Signage for the vast majority of us is an attempt to get a message across. Whether it be advertising your company, or displaying a notice, you need a headline or very short message to get your point across. There is a maxim in advertising called 'the two second rule'. This is the attention span of the average person going about their day or business. So in order for any sign to be effective it has to grab the attention of the viewer almost immediately.
If you look at a newspaper, you're not going to sit down and read every word. You're going to skim the page quickly, reading the headlines or looking at any pictures before you decide if you are going to read any of it in detail.
Signage is the same. Imagine you are at an exhibition or trade show. There are lots of different exhibitors there, all offering lots of products and services covering every aspect of the chosen industry. You are after one specific thing, one part of the industry that you specialise in or need. Are you likely to go to every stand and read every detail on display? No! If you are anything like me, you are going to wander around the show, quickly looking at each stand, seeing if any of the exhibitors mention the specific item you are interested in. It may well be that there are 3-4 companies at the show who can all help you in your quest equally well. But if only one of them mentions that item clearly and effectively, they are the ones likely to win your business.
The same principle is the same for every company who uses signage. It's important to create your headline, clearly and effectively for anyone to focus on the rest of the lettering. You might be a plumber who specialises in water softening systems. If you're in a plumbers merchants car park with 10 other vans, 5 might be blank and unwritten, 2 might just have a name and 'general plumbers' on it. 2 might have a name and then a great long list of everything in the plumbing trade including softeners, and you, a name, a clear headline of 'water softeners'. Which one is likely to get a call about softeners?
It's always important to think about what you want your signage to achieve. If it's just brand awareness rather than advertising, then you can afford to be vague in what you do if you just want to get the name out there (Sky tv etc). If it is advertising you are after, then think about the work you want to get in and make a feature of that. Whether you are a plumber, painter and decorator, or carpenter, you have to assume that just because you know what you do, that your potential customers wont. You have to tell them, but in this busy world of sensory overload and general rushing around, you have to do it quickly and concisely.
