Business signage is very powerful when it comes to enhancing brands and drawing attention to them. A well-designed sign can attract and keep a customer’s attention even after they have left the area, and often you will find that it’s the smallest details that make all the difference. One of the best ways to spread awareness of your brand is to display your signage both inside and outside of your store to capture attention. Remember that potential customers are more likely to follow up with a company that has well-designed and unique business signage.
Before you start creating signs, consider general readability in terms of font, visibility, size and colour. Make sure that the colours of the sign stand out from one another and are easy to read from a distance. Think about the type of material you want to use for your signs and what those materials are going to portray about your business to your potential audience.
So, with all this in mind, let’s take a look at this blog on the top 5 creative business signage ideas from the experts at Vision Lighting.
1. Light Box Signs
Though you may think that light box signs are one of the pricier options on this list, not only are they
an extremely cost-effective way to light up your business, they’re second to none when it comes to actually promoting your business.
Light box signs are a popular choice for business signage because they offer a high return on investment. Sales are often seen advertised in shopping centres on light box signs. They are so hard to ignore, which is why business owners love using them to increase sales. Light box signs gain more visibility than other business signs because they are a form of commercial outdoor lighting in themselves, and therefore are likely to be seen by everybody, regardless of whether they are paying attention or not.
In contrast to common signage lighting options, light boxes are easy to install as the sign maker will generally fabricate the lightbox. However, if you have an existing lightbox, you can easily upgrade the lighting inside (once disconnected from power), to a more energy-efficient alternative. This could include T8 LED Tubes, LED Modules or LED Bars. Most of these types of lighting come with pre-drilled frames - so, once you’ve bought one, you only need to place it in its location and plug it in for it to work. Light box signs also beat more traditional forms of signage because they can be designed for indoor and outdoor use and can be mounted onto walls or onto fixed bases such as pylons, making them a perfect flexible option for businesses.
Similar to cabinet signs, these light box signs are designed specifically for lighting applications and use the best-quality bespoke LED lighting. Suitable for all winds and weathers, LED light box signs are perfect for illuminating the outside locations they are placed in, whether that’s a shopping centre, a train station, or a bus shelter.
2. Appropriate But Clever Use of Material
Depending on the type of message you are hoping to portray, clever use of various materials can
showcase innovation in signage lighting with your brand. Generally speaking, you’ll have options of wood, aluminium, acrylic, nylon banner material, coroplast and corrugated plastic, PVC, foam board, metal, neon, plastic, vinyl… pretty much every material to exist, really!
Wall lights are commonly used in conjunction with traditional signs to illuminate certain parts and draw attention away from others if needs be.
Each material has its own properties and pros and cons that come with it. For example, aluminium doesn’t rust, so is typically used outdoors for parking signs and the like. Wood, on the other hand, provides a smooth, firm base for painting, but is susceptible to rot, and so is largely used in protected but visible places.
You must choose the appropriate materials and sizes for the task at hand, as well as take energy consumption into consideration, of course - but do not let that stop you from being creative.
You could get creative using aluminium sign panels wrapped with printed graphics. This can then be installed with a ‘made to measure’ trough light paint to match your brand colours. Combined with the right colour temperate LEDs, you can create the vibe you desire.
Being aware of what you can do with different materials makes a much more interesting advertisement. Metal signs instantly send a message to customers about the type of business yours is. The same is true of giant wooden displays or colourful signs. Be aware of this when designing your company’s signs.
Something as simple as investing in lighting for plinths, trough lights or downlights can transform a basic billboard into much more. Think of McDonald’s golden arches. With its LED lighting products, it is such a simple but instantly recognisable billboard globally.
3. Neon Signs
Neon signs have always been popular for sign lighting. Bright, eye-catching designs capture attention to increase customer footfall, no matter your industry.
Vivid outdoor lighting is another way of letting everyone know where you are and enticing them into your business.
Neon is one of the most abundant chemicals in the universe, which is why it is so affordable. Neon electrodes operate cold to the touch - this is how they can outlast traditional light bulbs, and don’t waste a lot of electricity at all. Neon signs can last for up to twelve years if maintained properly, which is another huge benefit of neon sign usage over other methods. Neon signs are also versatile and reusable. The faces can easily be changed to display different images and messages - something you can’t say about many other types of signage.
Extra lighting, such as LED floodlights, can be set up to further illuminate signage, but it is not always necessary. When you consider the energy savings of upgrading your current signage to neon, you might find that neon signs work out more cost effective in terms of upkeep and installation than other options - almost as cost effective as our LED bulbs!
Traditional neon signs are made by filling glass tubes with argon and neon and then bending them to activate the gases to glow. This kind of lighting requires specialist skills and equipment to produce, but you can achieve this same effect at home through the use of:
- LED faux-neon: This uses either LED neon-effect rope which is cuttable and bendable - allowing you to shape it into different signage messages.
- Coloured acrylic signs: The acrylic can be cut to shape with a CNC machine and with a clear acrylic backing.
Want more guidance for DIY indoor lighting? Read our comprehensive guide to LED strip lights.
4. A-Board Signs
In the past, A-board signs have been favoured only by small businesses because they’re such a cost-effective form of advertising. In more recent times, however, these boards are used specifically to advertise new offers and events in a creative way.
A-board signs require no setup or building expertise and they are extremely light, meaning that anybody can use one, even if they have no experience with signs whatsoever. Because of this, any type of business can buy and use these signs and they’re likely to work well for whoever uses them.
Although this is a benefit of this form of signage, remember to customise your board if this is the route you choose to go down in order to make yourself stand out as much as possible. Consider IP-rated LED strip light units as a cost-effective and successful way to modify your A-board sign. LED modules are perfect for illuminating signs and small light boxes. They are subtle enough not to take away from the entire design of the sign itself, but also noticeable enough that they highlight what’s on the sign to any passers-by.
Compared to the average metre power consumption, the amount of energy used to run LED strip lights and LED modules make it an extremely eco-friendly lighting option for businesses and homes alike.
However, though they cleverly combine traditional advertising with more modern approaches, it’s important to always be mindful of the drawbacks of marketing signage too. For example, the benefit of these signs is that they’re easily moved and adapted. However, this does mean that they’re likewise easy to steal or get damaged in bad weather, so ensure your signs are secured as much as possible if you opt for this route.
5. Digital Signage
One of the biggest benefits of using digital signage is that it can be controlled with minimum effort, allowing companies to display ads wherever and whenever they like. Not only this, but digital signage works out way less expensive than traditional billboard signage, which requires payments for materials, printing and installation.
Using digital signs also allows businesses to show off more products and services than classic billboards, which can only display one thing at a time. In fast food restaurants, you can ensure that customers don’t miss out, as they can see entire menus with digital displays. This is revolutionary in contrast to traditional menus, where the entire menu has to be squeezed onto a physical menu, making it difficult for customers to be able to read it.
Digital signage doesn’t require any paper either, which greatly benefits the environment. Conventional signage requires tree cutting, increases air pollution and businesses, in general, generate a lot of paper rubbish that could add up to 80% of their total waste output.
There are many ways you can create good content with digital signage. Sometimes businesses will share their social media feeds onto digital signs instead of having to come up with additional engaging content. This is very effective in aligning a brand’s offline reputation with an online one, thus building credibility.
Displaying current news and events inside of businesses is an efficient way of getting customers to stay just a little longer. The same is true for customer reviews – anything that allows a customer to build a rapport with the business is important in creative marketing.
The opportunity to make use of user-generated content is an additional opportunity that comes with digital signage. Social media campaigns can easily become combined with a company's digital signage. One example of this might be to organise a competition on social media where the post that gets the highest number of likes will be featured on the company’s electronic signage!
Get Creative with Your Business Signage with Vision Lighting Products
Whether you’re looking to create signage for inside or outside of your business, get creative with your business signage with Vision Lightning products. We offer modern sign lighting and LED lighting for businesses across the country. Our comprehensive product stock boasts lighting applications for all needs, from LED modules to outdoor sign lighting, to small and large floodlights for domestic and commercial properties. If you’re after a waterproof LED trough light to illuminate your shop’s entrance, you know where to go.
If you’re interested in light box signs for your business, you might be keen to explore what Vision Lighting has to offer. Our very own Nano Light is the most waterproof sign light in the UK, also known as a trough light. This light consumes 11.5 Watts per metre, gives off 2185 Lumens per metre, and is tested to an IP66 rating, making it better than the competitors on the market.
When considering the appropriate material for your signage, bear in mind the vast selection of wall lights you can purchase, as well as the effects you can utilise from different lighting options. The same is true for neon signage and the trusty A-board signs – lighting doesn’t have to be and isn’t supposed to be the attention grabber – the content itself should do that. This type of lighting is useful for keeping people’s attention on the sign once they’re already interested in what it has to say.
For information about any of our products, or for more helpful hints and tips about designing creative business signage, get in touch with Vision Lighting today.