It’s a cute aphorism about the three most important attributes of real estate. It may be true, but think about how it relates to SIGNS for a minute. They can be well-written, well-illustrated, and have a strong message and still be useless. Just put them in the wrong place, too high, too low, between the visitor and the view, on the wrong slant, in too tight of a space, and your beautiful signs may not be effective. Signs in the wrong location might just as well not be anywhere.
Signs should have all of the other requisite traits of great visual media –
• images that help communicate the message to the target market
• professional quality design to capitalize on the visual and verbal elements
• a theme – a clear strong message that gets the reader to think
• made of the right materials for the environment
• brief in number of words (fewer than 100 if possible in text blocks of fewer than 50 words each)
• a compelling title that provokes interest
• an appropriate size, shape, and mount for the situation
There’s more to putting a sign together than most people realize. We have all seen the “book on a stick” approach with too many words and too much jargon, and not enough visual interest provided by photos or original illustrations. Sometimes there are just too many signs with the same message located too closely together, almost ensuring that no one will read any of them. We stopped at a county campground in Wyoming that had more than fifteen signs saying FEE AREA or PAY HERE, all mounted within a few feet, or in some cases, a few inches of each other. Signs may be poorly mounted and fall apart, fade due to UV light, have bug damage, be too easily vandalized, or just seem out of place in terms of materials that were chosen.
Those are all important considerations but let’s go back to LOCATION for a minute. If you are hiring a team of professional planners, designers and fabricators to work on your sign project, they will likely help you get the “must do” items done correctly by talking to you about your objectives for the sign or signs. When the signs arrive, you control placement and installation. Hopefully the planner has helped you make good choices about placement and you will follow his or her advice.
Here’s a few tips about locating signs that you may find helpful, recognizing of course, that every situation is a little different:
• Think about placing signs in or near the restrooms if appropriate at your site. It’s the one place almost everyone will visit.
• Avoid obscuring great views of that which you are interpreting with vertical mounts. Reader rails with small signs or low angle mounts might be a better choice.
• Avoid placing signs above head level. A good rule of thumb is to keep text portions between 36 and 72 inches from the floor on wall-mounted or vertical signs. Seniors are often a major market segment at interpretive sites. Visual acuity and neck mobility change as you get older so placement matters a lot.
• Keep text size reasonable for viewing distance. Small type on a sign placed below knee level is impossible to read.
• Place signs where the target market is. If you target sportsmen, the message about dangers of fishing line to birds might work better on a sign at the marina or on a minnow bucket. If you want to communicate with hikers, the trail entrance is an obvious location.
• Avoid placing signs on the wall in stairwells (a hazard if people stop to read them), in hallways (creates traffic blockages), or facing the opposite direction from the feature you want to draw attention to.
There’s a lot more to locating signs than can easily be put in a brief blog article. A good interpretive planning course includes a major segment on media best practices and things to avoid. If you would like a course at your place for staff and/or volunteers, give us a call. Courses also have a LOCATION need. They are best attended when they are at your place and you help all of your staff and decision makers understand how media can enhance or detract from an experience for your audience.
-Tim Merriman
heartfeltassociates.com 