So, you’ve just opened up a business, or maybe you are in the process of doing so. If you haven’t thought about the kinds of signs that you want to display in order to promote your business, then you have already made one mistake. To the average person, a business sign is the only thing that separates your business from every other building on the street. When people see that sign, they will immediately realize that your building is a public place of business that they can freely enter.
Should I Hire A Designer?
The main question posed by this article is: Should you hire a sign designer or do everything yourself? For once, we have a question with a simple answer. In most cases, you definitely should hire a designer to help you create the right signs for your business. If you don’t, you are taking the risk of making a bad first impression on the community.
The only people who don’t need to hire a designer are those who operate small businesses with only one or two locations. When you only need 1-4 signs, it isn’t that much trouble to make them at home. With so few signs, you will have time to get everything right (as long as you care enough to do so). For any large business, however, sign designers are worth their weight in gold. The extra business that they can bring to your door is well worth the extra fees that they cost.
Reasons To Hire A Designer
Having settled that question neatly, let’s move on to the many reasons that you might hire a sign designer. This is not a complete list, but it should give you an idea of which factors are the most important.
Creative Help
Some people just aren’t that creative, and there is no shame in that. Creativity is a gift that some people just do not have. Likewise, there are many people who don’t have a lot of artistic skills. These kinds of people can benefit greatly from a little bit of creative help.
Sign designers are naturally creative people. Otherwise, they would not have chosen this particular job in the first place. Even if you have some ideas, they can help guide those ideas into a workable and realistic form. While you have a head full of ideas, they will have a head full of specific plans.
Logo design can be very difficult for some people. On the one hand, a logo should accurately represent the nature of the business. On the other hand, it should be an eye-catcher than causes people to stand up and take notice. A logo should also be distinctive enough that it won’t be confused with that of another company. When you are trying to create a brand with a certain reputation, a logo is one of the most important aspects of the job. Why is this, you might ask? Because people are more likely to remember something visual. Words alone are less likely to make an impression, so a logo combines both.
Creativity also comes into play when it’s time to choose the types of signs that you will use. Unless you feel like doing a lot of research, it is best to consult a professional here. Most people are not familiar with the names of the basic sign types, and even fewer are familiar with the specific uses of each one. That is specialized knowledge that most people don’t need to know, so it’s best to seek out those who specialize in this field.
Professional Quality
Even if you are creative and artistically inclined, you might not have the skills to create a professional-quality sign. Even the slightest of inconsistencies is enough to tell someone that they are looking at a homemade sign. To the average customer, a handmade sign says that you cannot afford a professional sign. No one wants to waste their time shopping at a junky little place that can’t even get their act together.
For instance, consider the difficulty that can arise when trying to space your letters evenly. Without perfectly even spacing, your sign will not look professional. So, do you really want to get out the ruler and the square so that you can measure the exact distance that each letter should occupy? If not, don’t even bother with the process of trying to craft your signs at home.
To give you an idea of how aggravating it can be: You will have to measure the distance in which the letters will be contained, and then you will have to divide that space by the number of letters. That will give you the exact width that each character needs. Even after doing all this, you can end up with letters of uneven sizes if you don’t use all of your space. A professional hand in the process will eliminate all of these issues.
Most professional sign designers will do their designing on a computer, using specially-made programs that take care of the hard stuff. These will ensure proper spacing, use of the right color palette, straight lines, and even curves every time.
Consistency
If you create your signs at home, it will be nearly impossible to ensure consistency with each one. Even if you manage to make all of the signs look good, there will be tiny variations from one to the other. Although this isn’t a huge problem, it creates an unprofessional look that isn’t fitting for a new business. Once again, anything that looks homemade will make your business look cheap.
The biggest problem with consistency in homemade signs comes from the element of proportion. Every graphic on the sign is meant to have a fixed size, but it’s hard to get it exactly right on every attempt. For instance, if one sign has a logo that is larger or smaller than that of the others, it shows that you didn’t take the time or care enough to hire a professional.
Help With Placement
We have talked a whole lot about the making of the signs, as this is of primary importance. However, the placement of your signs is just as important. It won’t really do you any good to make a nice and well-designed sign if it isn’t displayed in the right location. You want the sign to be seen by as many people as possible, and sign companies have people that specialize in this aspect of the business.
By looking at the economic patterns of the area, an expert can tell where the majority of customers are likely to be. They also have training and experience that will enable them to make the sign much more visible than it would otherwise be.
How To Evaluate A Sign Designer
Since you will be relying on the advice of a professional, it is of utmost importance that you choose the right one. Every sign company will try to convince you that they are the very best and that no other company is worth your time. This, however, is just marketing. Understand it as such, or you might get taken for a ride.
The first thing you should do is look for some customer reviews. These can usually be found online, but you can also talk to other business owners in the area. In general, you want a company that has left a trail of satisfied customers behind. Any company that has more than 50% negative reviews should probably be avoided.
Of course, it is fair to remember that companies will often “review-bomb” their competitors. This is a practice whereby people are hired online for the purpose of giving bad reviews to a specific company. This practice is quite dishonest, but it isn’t illegal as far as we know. Sometimes, a review-bombing effort can make a good and popular company look like a very bad choice, so do bear that in mind.
You can usually tell a legitimate review from a false one on close inspection. For instance, fake reviews will usually make trivial, unrealistic, or untrue complaints. They do this because they are paid to find something about which to complain. They won’t necessarily choose a reason that is accurate or sensible.
Your sign company will probably give you a choice as to which designer you would prefer. When it comes to this part of the process, you should ask for a portfolio. This will give you a better idea of the work that has been done by that specific sign artist. If the portfolio is to your liking, the next thing to do is ask for referrals. The designer can probably point you toward several satisfied customers, but you shouldn’t stop there.
You have no way to know if these referrals are genuine unless you check them. That’s why every referral should be accompanied by contact information so that you can call that person if you wish. Obviously, you don’t need to have a long conversation with these people, but it’s a good idea to ask them about the results they got from the designer. In general, you just need to know if their expectations were met.
Designs Versus Reality
As you go through the process of designing your signs, you might come to a point where you realize that your design is unrealistic. When this happens, the help of a designer can be the thing that salvages the project. While you might have a very good set of ideas, the designer has the knowledge and the skills to turn that idea into reality. There are many ideas that work great on paper but fail in real-life applications. Using a good designer ensures that you won’t have to deal with these little hiccups alone.
Conclusion
Yes, you should definitely use a professional designer for your next business sign. Only by hiring a qualified expert can you obtain the best possible results. If you choose to ignore this advice, be prepared for the possibility of disappointment. A homemade sign is like a roll of the dice, and the odds are always stacked against you. We wrote this article so that you could throw those dice away and make an informed decision based on logic and investigation. If we have succeeded in this, we hope that you will show your appreciation by filling out the contact form below.