Sign Design Tips…  

The thing about graphic design is that it is not all about skill. Everything from personal taste to raw talent plays a big roll in how your design will turn out.  

However some people are better at it than others. Not to worry. If you follow these guidelines you should be able to design a very respectable sign, banner, or vehicle layout.

But….. If time is a concern, we do have the people, the talent and the equipment to design, show you a proof and get the job done.

1. Choose colors that will not blend together. Red on Black is not a very readable choice. If it is what you want that is fine. However you are sacrificing readability. In most cases the farther away you can read your advertising from the better. Some good color selections are yellow with black, yellow with green, white with any dark color, blue with white, red with white, etc. The key here is choosing colors that jump apart from each other. If you want to use red on black consider putting a white outline on the edge of the letters. This will provide separation between the colors and will look much better. 

2. Choose a shape that fits what you are doing. If you are designing a sign that has long rows of text then use a long rectangular sign. Do not try and put it on a square sign. This will cause you to use smaller letters with a lot of dead space. The same goes for if you have a design that requires several short rows on top of each other. Put this on a sign shaped to fit it. 

3. Do not get carried away with information. The more you put on your design the more it takes away from the design. If it needs to be said say it. If not leave it off. 

4. Fill as much of the sign as possible. Now don’t get carried away and start adding designs on every square inch of the design. However fill it with the text. Then Play with it to make it look good. 

5. Graphics, colors, borders, shadows, etc., all add their own flavor to your design. I will not say much here other than we have the ability to create them if you wish to use them in your design. 

6. Alignment is important. We have tools that you can use to align everything center, left, or right. If the design is meant to be aligned, make sure that it is. If not, make it obvious that the design was purposely misaligned. If they are not in proper alignment, it will show. 

7. Our last piece of advice is look at other designs. We are adding new design templates on a regular basis. Use them or copy them. 

If you are still not comfortable designing your own sign you can send your request to our customer service staff. They will be happy to work with you to create a design you will be thrilled with. 

Ready-To-Apply Graphics….

We can design and custom cut virtually and design imaginable to your specifications. These designs can be made into ready-to-apply graphics for you to apply to the substrate of your choice (windows, cars, or any other non-porous surface). Instructions as well as a squegee is included to aid in application of your graphics

Note: For applying vinyl lettering to the inside of windows, please specify a “Reverse Cut”.

Corrugated Plastic (Coroplast)….

Custom Coroplast signs can be constructed very quickly using computer cut vinyl. Coroplast is a corrgated plastic material that is light weight – yet sturdy. This material is ideal for the outdoors and Real Estate signs. It will last for several months and in some cases, it can be used over and over again. Be sure to specify the direction of the flutes(ridges in coroplast) when placing your order. 

Available Colors: Red, Yellow, Green, Gray, Brown, Orange, Light Blue, Navy Blue, White, and Black

Available Thicknesses: 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch 

Magnetics ….

Magnetic Vehicle Signs are an inexpensive way to advertise your business, campaign, or special event. We use hign quality magnetics and the latest in sign making equipment for exceptional quality. Our magnetic signs have 85 pounds of pull per square foot. Beware of thinner magnetic signs which may blow off your vehicle.

Available Colors: White (Standard) or any other color of standard vinyl (additional charge for color applies)

Available Thicknesses: 30ml

Aluminum Signage ….

Heavy guage, enameled, aluminum signs with durable vinyl lettering provide permanent outdoor building signs, factory signs, parking lot signs, no trespassing, safety signs, traffic signals, etc…. Available in a variety of sizes, these signs are great for displaying company names, directions or other important information. The larger sizes are suitable for inexpensive retail store or shop signs.

Available Colors: Red, Yellow, Geen, Blue, White and Black

Available Thicknesses: 0.040, 0.060 and 0.080

We would be happy to give you a quote. Signs@econoprint.net

Artwork 

Q:  What is a vector file?

A:  A Vector is another name for an outlined file (also can be called “curves” or “paths”).

Q:  Why is it often necessary to have vector files?

A:  When we screen-print spot colors or plotter-cut vinyl graphics it is impossible to cut a bitmap or pixel image as there is no definition of the item to cut or print.  It is also necessary to have outline files for any illuminated letters, metal letters, foam letters, and most signs that are not printed digitally.

Q:  How do I know if my file is a vector file or a raster (bitmap) file?

A:  There are a couple of ways.  The best and quickest way, if you can open the file, is to zoom in on the edge of a letter.  If you see lots of little squares (pixels or bitmaps), you have a raster file.  If it looks clean like a line that you draw with a ballpoint pin, you more than likely have a vector file.

The second way is to look at the file extension.  This is not foolproof, as most of these extensions may potentially contain raster images as well, but many users will not be able to view files with the following list of extensions.ai, .fh, .qxd, .eps, .cdr, .cmx, .wmf, . svg, .svgz, .fs, .sci, .scv, .dxf, .plt, .fmv, .ttf, .pfb, and occasionally .pdf and .doc.

Raster file extensions most commonly include .jpg, .gif, .tif or .tiff, .psd, .png, .bmp, .tga, .pcx, .sct, .img, .mac, .cal, .wi, .xpm, . pp5, .txt, .fpx, .pub, .cpt and many others.

Q:  Can you use pictures or logos from our website?

A: Most of the images used on a website are 72 dpi (very low resolution for printing) to enable the website to load quickly onto your computer.   We need at least 200-300 dpi photos for printing either screen-printing or digital printing or the finished product will be inferior and you will be dissatisfied with our product.

Q:  Why do you need to back up colors with white on clear print stock such as decals or static cling materials.

A:  It is not absolutely necessary to do so with spot color printing (although we believe it will generally look better).  However, 4 color process inks are more transparent because they are formulated for interlinking with each other.  When four-color process ink is printed it is defined by adding a white background.

Q:  What are spot colors and what are process colors?

A:  Spot colors are colors that are printed specifically to match your logo colors or the like.  Process colors are typically used to build a photographic print.  A term you will see for this type of printing is 4CP, which stands for four-color process.  The colors used are yellow, cyan, magenta, and black. 

Digital Printing 

Q:  What resolution do your digital printers print at?

A:  The answer depends somewhat on the printer itself.  We have large format digital printers that will print as low as 100dpi for billboards as well as smaller format printers that will print as high as 1440 dpi on decals, posters, and the like.  Of course, you must realize that if you give us a 300 dpi file, the 1440 dpi printer will print the file as it sees it at 300 dpi.

Q:  What materials can be printed digitally?

A:  While there is an ever-increasing amount of material that we are able to print digitally, the main items are still decals and banners of various types.  The application of the decals includes a wide variety of uses, though, from floor graphics to internally illuminated sign faces and transparencies. 

Screen Printing 

Q:  What line screens do you use for half-tones and 4CP printing?

A:  This will vary somewhat with the requirements of the sign or what it is used for.  Typically we don’t go below 55lpi, and we sometimes will go as high as 125lpi or higher, depending on your requirements.

Q:  Our company has a logo that we want printed on some decals, and we have a very specific color that we use.  Can you match this color?

A:  We guarantee color match within one percent when we are screen-printing.  Most of our clients provide us with a PMS color (Pantone Matching System) that we can use with our ink mixing system.  This allows you to know that we are all on the same page when it comes to color.

Q:  What type of inks do you use?

A:  We use U.V. curable inks.  These inks have a high gloss finish and are weather and chemically resistant.

Q:  What is the average life expectancy of U.V. inks?

A:  Typically in most environments these inks will last about 5 years.  In environments that have near constant sun exposure, that may be reduced to as few as 3 years, and where there is little sun exposure, the ink will last indefinitely.

Q:  What materials do you print on?

A:  We print on a wide variety of materials from all types of decal stocks, aluminum, plastics of all types (that accept ink – a few don’t), banner materials from vinyl to polypropylene, and more. 

Samples 

Q:  Do you provide samples of your products?

A:  For the most part we provide free samples of most products.some products such as electrical signs we don’t for obvious reasons, but most products we are more than happy to send you samples of upon request. 

Prototypes 

Q:  I work for a large corporation and we are needing to have several hundred banners printed.  Do you provide pre-production prototypes?

A:  Absolutely!  Depending on the size of the order we often provide this as a service for no extra charge, but prototypes are almost always an option. 

Miscellaneous Questions 

Q:  Where are you located?

A:  We have production only facilities in St. Catharines.   

Q:  Why do you not post pricing on your website?

A:  We are in the process of putting together pricelists for some products, but most of what we sell is custom and we don’t prefer to advertise our pricing to the competition.  If they want it they at least have to work for it.

Q:  Why should I buy from Visigraph rather than a local vendor?

A:  Of course we cannot prevent you from purchasing from whomever you choose to buy from, but we believe that our experience in this industry gives us an edge over many of our competitors nationally.  Obviously much of this industry is cost driven, and we often beat your local sign company’s pricing because our plants are often specifically dedicated to a certain type of sign and therefore we are able to purchase raw materials at better rates because of quantities purchased than your local sign company will be able to.  This often gives us a price advantage over the competition.  Because of the product specific production our plants are also privy to new product information very quickly due to our size, and we pass this information on to our you, our clients.

Q:  What do I do if I want to make a suggestion to improve Econoprint’s website?

A:  We love client feedback.  Just email us at  signs@econoprint.net