Today…we are talking about signage!

Best Practices, the good, the bad, the products and materials…Everything that a portable church needs to know about signs. So, let’s dive in!

Have you ever walked through a municipal building, college campus or maybe even an airport and had no clue how to get to your destination? Maybe you saw a sign that started to point you in the right direction but you end up walking for so long you start to wonder if it was lying to you…. You start looking around for any other signage to get you where you’re going. Some is facing the wrong way and its hard to tell if it’s meant for you. Some have fonts that are tough to read or print that is too small. Others are full of design or word inconsistencies that make you confused. All of these things cause unnecessary frustrations.

Those are examples of poor signage…

Especially in your church, where you have new people who may be a bit nervous to show up in the first place, who want to be invisible for the first day, it is so important to make them as comfortable and welcomed as possible.  Besides your marketing efforts, signage sets the first impression for your visitors and is a huge opportunity to make them feel cared for and connected without even speaking a word.

So what are some better ideas?

From the start, let people know they have found you with large, clear and easily understandable signs. This is especially vital as you likely don’t have permanent outdoor signs and you have to compete with the venue signage each weekend. We like to use 6 different types of signs to help people navigate the churches we work with.

1. Traffic Signs – Meant to be seen while traveling in vehicles (usually large in size) [6:24]
2. Pedestrian Signs – Designed for when people are on foot, but not yet in your building [7:28]
3. Menu Signs – Created to show a visitor all the choices they have upon entering your venue [8:20]
4. Helper Signs – Starting from your menu sign, meant to help navigate long distances or around corners (starting from your menu sign) [9:33]
5. Destination Signs – Used to indicate “you have arrived” [9:58]
6. Environmental Signs – Used for a variety of purposes (branded atmospheres, hiding eyesores, vision statements, etc) [11:30]

*These are brief descriptions of each. Watch the video for examples of each category and for better, more thorough descriptions.

Pro Tip: Always have the next sign in view

Other important things to consider…

Branding

It is critical to keep your church branding the same throughout your space so visitors know to look at your signs, not the venues’. If your kids ministry branding is different, it is best to transition the change through a large, ministry specific branded sign that stays the same throughout your children’s areas. 

The Bigger Picture

At Portable Church, we design and sell everything through the lens of these 5 key factors:

1. Set Up Time – to keep volunteer burnout low
2. Durability – to keep items looking good week after week and year after year
3. Simplicity – to keep the headaches to a minimum (the fewer moving / detaching parts the better – parts ALWAYS get lost requiring the hardware to be repurchased)
4. Intuition – to make sure they are easy to use and that volunteers are easily trained
5. Value – Taking the 4 considerations above, what is the best sign at the best price

Material considerations…

1. Coroplast vs Foam Board vs Flat PVC
2. Vinyl vs Fabric – (the difference with large prints is astounding)
3. Steel vs Aluminum – weight considerations
4. All signs are not created equal- the cheapest is not always the least expensive 

To get even more information give us a call and we can create a signage design for you and come up with more ideas and concepts for awesome signage at your venue. We’d love the opportunity to give you a detailed list to help you succeed and thrive.

To see more pictures check out our Signage Album.