Sign Design Tips

November 9, 2021

Being a business owner in Los Angeles or Orange County has its benefits and quirks. These counties are one of the most populated in the United States, home to millions of people. If you want your business to get noticed, how would you get that done? Letting your services show through signage is a way to make your business stand out.

Table of Contents

Why Signage Is Important

If you are confident about your brand, showcase your business to the greatest visual capacity. Creating effective signage can do the trick. The quality and attractiveness of signs will draw attention to your company. It will reinforce what your business is known for and what it is capable of.

You also want your brand image or logo on your signs to be memorable. Your brand logo presents a sense of location and familiarity. You’d be surprised how many people can recall a restaurant’s logo and connect it to the types of food they serve. Promoting brand awareness through your sign can give customers a visual cue of who you are.

Can you recall how many shops you visited and remember their location and logo, even years after? This artful method is crucial to getting noticed and staying relevant.

New Signs for New Businesses

If you are a new business, effective signage is a must to enhance your reputation. What makes a good sign different from the rest of the signs around you? Incorporating an up-to-date sign means customers can easily spot your business, and therefore will draw attention to current and prospective customers. A well-designed sign can attract customers because it shows people you invest in your business’ reputation.

As with most projects, establishing your brand through signage will take time. As your business progresses and gains more customers or clients, your sign will be a feature used as a landmark and a way to showcase your company’s name.

Determine What Type of Sign Will Work Best

Tips for Designing the Perfect Sign

The right design for your sign will depend on your business and how you want to portray your brand. Consider these six sign design tips to get started.

1. Determine What Type of Sign Will Work Best

It’s a given that Los Angeles is full of businesses that run late into the night. If you are a business with late operating hours, a colorful electrical sign may do the trick. Electrical signs can work inside or outside the building for visual presentation.

Your sign does not have to be directly on the building. Pylon signs let your business stand out because these structures stand on their own.

A solution for stores, banks and other high-traffic businesses to get noticed is an electronic message center. These signs provide LED technology for you to display current messages as well as brand awareness. Almost like a television, your customers will notice it easily and can gather information on the local community and store specials.

Want to make your business seen from the front? Inviting customers in with a channel letter style sign will provide an easily readable company name with a unique illuminated effect. The individualized letters of your brand will make a great impact on curb appeal and brand recognition.

2. Consider Indoor Signs and Outdoor Signs

If your business is located on the third floor of a building in downtown Los Angeles, it would be beneficial to use an interior sign to direct your customers to the right place. Other than a destination marker, your interior sign can also represent your brand and your purpose.

How many businesses do you know of that don’t have an outdoor sign? Just remember that both electrical and non-electrical signs are good in their own ways. An interior non-electrical sign would work well for establishing your place, and an outdoor electrical sign would be great to direct customers during low-light conditions.

3. Think About Your Location

Take a moment to figure out how your sign will work in the busy parts of Orange County. Think of the surrounding area around your company’s building. Consider what the colors, architecture and style of the street look like. Would you want to design a dimensional sign that pops out to your clients or a free-standing sign for the grass area in front of your building? Either display can work well, depending on what you’re looking for.

Before you install your sign, it is important to check with your sign company regarding a comprehensive site survey. Conducting this survey will give you a better idea of an appropriate sign location based on local city codes. This way, you will also get better visuals of the size, color scheme and shape of your sign. Your sign company’s design team can provide you with detailed drawings and plans regarding accurate size, elevation and structural details.

4. Consider Text, Images and Font

According to the United States Sign Council, a driver can see your sign at any given viewing distance based on five factors:

  1. Illumination
  2. Letter style
  3. Letter color
  4. Background color
  5. Word case

During the design stage, you’ll need to consider from what vantage point your customers will see your sign. If you have a prospective customer driving on a highway at night time, consider how tall your letters are and if they are lit up. Combining the right amount of text and images into your sign makes it both appealing and visible at farther viewing distances.

Space is essential to making your signage readable. Think of the spacing between letters and make sure your sign is readable from a distance. A professional sign company will be experts in the necessary perspective and dimensions of your sign.

5. Make Your Sign Match Your Brand

Remember what your business represents and how you want your customers to remember you. Choose a design style that matches the character of your organization or your product. Always consider the color scheme as well — do you want your business to fit in with the other partners in your area or stand out with bright colors on a new street?

Make your sign stand out with a theme, or make it represent a favorite item from your store. For example, if you were a shoe store owner in Huntington Beach, your most popular seller would probably be beach sandals. Highlight that sandal within your company logo, so customers can connect the dots and know exactly what your brand is known for.

6. Know the Message You Want to Convey

If you are a serious business owner, you want to show your community an image of what you’re all about. So make a sign that shows exactly that! Things you can keep in mind are:

  • Consistency
  • Relevance
  • Company goals

Understanding what your customers want at your store is important to your business and signage. Consider the demographic or characteristics of customers that come into your store. Would you want to make your sign easy to read for older adults who are getting an eye exam? Or bright neon signage for younger night-life goers? In both instances, figuring out your customers’ personas is valuable to designing your best sign.

How Can You Design the Best Sign?

Still having trouble figuring out effective signage for your business? Communicate with your other team members and ask what the best way to represent the company is. Allowing room for feedback and suggestions from other fellow team members can bring a refined understanding of what your company is all about and further your company’s image. Also, consider looking at other successful signs for inspiration.

Design Your Sign With Signergy

Design Your Sign With Signergy

Knowing tips on sign design is important for growing your business and keeping a successful image. Here at Signergy we have been providing full-service sign projects for businesses within the Los Angeles and Orange County areas for over 20 years. No matter how big or small your business is, we can offer you high-quality visual solutions to get your brand noticed by your target audience.

Contact Signergy to create your custom sign for your Los Angeles or Orange County business, or give us a call at 310.893.5707!

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