division” is not important, so I’m making it much smaller to clear a pathway for the script. The script not only contrasts our company name but also adds some action or movement, too. So far this box truck is going to tell us two main messages: “Appliance Service” and “Delivery.”
Phone numbers are always difficult to comprehend at any speed, and the three separate numbers will be a mumbo-jumbo mix-up if they all look the same as we whiz by. I’m going to assume this vehicle was intended to advertise rather than divvy out some basic information. Utilizing three separate oval-shaped panels to house these phone numbers will help us to zero in on one should we want to. The darker oval shape in the middle will color separate the two outside panels.
No one will ever be able to read and remember all those phone numbers at one quick glance. Containing each one in a colored shape will keep your eye from trying to deal with all those numbers at once.
This design is just one option that would help our client get advertising value from their delivery truck. Their prospective customers will know who and what this company is doing with this white truck. There’s no over-designing needed here—just a simple, straightforward approach using some contrast in height, weight, color and shape
This appeared in the November/December 2014 issue of SignCraft.
Bob Behounek has spent over 40 years as a sign artist and pinstriper in the Chicago, Illinois, area.
