What to put on a yard sign

NOW HIRING. OPEN HOUSE SUNDAY. FOR SALE BY OWNER. ROOFING, FREE ESTIMATES. The headline is the only line most people read, so it carries the whole reason the sign exists. Cut the list of services, the slogan and the year established; they shrink the headline to make room and nobody reads them at 40 feet. The business name goes second, smaller, unless the name is the message.

A sign that tries to say three things says none of them. If you have three messages, order three signs or put the other two on the back.

The planning rule is 1 inch of letter height for every 10 feet between the sign and the reader: 3 inch letters at 30 feet, 5 inch at 50, 8 inch at 80. Moving traffic, dusk and a cluttered background all push the need higher, so round up. At 5 inches tall, about six capital letters fit across an 18 x 24 sign, which is why a two word headline goes on two lines rather than one small one.

A bigger sign only helps when the letters get bigger with it. A 24 x 36 panel with the same 3 inch letters reads from the same 30 feet as a 12 x 18. Decide the viewing distance first, then the letter height, then the size that holds it.

Dark letters on a light background or light letters on a dark background. Black on white, navy on white, red on white, white on navy and yellow on black are the pairs that read farthest; red on blue, yellow on white and anything on a busy photograph fall apart at distance. Keep the background flat. A thick border in the letter color makes a sign stand out against grass and pavement without costing any letter height.

One phone number or one short web address, large, on its own line, in the same color as the headline. Not both, and not an email address, which nobody can read from a car. Write the number with spaces or dots so it reads as three groups. A QR code is a sidewalk feature, not a road feature: it scans from about ten times its own width, so a 3 inch code works at 30 inches, and a driver will never use it.

Put the contact line at the bottom and keep it at least half an inch inside the edge, where the artwork guidelines show the safe area. The stake slides into the flutes along the bottom edge from behind and does not cover the print.

Double sided printing repeats the same face on the back so traffic from either direction reads it; it is not a second message unless you want it to be. Stand the sign perpendicular to the road, not parallel, so both faces meet oncoming cars. On a corner lot, one double sided sign at the corner does the work of two.

Arrows must match the physical direction on each face: an arrow pointing left on the front points right on the back when the sign is viewed from the other side, so check both before you order. The ready made designs follow these rules, with a large headline, high contrast and one contact line, and the design tool lets you change the words without shrinking them.