Effective Sign Design Tips

Designing your own custom vinyl banner or custom magnetic (as well as any of our other products) can be a great way to get exactly the final look you want. But remember – quite often your custom sign or banner is the first thing people see that is associated with your business, so a professional-looking design is of the utmost importance.

To help you get the most out of your custom banner design experience – whether using our Online Sign Designer or another program on your computer - eSigns has some design tips to help.

Visibility

You can order your custom vinyl banner in a variety of sizes. Make sure you have chosen a size that is appropriate for the distance you expect your custom banner to be seen from. Consider where it will be located and what obstacles may be in the way. Visibility is the most important part of your signage.

Overall Design

How do you plan to use your custom vinyl banner or any other product? Are you creating a custom sign that is event-specific or is it intended for use in a variety of settings? This can help you decide what text styles, colors and backgrounds you will want to use on your custom sign.

Less is More

When designing any signage less can be more! Leaving space around the edges and not filling the space completely with your text will add impact to what you do use on the banner. Put a minimum of information with some sort of contact information (like a phone number or web address) instead of everything about your event on your sign. Be concise but make sure needed information is included.

Type and Fonts

Choose only one or two fonts for your custom banner or sign. Choosing 2 fonts that compliment each other can make your message stand out. Use fonts that are clearly legible from further away.

The following chart from the United States Sign Council (USSC) will help you to determine what size type is needed for your custom banner.

Photographs and Colors

Although eSigns.com can print your banner in full color giving you no limit to what you can do, choosing one color scheme and sticking with it can give your custom banner or sign a more finished look. Bright colors will draw attention to your sign, but overuse can take away from your message or make it hard to read. Using full color photographs is a great way to emphasize the main message on your custom sign.

Foreground/Background Colors

When choosing your custom banner or magnetic background, don’t use anything that will make it difficult to focus on your main message. A color wheel will show you the importance of contrast, hue and value when choosing a foreground/background color combination. Opposite colors on the wheel complement each other. For example red and green would be complementary colors. They have a good contrast, but their values are similar, so it is not the best combination.

Colors that are next to each other on the wheel, such as blue and green, make poor color combinations on your custom banner since their contrast is similar in both hue and value. It is hard to see the contrast. Alternating colors, such as blue and yellow, produce the best combinations since they have good contrast in both hue and value. Black contrasts well with any light color and white works well with colors having a dark value. For example, yellow and black are different in the contrast of both hue and value.

Highest visibility color combinations to use on your custom sign according to the Outdoor Advertising Assoc. of America (OAAA) is as follows:

1. BLACK on YELLOW
2. BLACK on WHITE
3. YELLOW on BLACK
4. WHITE on BLUE
5. GREEN on WHITE
6. BLUE on YELLOW
7. WHITE on GREEN
8. WHITE on BROWN
9. BROWN on YELLOW
10. BROWN on WHITE
11. YELLOW on BROWN
12. RED on WHITE
13. YELLOW on RED
14. RED on YELLOW
15. WHITE on RED

Have fun with your design, but make it easy to read and appropriate for your target audience and your business. Color schemes and typefaces that are chosen will reflect on your company. If you want your custom banner or custom sign designed by one of our professionals, please contact us for a quote.