The Importance of Proofreading | Signarama San Diego (Kearny Mesa), CA

The Importance of Proofreading

If you were producing a big report or responding to a request for proposals, it’s likely that you would ensure one or more individuals checked the copy for typos, grammar errors, and anything that doesn’t make sense. Although signs are often light on copy, that doesn’t mean the potential for making errors goes away.

Imagine how the creators of the following signs felt when their errors came to light:

• ·         So Fun, They Won’t Even Know Their Learning
• ·         WE BYE USED CARS
• ·         Customer Parking Only—All Others Will be Toad
• ·         Cakes for all occasions: Wedding’s, Birthday’s, Anniversary’s, Christening’s
• ·         IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE PRICE, TO BAD
• ·         MEMORIAL DAY SPECILAS

In case some of the mistakes escape you:

• ·         “Their” should be “They’re”
• ·         “BYE” should be “BUY”
• ·         “Toad” should be “Towed”
• ·         All the apostrophes should be deleted, i.e., Weddings, Birthdays, etc.
• ·         “TO” should be “TOO”
• ·         “SPECILAS” should be “SPECIALS”

The takeaway from this should be clear: make sure you have a bunch of people reviewing the verbiage on your signs before the production process gets underway. It doesn’t make a difference if your mistake involves homonyms (bye and buy, toad and towed), grammar (their and they’re, to and too), punctuation (wedding’s, birthday’s, etc.) or typos (SPECILAS and SPECIALS)—you look equally bad when the public sees it.

As your sign professional, we’ll do our best to ensure your signs are always a positive reflection of your organization, but we are not writers or editors. You can help us out by providing us with copy that’s been carefully reviewed by more than one person.

 www.sdsar.com

The Importance of Proofreading | Signarama San Diego (Kearny Mesa), CA