Harford County Signs and Banners Blog

If you’re an innovative business that wants to use technology in your signage and interact with your customers, digital signage may be the answer.  Indoor digital signage comes in all shapes and sizes – from video walls to hand-held devices, from mounted video screens to kiosks.  The key to success is three-fold:  placement, content and response.

Careful placement of your digital signage inside the building can make the difference between success and failure.  Your signage professional will provide the best recommendations, taking into consideration screen size, room size and existing lighting.  Choose a screen size that is right for the room or area of the signage.  Choose the highest quality image possible, especially if your content contains graphics or text.  High definition is best.  Make sure the viewing distance from the monitor is appropriate – putting a huge screen in a small space only calls attention to the pixels inherent in big screen video displays.  To truly appreciate the picture quality, some distance from the screen is required.  The screens should be positioned in areas where they will not be affected by bright lights or reflections.

Consider your content.  If it will be interactive, make it easy for customers to participate.  Use kiosk technology or touch screen controls that are intuitive.  Make your content understandable and simple.  Target it to your demographics, using language and graphics that appeal to your audience and will draw them in to the content.  If your content is not interactive, but dynamic, like a changing restaurant menu, be sure you update the signage consistently and be sure that it’s working every time.  Respond quickly to customer inquiries or feedback to get the most value from your efforts.

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Whether you’re thinking about indoor or outdoor signage this year, don’t discount the value of banners.  They are a great way to make a statement, and their flexibility is endless.  They are portable, reusable and attractive.  If you need portable signage, new materials make banners lightweight and easy to ship or carry.  Banners are also cost-effective due to their reuse factor.  Done properly, a banner identifies your company name, logo and contact information and can be used to maintain your image again and again.

One of this year’s trends promises to be fabric banners.  The material makes the banner flexible enough to wrap around corners or fold easily, yet the banners are sturdy enough to withstand outdoor weather.  Outdoor banners can be lit from the front or back, and with the new translucent fabrics, lighting special effects are possible with just a little experimentation.  Indoors, lighting can also make the banner look more effective.  Your Harford County sign professional can give you tips on lighting as well as recommend the best type of fabric for the printing process.

Select a short message and your company name and logo, rather than a text-heavy banner that readers have to strain to read.  Graphic designers at your professional sign manufacturer are trained to create succinct, eye-catching messages.  In addition, they will work both with your business color palette and the color palettes at the banner location.  For outdoor banners, coordinate the color palette with the season.  Indoors, coordinate with the décor.  

Banners can be flexible, cost-effective and contemporary for your signage needs.  Contact a Harford County signage professional today.

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Did you ever have a problem where the sun just makes it too hot when it comes through the windows?  

Establishments often spend lots of money to install blinds or window cover to help reduce the amount of heat that is coming into a location.  Do you want to reduce the effects of the sun as well as improve your presence with your customers by advertising your business?  Window Perf could be the answer.  Window Perf is a vinyl material that has a percentage of the area punched out to allow light to come through and you to see out.  From the outside you see full color graphics and when looking out from the inside you see the outside world.

Reducing the effects of the sun was the main concern of one of Blue Water Sign's customers.  In the winter months when the angle of the sun is low it shines through the retail entrance of Wockenfuss Candies' new space.  The answer was a combination of window perf and window tint.  A window film that rejects approximately 50% of the total solar energy was used on the primary doors so customers could still see when they approached the store.

Blue Water Signs developed a graphic package with the customer that would both reduce the solar energy entering the retail space as well as make use of valuable advertising space on all other window surfaces around the entrance.  The window perf that was used was a 70/30 (70% solid/30% holes). 

The combination reduced the heat transmission so that the candies were not receiving the heat load they had in the past.  Soft and melted chocolates were a thing of the past after the installation.

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As is common in most industries at the start of the New Year, we have some comments on the market trends for 2013.  Experts across the board have weighed in, and we’ve looked at where we think the hot items will be.  We offer a short list of predictions:

• Digital Signage and more digital signage – This market continues its growth.  Harford County businesses are realizing the cost-effectiveness of digital signage both indoors and outdoors.  Banks, restaurants, schools and churches are among the early-adopters, and we predict more will come on board this year.  Those early adopters will do even more with their digital signage.
• Big screens - At retail, digital signage is being used to deliver a marketing and advertising strategy that drives consumers to purchase.  It will become more interactive for consumers and point-of-purchase signage will be important.
• Small screens - Advertisers and marketers will try to reach consumers on mobile devices – from phones to tablets.  Again, interactive and targeted, the messages will be developed and delivered using data collected from all the “Smart” devices. 
• Sleek materials – Lest we lament the demise of static signage, the market is still rich with opportunities.  The advent of sleek materials, like fabric for outdoor banners, will dominate the marketplace this year.
• New applications for tried and true – We’ll see innovations and new uses for already successful applications like vehicle wraps and window cling signage.  The materials will be used in new markets and to reach new customers.  

Harford County sign companies will be thinking out of the box for customers and will suggest innovative ways to use current signage techniques.

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