Top 5 Directional Signage Design Tips For New Businesses

Your business can have the best products or services with the best-trained staff. Still, you can also help your customers find their way around your store to give them a better experience with directional signages. These signs help people navigate places of business, like a mall, so they can find their way inside your shop. Here are five tips for creating the best directional signage for your business.

1. Keep Text To A Minimum

One best practice when creating directional signs is to keep the message as condensed as possible by including little text. It applies to providing general information, pointing to an area, enforcing rules or labelling rooms. You want a short and simplified message; preferably, a single word or symbol will do.

For example, you need to point to a room down the stairs. Instead of a long text message, you can use familiar symbols like an arrow and the word stairs instead of creating a message saying ‘stairs up ahead’ or ‘stairs at the end of the hall’.

People must read the sign easily once they pass by it. Too much text will make them tune out the signage, especially when people are in a hurry. Not all people are willing to read the sign. Some only need a quick visual cue to make them learn what to do. You can turn service providers such as FWDP to help create the best signages for your business.

2. Be Creative

When creating directional designs, they must also be creative. Marking directions in specific areas are good tools for promoting your brand personality. Look into your business’ features. Blank walls, windows, breakrooms, and elevator doors can be the new features to hold the elements of your wayfinding designs. It doesn’t matter how big or small the space you have.

For example, if you need help choosing a size for a parking lot wayfinding signage, scale up and go big when you need to reach out to a lot of people. It can be as simple as painting an arrow by the door with a word that says parking lot or the name of your business.

You can use a program that can scale letters to improve visibility. Be careful when designing, as people can easily detect if you’re using the wrong space or over-styling a design.

3. Make The Elements Work Together

Directional designs, although made separately, must work like a team. You can use identification signage that tells people where they are to help them follow directional signs that lead them to where you want them to go.

Once they reach their destination, another identification sign should tell them about their arrival at your business. Ensure customers can easily read your shop or store’s outdoor signs from a distance. If you can create a directional message that helps customers find a hallway bench to rest on, you’ve already made your mark on their minds.

The right font style can also be a marketing tool because it helps the eyes see the sign faster if the font, graphics and colours match. Some good examples of fonts are Helvetica, Sans Serif, and Display.

Also, remember you don’t always have to capitalize your fonts. They can complicate the visuals and cause eye strain. Fonts with heavy detailing may lose their basic form and cause blurred vision.

4. Avoid Using Nonstandard Symbols

Familiarize yourself with universal symbols when designing directional signages. These are how people can recognize anywhere and easily comprehend your store at a glance.

An example of a standard symbol is a picture of a hand. People will only know if it’s a waving hand when they arrive at your entrance or welcome centre. But suppose you place a smoking cigarette at one end within a circle and slash through it. That instantly informs visitors that it’s a no-smoking area. Your visitors should be able to understand what the symbols mean to help them make quick decisions.

5. Make The Signs Consistent

The purpose of the wayfinding signage is to help people find their way. That means strategically placing the arrows until people arrive at their destination. There should be an arrow or signage at each decision point, like in a divided hallway.

Never leave your potential customer scratching their heads when they don’t have a clear indicator pointing them where they should go. Leaving them with general signages can cause them to wander around and give up.

Takeaway

New businesses can help customers find their way inside their stores with directional signages. You can use these as a marketing tool to give them a good starting experience associated with your brand.

Remember to keep the text minimal, use familiar symbols and make the elements work. Incorporate your signages in spaces they can see. Avoid leaving them hanging if you want people to find you. You want to create a positive customer journey by helping them from the start.