ARCHIVE: Category Archive for: Signage Tips

Issues in Sign Illumination

It’s understandable that local communities would want to regulate the signs that businesses install. City residents are naturally interested in maintaining high standards regarding community appearance and aesthetics. The problem is that local codes can easily become overly restrictive, and inadvertently prevent business owners from advertising in legitimate ways, particularly as technology and community standards change. Sign lighting is one of the most problematic issues within this regulatory arena. For example, many communities have regulations that simply assume nighttime illumination of signage is automatically harmful and unsightly. As a result, these communities often enact overly restrictive codes that can negatively impact the community’s economic health, as well as impose unnecessary costs on small business owners struggling to keep their heads

Channel Letter Signs Offer Many Advantages

Channel letters are among the most common signs we make, and for good reason. They are cost effective, easily shaped, extremely vivid (when designed well), and long lasting. Here are a few facts you probably don’t know about channel letter signage: 1. Because of the innate flexibility of channel letter fabrication, these three-dimensional signs can be made in almost any font or graphical shape, in almost any size, color and style. The major limitation on channel letter signage tends to be local zoning codes and other regulations. 2. Channel letters displayed against a solid color background can be seen and recognized from great distances. One common guideline is to size the letters 1.5 inches high for every 25 feet you

5 Things You Didn’t Know About ADA Signage

The term “ADA Signs” is now in widespread use among architects, general contractors, developers, and signage experts. “ADA” stands, of course, for the Americans with Disabilities Act. But the term “ADA Signs” is misunderstood almost as often as it is interpreted correctly. For example: 1. A great many people believe that “ADA Signs” refers to those containing Braille symbols for the benefit of people who are visually impaired. That’s like saying elevators are installed in buildings for the benefit of people who are unable to climb stairs. The claim is true, as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. While signs containing Braille and other raised characters are a highly visible expression of the ADA requirements,

Metro Sign & Awning Announces A New E-Book on the Intricacies of Wayfinding Signage

We’ve written in this space about wayfinding signs more than once, but we’re still getting questions about them from business owners, architects, developers and construction industry people. To satisfy their curiosity and give everyone a place to start finding answers on their own, we’ve now compiled a brand new e-book on Wayfinding Signage. It covers such important topics as: What makes wayfinding signage so difficult to do well? Why bother struggling to get wayfinding signage just right? How to take the big first step on any wayfinding signage project. and much more. As experts in wayfinding (and other) signage, we actively enjoy sharing what we know with others. So it was fun for us to compile this easy-to-read e-book, which

Today’s Signage Quiz (Number 3 in a Series)

How much do you really know about signs and signage? Avid readers of this Metro Sign and Awning blog are probably near-experts in signs and signage, with a detailed understanding of signage technology and an encyclopedic knowledge of signage history. To see how much you know, here’s a quick quiz based on previous posts in this blog. How many answers can you get right? All the answers should be known to you, provided you’ve been reading this blog: Question 1: How many ways can you easily calculate the Return on Investment (ROI) of your signage: a) In comparison with other advertising expenditures. b) In comparison with any other expenditure – a purely financial calculation. c) In comparison with your competitors’

6 Things I Know About Basketball and the Sign Business part II

What a game, right? Now you know why I wanted to take a break. This is Part 2 of my blog post, 6 Things I Know About Basketball (and the Sign Business). In case you missed Part 1, find it here. 4. It’s not all fun and games. Taking your play to the next level Of course winning feels good. But even when our team is playing top-notch ball, we know there’s a team out there that could beat us. And particularly with young athletes, we know the competition is going to get tougher each year.  As a coach, I have to balance letting the girls enjoy the game and their successes while at the same time pushing them to

7 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Logo Design

Your logo is an essential part of your business identity. Properly designed, it provides an instant – and memorable – point of recognition for who you are and what you do. Having been around the track a few times, we have first-hand experience with both the difficulties and the opportunities inherent in any logo design or redesign project. We’d like to share with you some of what we have learned. Whether you are developing a new logo from scratch or updating one that has outlived its effectiveness, there are at least six things to bear in mind: 1. Before you consider any logo design, be sure you understand your prospective customer or clients as deeply as you can. An effective

Vehicle Wraps: Taking Your Message to the Road

Vehicle Wraps: Taking Your Message to the Road Your business vehicles are on the road all day – service and installation calls, business meetings, deliveries. Why not have those vehicles do double duty? Vehicle “wraps,” which display you ad messages on the sides of trucks, vans and even personal automobiles, allow your business to use high-visibility and highly mobile vehicles as a way to reach new prospects and customers effectively and economically. One vehicle can generate thousands of impressions per year. With an average life of five years and available at relatively low cost, a vehicle wrap can produce a favorable impression for just pennies. In fact, compared to more traditional forms of advertising – outdoor signs, television, print and

Keeping Up With the Signage Industry

It’s not easy staying current in the fast-paced world of business signage. That’s why the team at Metro Sign and Awning likes to take time when possible to visit with colleagues and take advantage of trade shows with educational opportunities like the upcoming Digital Signage Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center, March 10-13, 2015. We like to keep abreast of current and future trends in our industry, including advanced display technologies, best practices, and new thoughts on how to meet the needs of our retail customers. This particular show offers the 4,000 or more signage industry professionals who attend plenty of collaborative peer-to-peer “Idea Exchanges,” bolstered by lectures and panel presentations, seminars, and roundtable-format discussions. The schedule this year

Signage in the News

Have you discovered the Metro Sign and Awning Industry News page yet? Each week we gather information of interest to those in the sign industry, as well as business people who care about signage. Here are a few recent highlights: “Ghost” Signs Remind Us of Our Heritage Signage is not only an active, vibrant industry. It’s the basis of an historical record that can remind us of where we’ve been as a city, and as a society. Faded signs from bygone eras – so-called “ghost” signs – provide a trail of metaphorical breadcrumbs that can lead us back through the decades to the beginnings of cultural phenomena that now seem fixed in stone. Ghost Signage These fading signs are more

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