When it comes to custom signage, there’s a huge difference between a “good” and a “great” sign.
A great custom sign will help convey important information and answer questions that people might have when they are in a particular area. It will also help sell your product, generate new leads, and in some cases, become a local landmark.
Before you place your next custom sign order, there are a few questions that you should ask yourself. This will help ensure that you receive precisely what you’re looking for and that it does it’s intended job. We want to share with you a cheat sheet that will help you choose and design the perfect sign for your business or organization.
Indoor or Outdoor?
This question will help determine which materials you can select from when it comes time to designing your new sign. Some can stand up better than others to the elements such as heat, cold, wind, rain, and snow. Lighting is another important consideration. Some materials may reflect light better or worse than others—this is really important if your sign is outdoors and poor light reflection renders it impossible to see at a distance.
You’ll also need to consider how you want to display it. Do you want the mounting hardware to be visible or hidden? Will you use a thin but sturdy wire, or will the sign have a strong base that will allow it to stand on its own? Will you need to move the sign every so often, or is it meant to reside in a permanent location?
What Purpose Will Your Sign Serve?
By far, this is the single most crucial question that you’ll need to answer when it comes to designing and ordering custom signage. Are you ordering signage for an upcoming trade show and need to convey specific information? Or perhaps you need something that will permanently reside outside of your business and allow people on foot and in their cars to locate you quickly?
When working with the designers at AlphaGraphics of New Bern, it’s essential to be able to articulate the exact purpose of your sign. This will not only lead to a more persuasive or effective design but can also influence the materials used in its creation.
What Information Do You Need to Convey?
You could have the most visually attractive sign on the block, but if it doesn’t convey the right information—or it conveys too much information—it’s not very effective. The challenge of designing a custom sign is to give just enough information to answer a question—too much and you risk confusing the reader. People don’t want to sit there and read a long novel. Effective sign design dictates that people should be able to quickly glance at the sign and understand the information without having to sit there and read or decipher the text.
Disposable or Durable?
If cost is a factor, keep in mind that more durable materials tend to cost a bit more. For example, if you need an outdoor sign that can stand up to anything Mother Nature can throw at it, Komacel® (durable plastic) or Alumilite (aluminum clad plastic) are two great options that will last a long time. You can have your sign created in a wide range of thicknesses and sizes and it’s often a bit more cost-effective for 3-D signs.
For temporary signage requirements, Coroplast is an ideal choice. This lightweight, cost-effective, corrugated plastic works excellent for lawn signs and has a wide variety of customization options. It’s also non-toxic and waterproof, and you can use it indoors or out. Many people will use them for political campaigns, lawn signs, real estate, short-term outdoor events, and even estate sales.
How Quickly Do You Need It?
Custom signs are just that—custom. As such, they can take a bit more time to create than a standard sign. If time is of the essence, be sure to contact AlphaGraphics of New Bern to get an idea of the standard lead time for a custom sign. One of our friendly sign experts will ask you a few questions to get a better idea of precisely what kind you’re looking to create.
The sky is the proverbial limit when it comes to materials and design—however, some signs may require several steps of highly skilled manually-intensive labor. We understand that time is important to our customers and will make every reasonable accommodation that we can to help ensure that we can meet your deadline.
Custom Sign Design and Creation in New Bern
We can help you with the design and creation of the perfect custom sign for your organization or business. At AlphaGraphics of New Bern, we’re much more than a print shop. We’re also marketing experts who you can count on to help you when it comes time to market your business. To learn more about how AlphaGraphics of New Bern can produce and design your next project, you may
email us,
request a quote, or call us at
(252) 633-3199.