ImageFirst News

While local sign ordinances limit some of your decisions when it comes to great sign visibility, there are smart ways to relay your brand's information to those passing by and/or looking for your business.

Here are 3 ques­tions to answer when deter­min­ing sign specs based on visibility:

1. What must be on the sign?

Deter­mine the client’s opti­mal and min­i­mal amount of infor­ma­tion that the sign can have in order to attract their cus­tomers. Once this is deter­mined you can move for­ward with flex­i­bil­i­ty on size, illu­mi­na­tion, etc. 

2. What type of traf­fic will be view­ing the sign? 

The answer to this ques­tion allows us to assess the speed of trav­el for the eyes on the sign. For exam­ple pedes­tri­an, bicy­cle, urban, high­way, etc. Each has very unique char­ac­ter­is­tics. A pedes­tri­an ori­ent­ed sign and a motorist ori­ent­ed sign have very dif­fer­ent design cri­te­ria. The faster the traf­fic the small­er amount of time to view, so the sim­pler the bet­ter with larg­er let­ters, and logos.

3. How much time does it take to process? 

Review the line of site from each direc­tion from the sign loca­tion with atten­tion to the view­ing dis­tance. Can a dri­ver see the sign, read its mes­sage, process the infor­ma­tion, and make the nec­es­sary maneu­vers in response to the infor­ma­tion? This view­er reac­tion time with dis­tances is key.  If 3 feet, include your com­pa­ny his­to­ry. If 30 feet, just a logo or name is ide­al. Always keep­ing in mind indi­vid­u­als with poor vision.

If copy is too small or not leg­i­ble for the dis­tance or speed of traf­fic, save your mon­ey, don’t put up a sign.

Quick Notes:

Reduced leg­i­bil­i­ty = Reduced visibility

Leg­i­bil­i­ty dis­tance = 85% of vis­i­bil­i­ty distance

Leg­i­bil­i­ty dis­tance at night = 88% of day­time legibility

Low­er case let­ters > Leg­i­bil­i­ty dis­tance than cap­i­tal letters

Cap­i­tal let­ters are seen quick­er. Low­er case are read quicker.

Inter-let­ter spac­ing > Let­ter and word legibility

Stroke width ⅕ of height of let­ter = excel­lent legibility

Pro Tip: Ini­tial cap­i­tal are best for both the eye to read and the brain to process the information.

Want to take this fur­ther and into actu­al design? Here’s a great video on con­sid­er­a­tions for sign designs based on visibility.

Can we send you a free vis­i­bil­i­ty pock­et ref­er­ence? Because we will? Just email us and con­sid­er it sent.