It is an incredibly important decision to make: choosing the right font for your outdoor signs. The font you choose will ultimately continue to identify your brand and convey your brand message to your current, and any new customers.
Key Factors to Consider
Before you even begin designing your sign and choosing fonts, take heed that it’s not enough to just pick the right style. You want your text and message to stand out.
High-contrast and quality – you want your chosen font to be attractive and professional but also readable over large distances for maximum impact. The font should be effectively contrasted against the background of your sign, and highly visible.
Consistency and moderation – stick to a maximum of two typefaces as a rule of thumb. One for the heading and one for the body text. Make sure that your chosen fonts complement one another.
Size – you want your sign to be appropriately visible to your target audience, who may be on foot or driving past, or both.
Clarity – consider how a more creative font may sacrifice overall clarity.
Branding – if your logo is already well established, using the same, or matching this font on your sign might not be easy to read, especially if it is a display or script font. In this case, you should consider a font that compliments your logo, but has clarity and readability.
Choosing the Right Font
All fonts give a certain “feel” to the message you want to convey. It sets the mood and the tone when it comes to outdoor signage. Font selection is paramount.
Serif fonts are professional, no-nonsense fonts that are easily readable. Use these fonts when your sign has a lot of information to convey, especially in a small space. Serif fonts can be identified as having “feet” at the end of each stroke.
Sans Serif fonts offer a little more boldness and visibility, while still conveying professionalism. These are best used for your sign’s headlines.
Script fonts are cursive type fonts mostly used in logos, for special invitations and such. They are elegant and have a high degree of professionalism. This font is, however, hard to read because each letter is not distinguishable from the next. The letters are essentially tied together.
Display fonts are attention-grabbing and catch a customer’s eye – from a close distance. Display fonts tend to lose their readability over longer distances.
Does your company need new or updated outdoor signage to send the right message at first glance? If so, we’d love to assist you. Visit us at signkor.co.za and take a look at the variety of outdoor signage options available to you.
