It amazes me every day that I drive down the street and see the same outdoor advertising graphic design mistakes being repeated over and over again. Business owners trying to make a living with a street presence barley get attention.
There are two scenarios that I see regularly.
- A potential customer walks into a custom sign shop and states their budget. The sign shop owner is weak, afraid of losing a potential sale, so he delivers a sign product designed to fit the proposed cost. With a simple education style, the sign shop could have sold a product that would have made more money for their store and the customer.
- Another customer walks into the sign shop with a design or design concept that sucks. Once again, the fear of losing the customer causes the sign maker to deliver the useless sign. Money down the drain.
Here are some key design elements I’ve learned over 15 years in the outdoor advertising industry.
1. Remember that potential customers of all backgrounds and ages are watching your business from a moving vehicle, in traffic, day and night. They should be able to easily see and read your outdoor advertising. Don’t try to sell them with information on the sign; save that information until they are at your business. 2. The correct design and layout of your sign is critical to its effectiveness. Filling the sign with too much text makes it impossible to read from a car or from a distance. Therefore, the fewer words, the better. Use the old adage – KISS method – Keep It Simple, Son. 3. Understand the concept of “first reading”. There should be a focal point located on the sign that makes an impact and draws attention. Ideally, the first read should incorporate branding elements like a large graphic or your company logo. 4. Your signal is your “first impression” with the mobile marketplace, and first impressions are lasting impressions. Your outdoor advertising should project the positive image you want the public to have of your business. Potential customers will judge the inside of your business by its outside appearance. 5. Many owners mistakenly think that a sign is simply a device that identifies the business. What they don’t realize is that more than half of all new retail sales are the result of impulse purchases. People see, buy and buy. If your outdoor advertising is ineffective, it will cost you much more in lost sales than the full cost of a good sign. 6. Your outdoor advertising must have a visual impact. You need to make your products or services, and your location, easy to remember. 7. Make sure colors are used in contrasting patterns. Green on blue is not readable, while black on white is extremely visible. 8. If you have multiple colors on a chart, stay away from multi-colored lines of text or words (they will compete with the colors on your chart). Black text is better. 9. Ideally, the design and colors of your location or building should reinforce the design and colors of your sign (or vice versa). Color is probably the easiest and most cost-effective device for this design coordination for business identification. 10. “Blank space.” This is the surface area of a sign face that is uncovered by text or graphics. The right amount of white space is just as important to fast reading as graphics, text, and colors. In fact, 30-40% of the front area of the sign should be left as white space for optimal readability.
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