Effective Elements of Contrast in Sign Design, Part 2: Text

March 18, 2014/in Holiday Signs/by Mark Hackley

SIGN DESIGN AND EFFECTIVE CONTRAST

Part 2- Contrast in Text

PART OF THE GRAPHIC DESIGN TOOLBOX

Effective sign design utilizes contrasting text colors, sizes, shapes, locations, or relationships for specific reasons.

Creates Interest vs Monotony
Captures Attention of Target Market
Establishes Brand Value Perception (Low or High)

Contrast in type style is achieved by mixing serif and sans-serif letter styles, and by using graphics in creative and unique ways.

The designing of exterior branding signage must take into account design factors not considered in print design:

Day/night viewing
Architectural wall materials (brick, stucco, glass, etc.)
Site background elements (greenery, urban landscape, sky, etc.)

Creating good contrast while keeping in line with architectural and environmental aesthetics can get tricky.

The design team at Holiday Signs regularly helps organizations design attractive signage with text that gets 24-hour attention while staying in synch with all this and more.

Below are three examples of how we have successfully used contrast in type.

Successful Type Contrast in Action

www.holidaysigns.com-richmond-va-contrast-sign-design

For “Sticks Kebob Shop,” we made typefaces heavier than those used in print. Most of the time graphics should be beefed up when used in signage that is viewed from sizable distances compared with print ads and menus. Notice how the main name is a serif font and the secondary wording is sans-serif creating interesting contrast. Also, notice the contrast in outline colors that helps the “Kebob Shop” words stand out even with the huge difference in letter height between the two lines of text.

www.holidaysigns.com-richmond-va-tenant-signs-wayfinding

The sign for Ironbridge Sports Park contains a main header, changeable message component, and shared tenant panel. Contrasting type used for each section helps separate the sign’s three parts, allowing people to focus first on the overall ID and branding, then on current or upcoming features and special events, and tenants. Creative type, shape and colors for the main sign along with a unique structure that ties all the contrasting elements together were key to making this an effective design.

www.holidaysigns.com-richmond-va-contrast-design

Notice how the colorful and playful “Pediatrics” graphic gets attention from contrasting type on this sign that is shared by several tenants. The specialized typestyle separates the pediatrician’s office from the two other professional offices at the complex. Patients interested in medical services for children immediately recognize the office location, and those not looking for pediatrics quickly disregard it and focus on the other choices thus making “type contrast” an effective wayfinding tool.

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What is I-Appeal & How Can You Get It?

March 13, 2014/in Holiday Signs/by Mark Hackley

GETTING ENOUGH “I-APPEAL”?

ARE FACILITIES WITH INTERSTATE HIGHWAY EXPOSURE IGNORING THE “DRIVE-BY MARKET”?

Have you ever driven down the road, passed a large building and wondered what it was? It happened to me just last week on Interstate 81 near Strasburg, Virginia. I passed a large industrial type building that was occupied and doing business, but was unmarked to the public. I’m still not sure what it’s all about.

There are many such big, blank buildings across Virginia and North Carolina that could make a huge impact on a company’s brand awareness. Unbranded on the outside, many important organizations are conducting noteworthy activities within their unmarked walls. Yet their good names go unnoticed to tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of eyeballs every day passing by on adjoining interstate highways, which I’ve termed I-APPEAL, relating “eye” to the “I” in Interstate.

Here are a few examples of big blank buildings you can see off Interstate 64 in Waynesboro,VA; Interstate 85 in Henderson, NC; and Interstate 581 in Roanoke, VA. Our designer, Chris Murphey, produced sketches of how branding signage can improve localized and regional brand visibility, creating millions of good impressions annually. These represent just three of the many players within the manufacturing and healthcare industries of Virginia and North Carolina. Do you know of others where new signage could add value by identifying and promoting the tenant’s brand to the often forgotten, yet vitally important drive-by market?

This building of the Polymer Group, Inc. of Waynesboro, VA is right on the edge of Interstate 64 and visible to tens of thousands of travelers passing in both directions. It also faces a heavily-traveled highway through Waynesboro’s retail district with lots of daily traffic. Below is a conceptual drawing of the same wall with graphics.

Executives at Maria Parham Medical Center, Henderson, NC, realized the marketing potential of their main tower building visible from I-85 as we prepared a conceptual sketch of how branding the tower could help with their I-appeal, below.

Facilities and marketing professionals within Carilion’s healthcare group in Roanoke approached us about the opportunity of branding their huge glass front occupied by a children’s clinic seeking exposure from the adjacent interstate highway and nearby historic downtown. The conceptual sketch below is one way to increase “I-appeal” with applied vinyl graphics or customized electric signage installed high above town.

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Retailer Utilizing On-Premise Digital Signage with I-Appeal

Unveiling the New Altria Theater Marquee Upgrade

March 4, 2014/in Holiday Signs/by Mark Hackley

SIGNAGE EXPERTS FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

CASE STUDY: RENAMING A HISTORIC RICHMOND THEATER

NEW THEATER BRAND UNVEILED

On February 21, 2014, the historic “Landmark Theater” got its new “Altria Theater” name in lights in a theater marquee upgrade. For more than 85 years this iconic performing arts building in Richmond, Virginia has hosted musical performances from Elvis Presley to The Lion King.

Utilizing a generous $10 million gift from the Altria Group, the parent company of Philip Morris, Holiday Signs designed, fabricated and installed a new 30 feet wide, 3.5 feet tall and 18 feet deep marquee which includes a full-color digital display and LED chaser bulbs. Richmond’s mayor, Dwight Jones said this is a historic day for Richmond and lovers of the arts and culture. He said, “This will be an important anchor for the Richmond Arts District.”

DIGITAL OR MANUAL DISPLAY?

“The choices were to go back with the old style manual display or go digital,” said architect, Bruce Herrmann of Wilson Butler Architects of Boston. “We are thrilled to have chosen digital.” he explained.

The new marquee will now feature the theater’s attractions in a full-color digital display containing 100,000+ vibrant LEDs.

Utilizing Altria’s corporate logo as their palette, Holiday Signs was able to custom match to their multi-colored logo and incorporate it into the diamond patterned decorative band wrapping the entire structure. The canopy was custom fabricated and painted to match the historic ornamentation of the period.

LAST MINUTE DETAILS

“The most challenging aspect of the project was handling all the details with respect to warming up to what both the donors and the architect wanted,” commented Colin Robinson, Senior Project Manager with Gilbane Building Company, the project’s General Contractor.

“This was a design-assist project with things completely changing up to a week before final sign fabrication. Holiday Signs did an excellent job in rolling with the punches and provided everything as needed,” Robinson said.

DELIVERED ON SCHEDULE

“The sign is beautiful,” extolled Charlie Agee, Director of Corporate Contributions and Community Relations for Altria. “It’s even better than we could have imagined. There were major winter storms dogging our schedule, but Holiday Signs was able to get the job completed in time for our grand unveiling ceremony,” he commended.

EXPERIENCE

Custom sign fabrication takes a great deal of expertise, especially when tasked with fabricating and installing signage that must accurately represent a particular period. Performing arts venues are now embracing the need for timely message updates. Electronic Message Centers provide venues with the ability to easily update their coming attractions. As experts in this field, Holiday Signs understands the needs of our clients as we are able to balance stakeholder concepts with architectural aesthetics, historic accuracy and district code limitations.

Contact: Holiday Signs Design & Sales Team

(800) 229-9443 www.holidaysigns.com

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High-Rise Flags

March 4, 2014/in Holiday Signs/by Mark Hackley

Everywhere a Flag

Flags are a great way to attract attention to your site while honoring the country. As I drive through the cities and counties of Virginia, I notice a large number of flags proudly displayed at many businesses and institutions along the way. Flags unfurling against the crisp blue sky really caught my eye as I was chugging along last week.

After July 4, 1776, Colonists felt the need of a national flag to symbolize their new spirit of unity and independence: ‘Resolved that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field.” The significance of the colors was defined this way: “White signifies Purity and Innocence; Red, Hardiness and Valor; Blue, Vigilance, Perseverance and Justice.”

In addition to installing custom-manufactured commercial and architectural electric signage products, Holiday Signs also becomes involved with providing and installing flagpoles. We frequently install them at car dealerships, churches, schools, hospitals, medical offices, hotels, restaurants and other businesses.

Flagpoles are usually installed using the direct burial method into the ground. Flagpole heights can range from 15′ to over 100′. When engineering a flagpole, usually 10% of the exposed height is below grade. A metal pole sleeve is inserted in the ground that accepts the base of the pole. Steel wedges are normally welded to the bottom that help center the pole during installation and a steel spike is attached for lightning protection.

Contact: Holiday Signs at www.holidaysigns.com

(804) 796-9443

Interested in Digital Signs at Your Business? CLICK HERE

Is Your Site Safe & Inviting at Night?

February 25, 2014/in Holiday Signs/by Mark Hackley

SITE LIGHTING & YOUR BRAND

Part 1- Is Your Site Safe & Inviting at Night?

Safe & Secure?

Does site lighting impact sales for an organization? In the hospitality business, the answer is, “Yes.”

“Lighting at a hotel make’s a direct impression on a person’s feeling of safety and security,” says Perry Fridley, owner of Old Dominion Hospitality, Inc., of Waynesboro, Virginia.

His business operates the Best Western Plus Waynesboro Inn & Suites Conference Center, and the Waynesboro Days Inn.

“In the hotel business, people traveling alone or with families are especially influenced by the way a site lights up at night,” Perry said.

If the building’s entrance and walkway areas are dark and gloomy, they tend to choose another better-lit location for their stay where it feels safer.

Not Just for Brick & Mortar

Since 57% of reservations are booked on-line, hotel owners can be led into a false sense of security that site lighting and signage really don’t matter. But reality is just the opposite.

Research by ROI Manager, a developer of hospitality marketing tools, indicates photo gallery sections of hotel websites are “clicked” over 97% of the time by visitors who book online. This means that having (or not having) positive night-time photos of a hotel’s exterior can impact online bookings as customer’s compare their options.

What makes a good exterior lighting system?

Clean and bright electric signs and electronic message centers that identify the brand and advertise its top amenities from all viewing angles,
Well-designed site lighting to fill the gap between property boundary and hotel entrance,
A balanced lighting system that’s warm and inviting to guests while making them feel safe and secure,
100-foot minimal visibility at night for best safety and security,
To achieve an optimal lighting effect, more fixtures are often necessary to fill the lighting gaps, but size of fixtures can usually be reduced, actually lessening energy usage in most exterior lighting upgrades.

As you review the next Star (STR) Report, consider how your lighting and signage could improve your performance scores over comp hotel properties less interested in maximizing night-time image and security.

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Fuel Price Display Signs

February 20, 2014/in Holiday Signs/by Mark Hackley

SURPRISING STATISTICS

I took a low-tech survey a few weeks ago to see just how many gas stations utilized digital fuel price display signs for their changeable gas prices.

As I consider the hassle it must be for employees to constantly update fuel prices no matter the weather or service station traffic conditions, it made me wonder why less than half of all service stations surveyed chose manual pricing boards.

Here’s the verdict. Of all the gas stations in my Virginia hometown (population 21,000), only 46% use digital. Here are some benefits the other 54% are missing:

Immediate price updates- Remotely change fuel prices at one or multiple sites to always stay competitive with neighboring store’s pricing.
Better use of labor- Customers get all the attention of staff; Happy customers come back for more attention.
Reduced liability- Minimized injuries and workers compensation claims.
Attract customers into the store- Upgrade to full-size digital board and run special promotions to increase in-store product sales.

Considering upgrading your convenience store message signage to digital?

Download this White Paper for more information and benefits.

CONTACT US TODAY FOR A SITE SURVEY

How to Start Digital Advertising ?

February 18, 2014/in Holiday Signs/by Mark Hackley

6 BENEFITS OF DIGITAL SIGNS

Part 4: How to Start Digital Advertising ?

“People are coming into the store as a direct result of the EMC.”Bob Strepka, Director of Marketing, Green Top Sporting Goods

Your Own Media Network

Radio, TV, print and Yellow Page ad channels are all great, but you don’t own the channel or influence the huge volume of potential customers right at your front door with the highest likelihood of stopping in. You’re just buying their space, and it’s expensive.

What if you owned and controlled the media network?

With digital signage you do. Building a solid, on-going, low-cost, in-house marketing program is one of the many benefits of owning a digital sign. So what is needed to start digital advertising ?

Non-Stop Commercials at a Fixed Rate

Owning an electronic message center clicks on the switch for an endless flow of content creation that eventually turns traffic into customers. The time you invest in good content creation turns into a real profit center and it doesn’t take long to become your own marketing machine.

“Communicating our message has never been easier.” Norman Way, Director of Operations, Puritan Cleaners

Point-of-Transit Advertising Works

Digital Signage can be divided into these three most common marketing situations:

Point of Transit: Outdoor message centers grab the eyes of passing consumers for brief periods of time; Focus on establishing brand identity while mixing in promotions using visually attractive content in short bursts;
Point of Wait: Message centers where customers have to wait; Concentrated on longer feel-good infomercials enhancing the overall customer experience;
Point of Sale: In-store or drive-thru monitors among active shoppers that focus on building incremental sales by promoting an immediate call-to-action.

A complete digital signage system – one that you completely own and operate yourself – can persuade people to shop at your store, then help up-sell your products once they get in.

“HoneyBaked Ham has seen double-digit increases since the digital sign was installed!” Kathy & David Crawford, Owners, HoneyBaked Ham

Holiday Signs provides ROI analysis, hardware, software, financing and training for clients with high traffic count locations interested in adding Digital Signage to their existing Comprehensive Marketing Strategy.

READ THE ENTIRE COLLECTION- 6 BENEFITS OF DIGITAL SIGNS:

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Facilities Signage Idea- Neat Parking Lot Signs

February 18, 2014/in Holiday Signs/by Mark Hackley

Neat Sign Post Cover Idea.

A few weeks ago as I was getting back in my car after shopping at Lowes, a big pick-up truck slammed into a street light pole out in the parking lot. It made a huge crash, dented up the truck really well, and brought a few stunned accident victims out onto the lot to survey the damage.

Driving around the Shenandoah Valley last week, I noticed a neat way to protect parking lot signs from vehicle damage, as they too are wide open targets for trouble.

Many times the manager of a shopping center, grocery store, or other retail store will call us about their parking lot signs; usually to replace or repair some that had been damaged out on the lot. We can drive steel sign posts through the pavement or set them in concrete, but somehow cars and trucks always seem to hit those critters and soon all the signs at the customer’s lot and his whole good image start progressing downward on the street appeal meter. Most of the time they end up as hazards to people and property after a few hits…if they’re not totally taken out by some unfortunate driver out on the lot like the guy at Lowe’s who was doing a 360 and didn’t see the light pole until he rammed into it.

One neat way to resolve the problem of unsightly poles and prevent (or at least reduce) damage and injury is to use plastic pole covers. They come in a variety of colors and designs. The type pictured here was used by the new CVS retail store in Waynesboro, Virginia.

It’s basically a modified bollard cover and it slips over the parking sign post prior to attaching the sign panel. They work great for standard handicap parking sign protection or any type of lot sign. I’m sure a vehicle can still take them out, but it definitely reduces the impact from the cars that slowly inch up a little too close.

Facilities Maintenance-Facilities Signage-Site Engineering Supplies-Parking Lot Signage- Wayfinding Signage-Sign Directional Systems-Parking Lot Safety-Campus Signs-Sign Maintenance-U-Channel Sign Posts-ADA Signage

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Covering All Viewing Angles

February 14, 2014/in Holiday Signs/by Mark Hackley

COVERING ALL THE ANGLES

Case Study: Connects Federal Credit Union, Richmond, VA

Lots of Eyeballs

Chartered in 1950 as the C&P Telephone Employees Credit Union, Connects Federal Credit Union has offered over a half century of unwavering commitment to its members. Last fall the organization purchased the former BB&T building on Midlothian Turnpike and chose Holiday Signs to re-brand the location, taking advantage of the high visibility of the site at the convergence of two main traffic arteries with eight lanes of potential business.

Top of Mind

“We needed help branding ourselves as the leading credit union in the area,” said Danielle McLaughlin, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Connects. “The new location offered tremendous potential to connect our brand with the community, but the challenge was covering all the viewing angles so people passing the branch from all directions had ongoing top-of-mind awareness.”

Customers’ Point of View

It was important that the Connects branding be seen and recognized by commuters passing daily, plus help with the traffic flow of members stopping in to conduct business.

The project involved:

Refurbishing the main pylon sign;
Adding a new set of channel letters on the side facing traffic from intersecting road;
Adding an internally illuminated box-type sign on the entrance wall;
Site wayfinding signage.

The challenge at this particular site was the way the highways approached the site from several angles. After thorough site surveys considering permit regulations for size and placement and viewing angles of motorists approaching three sides of the building, Holiday Signs successfully designed, fabricated and installed a sign package that met the client’s branding goals.

Results

“We are seeing a good flow of new members into our new Midlothian location,” remarked McLaughlin. “The signage sheds a very positive and visible light on our brand in a new part of town.”

Contact: Mark Hackley, Account Executive mhackley@holidaysigns.com (540)416-3154

Will Your Signs and Brand Survive the Snow Storm?

February 12, 2014/in Holiday Signs/by Mark Hackley

Let it Snow…

Preparing for another snowstorm here in Virginia got me thinking about some good tips regarding bad weather and signage.

It may be a little late to get your signs ready for tonight’s big snow, but here are a few items you should consider during snow season:

PREPARE IN ADVANCE

Make sure your electric signs are working properly and shining bright before a storm. It’s hard to get equipment out for service work during hazardous snow and ice conditions, so it’s best to plan for regular maintenance each fall before the bad weather hits. If the sign lights go out during a big storm due to bad lamps, ballasts, wiring, or power supplies, it could be weeks until your roadside branding is up and running.
Consider switching out any neon signage you may have with LED. Not only will you save lots of money on energy, but LED lighting is a much better performer in cold weather. Neon lighting tends to dim, flicker and turn pink when the temperatures fall, and that does not reflect a good image on your brand.
Make a visual inspection of your signage and take photographs before a storm. If something were to happen to them due to snow and ice or from a vehicle sliding into them, you will have a record of their pre-storm condition that may be helpful with insurance claims.

LOW PROFILE SIGN TYPES MAY BE BURIED

Plan on digging out your low-profile signs as early as possible. Signs hidden beneath snow drifts increase your chances for accidents and injury.
Re-exposing your buried signage helps keep your signs working for you, the reason you installed them in the first place. Don’t forget they may be out there under the snow not doing their job of branding your business or helping people with directions, parking or safety at your site.

SNOW PLOW DAMAGE TO SIGNS IS COMMON

Damage to signs in winter storms is very common. Make sure you take note of any damage as early as possible. If the sign was essential for your operations, place an order for repair or replacement as soon as you can since sign companies may be busier than usual after a big storm. Most sign damage is covered by insurance, so submit the sign damage to your insurance company quickly to cover repair and replacement costs.

AFTER THE STORM TO DO LIST

Salt and road chemicals can deteriorate sign finishes just like they do vehicles. Plus chemical residues on signs just look bad. Pay close attention to your monument signage and any other low-profile type signs on your property. After the storm, make sure all your signs are cleaned and rinsed. A teaspoon of dish detergent in warm water and a sponge can do miracles. It’s not a bad idea to wax painted metal signage with a high quality auto wax. I recommend a product called Nu-Finish that comes in a bright orange plastic container that’s available at most auto supply stores.
Again, make sure you inspect all of your signs for any storm damage.

Contact Holiday Signs at (804) 796-9443

Here are some great articles of interest to enjoy by the fireplace while you’re watching the snow accumulate outside: