Restaurant Street Signs: Text, Color and Marquee

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Quick thoughts on restaurants signage.

Fonts
Fonts that are difficult to read, or take more than a split-second to read, will confuse people. Confusion is not inviting.

Color
Look at the color of your sign vs the surroundings. If it’s against the sky, your “competing” color will mostly be light blue. That’s obvious, but what color is the sign compared to that? If it’s a white background, good luck. If it’s against trees and your colors have green, good luck. Why do you think Waffle House has those large yellow signs? It’s impossible to miss them.

Random link: color scheme generator. I’ve used that site for years to help determine everything I do with color. Logos, signs, brochures… everything has a planned color scheme. Look at your surroundings, stick a similar color into that generator and you’ll see colors that “pop” against it.

The results aren’t always practical, but will give you a direction and things to consider, especially if you’re using…

Marquee signs
When was the last time you considered changing the colors of the letters on your marquee sign? Ever? If you’re running a “welcome offer” or weekly special on the sign, consider changing the colors. Run the same offer two weeks in a row. First week use your normal color, second week try an alternate. See if there’s a difference.

Example: “Buy two entrées get free dessert” posted with black letters. Try red. Too much red competing near you (because you reviewed your surroundings, right?)… Try blue or green.

The simplest, seemingly insignificant things can actually make a big difference.