A study has proven that people, who drive every day along a street where a sign is placed, only 3 days after the exposure to the sign, are 10% more likely to say that the candidate whose name is on the sign is one of their top three choices. Campaign signs work indeed! Designed and placed correctly, campaign signs can be effective. Here’s a brief guide to all ins and outs on how to design an excellent campaign sign. Let’s have a look:
Criteria for Effective Campaign Signs
When considering a campaign sign, you should stick to the following most essential criteria:
1. Cost-Effective
Great campaign signs should not always come expensive. A good sign design company can provide cost-effective campaign signs that bring success to your campaign.
2. Weather Resistant
Outdoor campaign signs should be made to withstand harsh weather conditions. Signs made of corrugated plastic, vinyl, or laminated wood look attractive and can withstand rainy, sunny, and snowy weather.
3. Eye-Catching
Eye-catchy doesn’t mean overdoing colors and fonts! It means achieving the balance among all elements in a way that appeals to your target audience.
4. Readable at Distance
Signs are often read from a distance. So make sure your campaign signs are legible from common distances.
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Common Mistakes with Campaign Sign Design
A well-designed campaign sign can impressively convey your message to your intended audience. Nonetheless, a poorly designed sign can project a bad and unprofessional image of your campaign.
These design mistakes can ruin your campaign regardless of how impressive your idea is. The most common sign design mistakes are:
Not Having A Clear Goal
The very first step should be to have a clear campaign goal. If you are not sure about your goal, you may end up having a sign that looks cluttered and doesn’t convey the right message.
The campaign goal determines all design decisions – what size and color, what graphics, message, and materials to use. Be thoughtful about your intentions.
Unclear Message
Can your audience look at your sign and immediately tell what your campaign is about? Is your message clear?
Keeping your message precise, clear, and simple is priceless! Keep in mind that your campaign sign serves as 24-hour marketing. So it should do what it is intended for.
All Upper Case Letters
Passing motorists are often a great distance away from the sign. They have only 2-3 seconds to read the caption.
Scientific visual tests have shown that text in upper and lower case is more legible than all upper case letters.
All uppercase letters can make it time-consuming to understand the message. So make it easy by using a combination of lowercase and uppercase letters.
Important Campaign Sign Parameters
Appropriate Size Makes Content Legible from Distances
The location of your sign determines its size. The common sign size parameters are:
- Standby/Foot traffic: 12” x 18” to 12” x 24”
- Medium traffic: 24” x 32” to 24” x 38”
- High-speed & long-distance highway traffic: 32” x 48”
- Billboard: 48” x 60” to 48” x 96”
Some other forms of advertising signage can grab attention for your campaign. These include bus benches, subway poster ads, bicycle taxi ads, and more. While these tend to be costly, you should first analyze your return on investment before moving on.
While 24” x 18” is the standard size for a yard sign, you might consider designing slightly larger signs to make your signs stand out.
Contrasting Colors Make Them Easy to Read
Choose lettering that has high contrast with background colors to make it easily readable from a distance.
Also, studies show that colors have a direct impact on people’s psychology. So think about the color impact on your voters and choose appropriate color combinations.
Using big, bold colors to improve reader retention. Just ensure that you contrast them. Use lighter color lettering on a dark background or vice versa. Failing to contrast colors can make the text illegible, thereby defeating the purpose. Avoid too many colors!
The Right Font Improves Readability
Choose a font size that makes your campaign sign readable in the most common reading distance. Ideally, 1” letter is visible from 30 feet when driving or 50 feet when standing. Avoid overly decorative fonts as these can compromise readability. Choose bold, easy to read fonts, such as Verdana, Georgia, Helvetica, Quicksand, and PT Sans.
Tell a Story with Images
A picture is worth a thousand words. Utilize visual storytelling when designing your campaign signs. Get a professional and neatly designed logo, headshot, or other graphics that express your message clearly. Use clean and elegant images that do not make your sign look cluttered.
The Right Message
Does your sign convey what you want it to say? Your campaign sign should bring value to your target audience, evoke their emotions through a story, and prompt them to act. Your message can be in the form of a slogan or a reason why to vote for the candidate.
Get It Noticed Uninterruptedly With the Right Placement
The last important parameter is the sign placement. Although it’s not directly related to design, the placement should be taken into consideration from the beginning to ensure that the signs get the proper amount of attention.
Campaign signs visually blocked by buildings or tree branches can be ineffective. A professional sign company always checks the surrounding area before designing and installing the sign.
At the same time, they will be able to decide the best materials, shape, size, and steps presented above, to make an accurate and reliable decision.
What VeraPax Can Do For You?
VeraPax Marketing is a full-service sign print and design company. We specialize in full-color offset and digital printing, offering guarantees on quality, pricing, and turnaround. We can also help organize the distribution of your campaign signs with the Political Sign Manager (PSM).
Political Sign Manager is a mobile app and web-based solution that helps you effectively plan and track your campaign signs in a hassle-free manner.
From guiding you on the design through to tracking your signs in real-time, PSM is an all-in-one solution for your campaign sign management.
Get your Free 7-day trial for two users and up to 5 signs and instant free access to your first political sign campaign!
