With business signs, more is not necessarily better. Oversized signs and signage “clutter” can have a negative impact on how downtown and its businessesare perceived.
“It also becomes very expensive and cost-prohibitive, for the start-up business to have to pay $10,000 or $15,000 on a sign, just to get minimal recognition on the street,” says Scott Day of Urban Development Services. Other common business signage problems are signs not properly positioned for the public to see them, and store windows that are jam-packed with signage.
“Too many signs say too many things,” Day says. “It becomes visual white noise. People don’t want to take the time to sort through it all. A lot of main street retail corridors suffer from information overload.”