Surprise Mom with Garden Signs This Mother’s Day

When you are in the process of designing a large sign, it can be difficult to anticipate what the final product will look like on a large scale. A few design principles can help you achieve an attractive and useful sign, no matter the size.

Use Simple Fonts

The typography you choose is critical for your sign to be viewable from a distance. It is best to limit your options to serif fonts for the most clarity. Since it is impossible to determine what any font will look like only looking at your computer screen, you will need to use different tactics for a realistic assessment.

Try printing out individual letters and scaling them to fit a single page. This will allow you to tape letters on a wall and view them at a distance. You will have some indication if the font you have chosen looks unusual in a larger format.  Also, take into consideration the spacing between letters and words, which is often not as obvious on your screen. Without adequate spacing, the letters seemingly blend together and can make your sign illegible.

Draft In Vector Format

If you are printing a sign yourself or your printing service allows you to submit your designs in different formats, always design your sign in a scalable vector graphic (.svg) format. Words and images easily become distorted when they are scaled up or down from their original size. When you create your file as a vector graphic, you could print the same design on a business card, flyers or posters and it would have the same quality. This will save you time and money since one design can serve multiple purposes.

Consider Nighttime Readability

If your sign will be used outside, you will need to consider the readability at different times of day and in various conditions. Most people prefer to use a white background with large format print lettering for signs, but this can work against you, especially for larger signs. You likely want your sign to stand out during different times of day and in poor lighting conditions.

White letters on a dark background can have advantages. In a poorly lit environment, small amounts of light will reflect off the white letters, instead of a white background. This can make your sign readable, even without optimum lighting. You can also add reflective tape or paint over the lettering to enhance viewing at night.

Creating large signs has unique challenges. By using multiple tactics to ensure your typography is readable on a larger scale and at any time of the day, you increase your chances of being satisfied with your finished piece.