Finding Your Font:Making A Typeface Work For You
Finding Your Font:Making A Typeface Work For You
Your outdoor business sign has more than just one job. Yes, it gives your potential customers information it tells them the name of your business and conveys what kind of shop or company it is. But your sign also standsas a form of brand recognition for your business. When you select a distinguishing and suitable font for your business, you create and reinforce brand recognition within your community and among your customers and clients. A common way to design a sign that creates this brand recognition is to use two typefaces and two colors.
The font and color styles you pick choose for your signage convey a message, so it's important to choose the right ones. A bright, slanted or curly font will convey the message that your business is "cool" and "fun." Something with long, straight letters in a subdued tone will make it seem like your business is professional and conservative.
Whatever you do choose, your sign should be instantly recognizable. Your goal is to create an unique and different sign that will become the symbol for your business.
More Than A Feeling
Each typeface conveys a feeling. While your target audience may not look at the font you choose and think "wow, that font makes it seem like this restaurant will be a lot of fun," that is essentially what they're unconsciously thinking. It's your job to pick the font that will put the right message in their mind. The subtle influence of the style of your sign is extremely important.
All typefaces can be put into two broad categories:
1.Friendly, warm and casual
2. Formal, serious and traditional
There are degrees of professional and playful, and some fonts can be both. The key is to choose a font that is appropriate for your message. If you're creating a sign for a law office called "Goodridge and Brown," which font would be more appropriate, Curlz MT or Garamond??
Clearly, the more professional font is the second one, which projects theupscale feeling a law office would want to suggest.
Make It East
What? You want to make sure your sign is extremely easy to read. If a potential customer cannot read your custom business sign, it's not doing its most basic job, which is providing information. If a person can't even read your sign do you really think they'll walk into your business? Of course this seems obvious, but it's easy to overlook the clarity of your sign when you're focusing on making it look nicepretty. Things that work up close can be difficult or even impossible to read from further away.
Don't Overdo It
Making your text curvy or curled can give your sign some great visual interest. But if it turns your text unreadable, it becomes a problem.
Tips and Tricks
There are some simple ways to ensure that the text on your custom outdoor sign will convey the feeling and message you want while remaining easily readable.
Don't take it over the top. Anything more than two fonts and two text colors per sign will look confusing and cluttered.
Your primary message should stand out more than any other text. For example, you wouldn't have your sign say:
It's great that the day care has been around for so long. It's a good idea to put that on the sign because it demonstrates that the business is successful. But if only "Since 1985" catches the eye, no one will remember that it's Dani's Day Care that has been in business so long.
Decide out what your core message is before you settle on a typeface. If you want people to identify your day care as the most fun around, you'll want to look for a playful font.
It's always a good idea to get a second opinion. Ask a friend or fellow business owner what they think the mood of your sign is. It can be difficult to get out of your own head long enough to find a fresh perspective.
Take A Page Out Of Their Book
If you look at the signs of wellknown businesses, you'll see how strikingly simple and readable they are. And you will automatically be familiar with the sign because they have created a recognizable brand.
See how clear and readable they are?
Best Examples
As is often the case, less is more and simpler is better. This doesn't mean you can't be creative and have a completely unique sign it just means that it's best to put clarity first.
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