A professional business sign can say a lot about your company. The words you use, the message you deliver, the design and of course the actual quality of the finished sign, can say a lot about your business.

With the help of some less than stellar example of business signs here are our top tips to business sign success.

One Sign At A Time – One Message At A Time

If you’ve carefully crafted a sign with a very clear message, the last thing you want to do is undermine it by placing it beside another sign that contradicts it.

Lesson 1 – Keep the message on your sign simple.

Lesson 2 – Don’t put signs together.

 

 

 

 

 


Do you really need a sign?

If you’re message is so obvious, ask yourself if you really need a sign?

Lesson – First Sign Decision – Do you NEED a sign?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is your sign unintentionally ironic?

The words you use, while well intended and factually accurate can leave you open to some well deserved ridicule. Read it and read it again. Get someone else to read it. Hire a proofreader if you must.

Lesson – Brush up on your copywriting skills.

 

 

 

Does your sign fail the ‘logic’ test?

If you’ve got more than one message on your sign, make sure they compliment each other. Nothing undermines a sign like a message that makes people do a double take.

Lesson – Get someone to read your sign and ask – does this make sense?

 

 

 

Is your sign trying to say too much?

A sign should ideally have one clear message. For a standard business sign, that might be your name and a tagline. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to squeeze too much information into your sign. Keep it simple.

Lesson – Less is more. Keep to a single clear message.

 

 

 

 

Could you communicate it better?

A sign is one of the oldest forms of business communication. Just makes sure communicate your message clearly.

Lesson – Before you sign-off on the copy for your sign, pause to think and ask yourself the question – could we word this better?

 

Is the underlying message of your sign unintentionally worrying?

Be aware that your sign could be carrying a subtext that frankly scares people who read it. Don’t allow people to draw their own conclusions, because sometimes it could be wrong. (We certainly hope the conclusion we jumped to with this one is wrong!)

Lesson – Stick to one message to avoid any embarrassing misinterpretation!

 

Do you really need a sign? (Part 2)

We’d urge you to consider carefully (AGAIN) if you really need a sign?

Lesson – Ask yourself this – are we stating the obvious?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Choose your business sign provider carefully?

There are a huge number of companies that can create professional business signs for your business. Your job is to find one that can perfectly represent your company.

Lesson –Do your homework before selecting a company to entrust your business sign making projects to.

Lesson – Whatever you – don’t be tempted to fashion your own business signs. Leave it to the pros!

 

 

You can learn a lot from bad business signs. Some of the examples we’ve shared are frankly baffling, but we know there are others out there. If you see a sign that makes you laugh – either intentionally or unintentionally could you do as a favour? Could you snap a picture and share it with us? We’d love to add more examples to our ever-growing catalogue of epic business sign fails.

And yes – we’ll give you full credit for unearthing another gem!