Sign Regulations: Follow Them or Face the Consequences

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Sign Regulations: Follow Them or Face the Consequences

All municipalities have regulation about signage, both signs that are permanent and temporary. We can provide guidance with respect to any permitting process you might need to follow and ensure your signs don’t inadvertently break any local rules, but it’s not a bad idea for you to understand your city’s regulations.

For instance, the city of San Diego regulates all signage that’s visible from the public right-of-way, even signs that are intended to be temporary. According to information recently sent to residents throughout the city:

1) Temporary window or building signs:

• May be painted on the interior of a window, or constructed of cloth or paper and attached to the interior of a window or interior building wall
• May not be attached or affixed in any manner to the exterior surface of any window or building
• Shall be permitted for no more than 60 consecutive calendar days

2) All permanent signs must have a permit sticker affixed to them to indicate review and approval.

City inspectors aren’t the only people who may scrutinize your signage, as those who received the mailing that contained the information above were also asked to be on the lookout for violations in their neighborhoods and file complaints if deemed appropriate. It’s certainly best to adhere to the rules about signage to eliminate any chance of being considered a violator and possibly being fined for your transgression.

Have a question about whether an existing sign is legal or need guidance about where to place new signs—even those that are temporary? Give Signarama—Kearny Mesa a call; we’ll be happy to help.

Sign Regulations: Follow Them or Face the Consequences

When the Weather Outside is Frightful…

When the Weather Outside is Frightful…

 

OK, the weather in San Diego is usually not going to be described as frightful, but we do have occasional rain (sometimes with wind thrown in), not to mention bright sunshine and heat. What does
this mean if your signs will “live” outside? You need to carefully choose the materials you use.

Here are a few options:

• MDO, exterior plywood panels that have a resin-impregnated fiber overlay fused to them. Typical applications: sign panels, highway and traffic signs, and billboards.
• Aluminum, which is available in a wide variety of colors and sizes, and often features one color side and one white side. Typical applications: No parking signs and real estate signage.
• Alumalite, a strong aluminum composite panel with a high-density core that won’t swell, corrode, rot or delaminate due to prolonged water exposure. Typical applications: post and panel signs, hanging signs, and wall-mounted signs.
• Acrylic, often referred to as Plexiglas, which has outstanding physical, mechanical, optical, chemical-resistant and thermal properties. Typical applications: point-of-purchase displays and lightboxes.
• Magnetics, which are completely waterproof and flexible, and available in a wide variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. Typical applications: menu boards and vehicle signs.
• Banners, which are made from a nylon-reinforced vinyl material and usually designed with graphics on just one side. Typical applications: event signage, grand opening announcements and trade shows.

Of course, each of these options has both advantages and disadvantages. Once you tell us your specific needs and your budget, we’ll counsel you on which material will work best for your signs. At Signarama—Kearny Mesa, we’re always happy to be of service, rain or shine!

When the Weather Outside is Frightful…

Small business marketing 101: Easy ways to grow your business

Small business marketing 101: Easy ways to grow your business
By Bob Gorman http://goo.gl/lj7ntg


If you are not happy with the results of your marketing efforts for your small business, you are not alone. The unfortunate truth is that many small business owners often feel lost when it comes to marketing. There may be a general idea of funding one marketing project and seeing what the results are before you move forward with other efforts. If you like the results, you may repeat the project. If not, you may move on to another marketing project. While this approach may provide some results, the fact is that the best results come from developing a strategic, well-thought out marketing plan. This plan essentially will be well-researched and will focus your marketing dollars in different, planned areas.

Defining Your Budget
Before you can determine if you want to fund a radio campaign, a Yellow Pages ad or some other marketing option, you need to define your budget. The fact is that you have a limited amount of funds available for your company’s marketing, so you want to channel these funds into the most cost-effective solutions. Defining your budget up-front before you create your plan will help you to determine how to best allocate your funds for a certain period of time.

Incorporate Social Media
If you are not already incorporating social media into your marketing efforts, you are missing out on a highly cost-effective way to reach out to your existing consumers and to branch out your presence in the marketplace. Most social media marketing is free of charge to you. For example, it is free to create a business presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other sites. Once you have created an account, you can use your business presence to announce promotions, build your brand’s image, promote contests, announce new products, and more. This can be done free of charge, and you only need to develop a following on these social media sites and make an effort to use them regularly to enjoy great results.

Think About Corporate Gifts
If you are like many other small business owners, you may immediately think about marketing solutions like investing in signage and radio or television spots. However, you may also benefit from investing in more personalized marketing solutions. For example, corporate gifts like customized magnets, pens, water bottles, golf towels and other items can be highly beneficial. Corporate gifts are one of the most sought after promotional items. The best corporate gifts will be personalized with your company’s logo, a tag line if you have  one and even contact information or your website address. These may be gifts that your target audience regularly uses, so they keep your company at the forefront of your audience’s attention.

Engage Your Audience
As a final point, when you are creating your small business marketing plan, think about how you can engage your audience. Marketing is generally viewed as a one-way method of communication, but the most successful campaigns often include some participation from the audience. For example, you can think about how you can create contests or use coupons to more actively engage your audience. Through interaction, you can create a buzz and keep your customers thinking about your company, and this can yield great results. One idea would be to offer a discount to any customers who re-tweet your promotional message on Twitter.

The fact is that marketing can cost an arm and a leg, and you may be overwhelmingly frustrated by how much money you spend on campaigns and efforts that yield little return. As you can see, you can develop a marketing plan that is cost-effective for you and that will incorporate many free or affordable solutions. Keep in mind that a great marketing plan may need to be revised and updated as new information about return on investment becomes available. However, sitting down today to develop an initial plan that includes some of these great ideas will help you to put your best foot forward as you reach out to your audience

By Bob Gorman http://goo.gl/lj7ntg 

Small business marketing 101: Easy ways to grow your business

Focus on Fonts and Capitalization

Focus on Fonts and Capitalization

One of the most important decisions you have to make when creating signs is which font to use. After all, if people can’t easily read your sign, you’ve messed up.

The process of choosing a font can be mind-boggling…but here are a few tips:

Serif or sans serif?

A serif font has “notches” at the end of each word (like this one—Times New Roman)—while a sans serif font does not (like Arial). The general rule of thumb is that serif fonts should be used for copy, while sans serif fonts are best for headings.

Many signs consist of headings, so using a sans serif font is a good choice. For instance:

VOTE TODAY UNTIL 8 PM

That font is Arial. It’s clean and easily readable, a stark contrast to the following:

VOTE TODAY UNTIL 8 PM

That font is Times. Since it’s a serif font, it’s “busier” than Atial or other sans serif fonts, and as a result lacks the same impact.

All caps or sentence case?

Equally important as making a good font choice is choosing between using all caps or sentence case (when just the first word is capitalized). Consider the following:

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to sign capitalization, but the more copy a sign contains, the less likely you should capitalize all the letters. Again, it’s about readability. For instance, our example above has three words plus a time, so it’s fine to capitalize everything, but see what happens when you start adding copy:

VOTE TODAY UNTIL 8 PM

EXERCISE YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
PLEASE HAVE A PHOTO ID READY

All those capital letters are a bit jarring. This reads better:

VOTE TODAY UNTIL 8 PM

Exercise your constitutional right
Make your voice heard
Please have a photo ID ready

You can also choose to keep the sans serif font for the heading and use a serif font for the copy:

VOTE TODAY UNTIL 8 PM

Exercise your constitutional right
Make your voice heard
Please have a photo ID ready

What’s the takeaway here? Don’t overlook the importance of fonts and capitalization when designing signs. Those of us who make signs for a living can certainly assist you with making good decisions, since you don’t want your compelling copy to lose impact due to using a less-than-ideal font or making a poor capitalization choice.

www.sdsar.com

Focus on Fonts and Capitalization

Dog Days of Summer: Sign Faux Pas | Signarama San Deigo (Kearny Mesa), CA

Dog Days of Summer: Sign Faux Pas


Although it never gets too cold in San Diego, we can’t wait until these unusually hot temperatures are a memory. With back to school just around the corner and folks getting worn out from the heat, it seems like a good time to have a few laughs at others’ expense. Take a look at these sign miscues:

Doesn’t seem like a special deal to me!

Yikes! No one noticed this very public typo during production—but I’m sure many people notice it now every day.

I’m confused. What about you?

Toad, eh? Will “all others” be painted green and given warts?

This sure seems unnecessary.

What do all these signs have in common, other than containing typos or being unclear? They were not produced at Signarama—Kearny Mesa! We work with our clients to ensure their signs are clear and error-free. Let us know if we can help you.

www.sdsar.com

Dog Days of Summer: Sign Faux Pas | Signarama San Deigo (Kearny Mesa), CA

6 Types of Tech That Can Help You Sleep Better

(Hint: Your Phone Isn't One of Them)

Image credit: Shutterstock
Robert Oexman
July 29, 2015

It’s one of my top rules for better sleep: Take technology out of the bedroom.

That's right -- remove your laptop, TV and smartphone. No excuses! If you are using your phone as an alarm clock, spend $5 for the real deal. If you’re in the habit of falling asleep to the TV, it’s time for a new routine. Why? Blue light emitted from these devices inhibits our body’s natural melatonin production, which we need to fall asleep and stay asleep each night. Quite simply, technology can keep us up at night.

Still, there are some exceptions to the rule. I believe there is “good” technology that can actually help you to sleep better and wake up rested in the morning.

I’m highlighting my top six picks here. Feel free to bring these to bed.

1. Smart home and security devices
We need a decrease in core body temperature to fall asleep and maintain sleep. A thermostat that lowers room temperature at bedtime will help you fall asleep and maintain sleep. Have the thermostat begin to raise room temperature 30 minutes prior to wake time to help you wake up. Some smart home devices allow you to lower and raise shades automatically and alert you if the doors are not locked and the garage door is open (this way you won’t worry about safety after bedtime). Related: The Morning Rituals of 10 of the World's Most Inspirational Entrepreneurs (Infographic)

2. Fitness monitor
Most fitness monitors like Fitbit, Jawbone and Garmin have the ability to monitor sleeping behavior. Don’t be concerned about one or two nights of poor sleep; look at how you are trending over time.

3. Wake-up light
An alternative to the traditional alarm clock is the wake-up light, which sits on your bed table and wakes you up naturally by slowly brightening so that it feels like you're waking up with the sun. Think about it -- before electricity, we slept and woke by the sun, taking our cues from Mother Nature. That’s best for our bodies. I like the ones by Philips, which offer multiple brightness settings to fit your personal preferences. Here’s an additional tip for you: As you wake up, don’t immediately jump out of bed. Instead take five minutes to do a bit of light stretching. The combination is an effective, gentle way to wake up each morning.

4. Sleep Smart bed
Most mattresses are passive – they just lie there! This sleep system has built-in technology that actually "reads" your body, so it adjusts itself to your body. An interactive sleep experience, Sleep Smart mattresses are designed to monitor movement, understand pain, ease pressure, track sleep patterns and even gently wake you from a deep sleep. As your body changes (pregnancy, weight gain, age) the bed will change with you. How? Scientific Measurement And Response Technology (S.M.A.R.T) sensors automatically trigger air cylinders that slowly expand or contract for individualized comfort. Paired with an optional app you can view graphical sleep reports showing the amount of time slept, how well you slept and how your sleep patterns have changed over time. (Note: I helped develop Sleep Smart through research collected at the Sleep to Live Institute. The Sleep to Live Institute is the research arm of Kingsdown, the company that manufactures the Sleep Smart sleep system.)

5. Low-blue nightlight
Remember when I mentioned that blue light can inhibit the production of melatonin? Low blue-light bulbs provide light (an amber glow) without the negative side-effects of blue light. That’s why I suggest that all nightlights in the house should be low blue light. This way if you wake in the middle of the night – whether for two minutes or 10 – the light won’t disturb you and wake you further. On that note, if you do wake at night, it’s not the time to read or watch TV. That will only wake you further. Sit in a dark space and take some time to lightly stretch, meditate or pray. Soon enough your bed will be calling you back.

6. White noise machine 
Noise is incredibly disruptive to our sleep. Whether it’s the dripping faucet or the neighbor’s blaring stereo, the sounds around you can destroy your shuteye. White noise machines have been around for decades and they're still one of the most effective. This is not a reason to bring your phone in the bedroom; I don’t want you using a white noise app. Instead I recommend Marpac, the company behind the original white noise machine. Turn this on each night and tune out the rest of the world.

www.sdsar.com

6 Types of Tech That Can Help You Sleep Better

Signage Solves Navigation Issues - Signarama Kearny Mesa

Signage Solves Navigation Issues

Have you ever had a hard time getting around a large corporate or university campus because the signage wasn’t clear (or maybe wasn’t even present)? We have, and it can be quite a frustrating experience.

As sign professionals, what frustrates us the most is that there are easy solutions using signs to make sure visitors can always find their way, no matter where what their final destination is. Thus, we were excited to see this week that a Midwest university, Wichita State, is installing a comprehensive signage system on its main campus.

The university’s chief marketing officer noted that the new signage program will do a number of things, including unify the campus and make it easier to navigate. In addition, the new signs will help implement the campus’ visual identity system, which is designed to build a more recognizable, understandable brand (featuring the school colors of yellow and black).

Signage types include:

• Main building signage. Narrow, 18-foot signs featuring building names installed in front of major buildings that will be illuminated at night with LED lights.
• Entryway signage. Wall-mounted signs at major entrances that display building names and key services and facilities located inside.
• Vehicular directional signs. Large roadside signs at campus entrances with arrows indicating major buildings.
• Pedestrian directional signs. Sidewalk signs with arrows indicating nearby buildings.
• Campus map signs. Signs that contain a key for building names and QR code access to the university’s wichita.edu/locate site, which provides building information and walking and driving directions for smartphones and other GPS-enabled devices.

At Signarama—Kearny Mesa, we love to work on large projects like this. Can we be of service to you? Just let us know!

www.sdsar.com

Signage Solves Navigation Issues - Signarama Kearny Mesa