3 Powerful Tips for High-Performance Retail Storefront Signs
Sep 10,2019
Retail storefront signs are your first point of contact with potential customers. More often than not, getting that signage just right can be the difference between securing a sale or souring a lead.
To that end, today’s post shares 3 powerful tips for designing high-performance retail storefront signs, courtesy of our expert team in Manassas, VA.
Keep Your Message Short And Sweet
Retail storefront signage is definitely not the place to list off all the exciting sales or seasonal specials that you offer.
That can come as a shock to some, considering your retail storefront sign is probably the biggest and most prominent part of your entire sign system.
But nobody is looking at retail storefront signs for that information. These signs are used to identify your place of business and give viewers a visual sense of what it’s all about.
Microsoft’s 2015 Attention Spans report famously set the average human attention span at only 8 seconds. That’s one second less than a goldfish! Consider this while designing your retail storefront signs. Signage is a game of glances. If your sign is too busy to take in that quickly, it’ll get consistently tuned out.
Remember, though: simple doesn’t mean boring. You can say a lot with the right font, color, and layout, even with only a few design elements to work with.
Align Retail Storefront Sign Design And Message
The Stroop Effect Test is a perfect illustration of why your retail storefront sign design should complement its message.
In this seminal test, participants were presented with a list of color names written in conflicting colors. So, for example, the word “blue” was written in red font, and the word “red” was written in white. This discontinuity interfered with the study participants’ attention and processing speed, causing a delay. In simpler terms, that means it took participants significantly longer to correctly identity the “meaning” (i.e. the written color name) of signs when their “design” (i.e. the font color of all color names) was inconsistent.
Slowing the viewer’s comprehensive time is certainly not the goal of effective retail storefront sign design, especially when you’ve only got a few seconds to make an impression.
To avoid confusion and make more impressions, align your sign design and message using colors, fonts, and images that complement your brand identity or text. For example, an upscale and eco-friendly spa might emphasize cooling blues and earthy greens to convey a sense of calm nature.
Incorporate Retail Storefront Signs Into A Complete Signage System
Standalone retail storefront signs can be enough to get people in the door, but they work best when integrated into a complete signage system. This approach gets you the best of both worlds, as you get to keep your main signage simple, elegant, and effective, while also being able to display messages about specific promotions, store hours, and more.
Combining custom retail storefront signs with window graphics and sidewalk signs is a very effective strategy that you can see in play all over Manassas, VA.
Custom Retail Storefront Signs In Manassas, VA
If you need help designing your custom retail storefront sign in Manassas, VA, get in touch with Legendary Custom Signs & Graphics. We offer a wide range of signage options, all of which are 100% customizable and made from high quality materials.
