Things to avoid when designing LED signs

Sign Size

Don’t make the mistake of purchasing a sign that is too big for using indoors and too small to be used outdoors. If you are planning on an indoor LED sign, a 2” or 4” high character LED sign would be most appropriate as the visibility ranges from 80-160 feet. For an outdoor visibility, a 4” or 6” high character sign is preferred.

Casing of letters

When designing your sign, it is advisable to stick to all capitals because they turn out to be visibly 30% larger than lowercase letters. Bigger letters mean your sign can be read from farther away and consequently giving people more time to read your sign.

Use of color

Red text with a black background does not look very friendly but is the most noticed and most read color combination. If your message is placed in a location where passersby have just a few seconds to read it, stick to just red colored text. A mix of colors can be used if your sign is placed in libraries, waiting rooms, lobbies, etc.

Motion video signs

Although technology now provides us to advertise businesses with full motion video signs, it may not be very suitable for outdoor use. Outdoor LED signs give users just about 5 seconds to view a sign but to get a message across with videos, at least 10-15 seconds is required, especially because there is no audio involved. Therefore, in many cases, straight text is the smartest choice to convey a message effectively.

Scrolling

The human mind is not a computer. It cannot read multiple scrolling lines at one time. This scrolling activity may not be advisable for outdoor signs. And what is worse: reverse scrolling for messages that display more than five words.

Formats

Reading both stationary and scrolling text at the same time is also not possible for the human mind. Therefore, make sure there is a distance of 1-2 feet between the two types.