7 EXPERT YARD SIGN DESIGN TIPS

While search engine advertisements and social media are becoming increasingly popular, they have a long way to go before they replace traditional advertising methods.

Billboards, TV commercials, and print ads remain an essential method for local advertising. But they can also be costly and tough to get right.

Yard signs are a great alternative. Low-cost and easy to spread throughout your city or county, yard signs can reach a large audience without draining your business’ marketing budget.

If you want your yard sign campaign to be successful, it needs to start with a well-designed sign. Keep reading to learn 7-yard sign design tips you need to follow.

1. Keep it Simple
A lawn sign size can be limiting on your design. But the best yard sign designs are those that use the small size as inspiration, rather than a limitation.

Packing your sign full of as much information as possible can be tempting. Many businesses try to win over customers with that sign alone. They may try to include their business name, contact information, slogans, promotions, and more.

But most of the potential customers that see your sign is going to be driving, running, or biking as they pass by.

You’ll have just a few seconds to capture their attention. If you sign is too messy or complicated, they likely won’t pause to decipher it.

Keeping your yard design as simple as possible, and letting the design capture passerby’s attention rather than the information, is the best tip you could follow.

2. Make Your Name Stand Out
Now that you know why the simplicity of design is a must, its time to focus on what you do need to include on your sign.

When your goal is to design yard signs for a business, the name of that business should be the first thing that you see on the sign. Whether that means centering it on your sign, writing it in boldface, or other tactics, bringing attention to the name is a must.

If your business has a logo that you think customers or others in your area would instantly recognize, you can make this the focus rather than the business name itself.

3. Don’t Forget Your Contact Info
After your business name, the next most important piece of info on your yard sign should be your business’ contact information.

This doesn’t mean that you need to list your business address, phone number, email address, AND website URL. In fact, you should never include all of the above.

Instead, consider what way customers most often reach out to you, and include that form of contact. If a person doesn’t want to contact you in that way, they’ll have your business name that they can then look up online to get into contact differently.

4. Consider Your Brand
Consider political yard sign design.

These signs often include only the name of the candidate, or sometimes the name and a slogan. They don’t usually include a URL, a list of goals, or other information that would crowd a sign.

That’s because their only goal is to spread awareness of that political candidate. The name, as well as the colors and designs used on that sign, reflect the candidates branding. Often, political yard signs in the U.S. are red, white, and blue in color, and may have stars or other references that give them a patriotic feel.

By creating a feeling of patriotism, as well as spreading a large number of signs throughout the city or county, these candidates are hoping to spread brand awareness.

They are often less interested in viewers learning about their political agenda itself. Instead, they are hoping that voters will recognize their name when filling out a ballot, and will feel a positive connection thanks to their branding efforts.

In the same way, your business’ branding implemented on your yard signs should help to speak for your business. This means less information that you need to put on your sign, making the design even more effective.

5. Choose Your Type Carefully
When you’re working on minimalistic yard sign designs, each decision you make is essential.

Besides the few words you do choose to include, your only other chance to leave a lasting impression are your color and type choices. Your branding may dictate your color choices.

But if typography isn’t a part of your current brand guidelines, you have an important decision to make on your yard sign.

Choosing the right type can help make your sign easy to read, and give it a professional appeal. The wrong sign can get your sign ignored, or make it look very unprofessional.

If your brand is more serious, a Serif font is a good choice. If your brand is less formal, a sans-serif font might be a good choice. But avoid anything that might be considered too juvenile, such as Comic Sans, that readers might not take seriously.

The type you choose isn’t the only decision you have to make to keep your sign clear. How close you space your type and how large it is are also important for making your sign readable.

6. Don’t Underestimate Negative Space
Negative space, or space on your yard sign design that is left blank, can seem like a waste.

But negative space is actually great for drawing attention to other parts of your sign. It can help guide your eye towards your business name or other information.

7. Give Yourself a Way to Track Performance
While this tip isn’t a must, it can be a great way to improve your yard sign campaign performance.

Adding a new email address to your yard signs is a great way to see how many people view and pay attention to your sign. Use that email address only for your yard signs, that way you know that traffic is coming from your signs and not from somewhere else.

Creating a Successful Yard Sign Design
Following these seven tips is a great way to ensure that your yard sign design is successful at spreading awareness of your business and bringing you new leads.

But yard signs aren’t only great for spreading awareness of your business. Click here to learn why yard signs can be great for other purposes, like a celebration, as well.