signarama

RLogo-shelleady…Set…Goal! Time to Give your Signage a Facelift?

As a business owner, your sign is your calling card. Your signage represents your brand’s image and corporate message.  A well-placed, well-designed sign captures the essence and personality of your business; in the stormy sea of competition, an effective sign acts as a beacon steering business to your door.

What makes a good sign? A number of factors come together in the creation of your corporate signage. Starting with a corporate logo, sign professionals will work with you to help you to fashion the perfect sign for your brand.

So, after massive amounts of brainstorming, a design team, a series of rough drafts and revisions, your logo evolved. Then you contacted a reputable sign company, such as Signarama and trained technicians worked their magic and Ta-dah!  You were ready for business.

And if now, five-ish years later, your business is still operating and is not only up and running but growing as well, then congratulations! And as you look around and say, “Wow! We did it!” you notice that your sign is not as cutting edge as it was when you started. The colors might not be just the most happening combo or your sign looks faded and not as sharp as you think it needs to be. It’s always something, but this is an easy fix.

Perhaps your company has diversified or evolved in a direction you didn’t see coming.  Now you’re so much more than your original concept. And while that’s a good thing, your brand may be suffering an identity crisis due to growing pains. A lot can happen in five years: Tastes change, technology evolves, industries expand to meet demand. Your business might be ready for a new look. The top five reasons your sign needs a redesign include:

Ch-ch-ch-changes

One of the most predictable things about humans lies in the fact that no matter what their likes and dislikes are at any given time, they will, in the trending nature of social beings gain new perspectives, get bored with whatever is fashionable and change their minds. Backlash happens; just as sure as winter follows the fall, color combos, fonts and sign styles go in and out of style with fashion trends. New colors appear, making splashy, up-to-the-minute fashions pop. Colors get bolder and more vivid. Sign technologies advance and boom, your sign’s dated.

New Technology

With the digital printing industry making significant technological leaps forward into large flatbed printing, with new, more durable printing methods and a larger variety of printable materials, the sign industry’s revolution is taking signage to places they’ve never been before.

As we weave mobility into the fabric of our lives, businesses are taking their shows on the road with wrapping solutions that impress. Offering bold statements with slick, sharp digital imaging, vehicle wrapping is becoming the hottest ticket in mobile advertising.

Positioning

If your business has outgrown its current facility, you’ve moved or other businesses have grown up around yours, you might need to update your sign to reflect your current position and surroundings.

Perhaps your business needs a different kind of sign altogether. Sign companies offer a wide variety of style and special features.

  • On a medium to large scale, custom pylon signs are durable, freestanding structures. Usually illuminated, with fluorescent lamps,  a number of options are available to define your corporate image, from full color graphics to neon borders to LED digital displays or interchanging message boards.
  • For more illuminated statements, customized static lightbox signs pack a powerful visual punch, while branded electronic digital signage systems create a polished, sophisticated look.
  • Awnings incorporated into your signage can give your business more visibility for your buck, add a decorative architectural feature to your brand’s identity and create a distinctive vintage look to your corporate branding. Illuminated awnings, popular for restaurants, bars and businesses that stay open late, not only create a warm ambience but work to deter potential crimes.
  • One of the most distinctive ways to set your business apart and create a sense of permanence is with 3D channel letters. Each letter holding its own in 3D stands out as an architectural element in your building’s design . Illuminated from the back, channel letters make great visual impact. You might even want to rebrand your whole business.

Re-branding

As your business has grown, maybe your focus has changed and your sign doesn’t really reflect those changes. Unless you are Shell company founder, Marcus Samuel, who originally sold seashells down by the seashore, the ideas and products behind your sign might need an overhaul. Even the Shell logo has changed over the years to reflect the company’s image in changing eras and design trends.

Maybe you would like for your corporate signage to articulate your sustainable initiative stance. Re-branding seems a fashionable trend, as McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Wal-Mart are all in the process of updating their corporate branding to clean, minimal, more modern designs, lines and signs.

Reflecting the times, Walmart Markets literally went green, updating their grocery store concept from the traditional Walmart blue and yellow to green everything, featuring more organic and local selections. Wendy’s, going for more transparency, updated with a full-length window look in many locations.

Whether your business is just evolving and maturing or whether you’re an established icon of industry, it’s important to keep your brand image and corporate signage in step with those changes and in step with prevailing business trends.

Updating your logo, adding technological features to your sign, repositioning your sign’s location and replacing your sign with an entirely different type of signage all are ways to accentuate your relevant position in the business community. For all of the latest technology, the most up-to-date design capabilities and state-of-the-art production methods your company’s signage needs, contact your local Signarama shop today.