4 Common Office Signage Make Them Work Effectively For Your Cayman Business

Your office signage is a reflection of your brand and your image. Here, we explore how innovation, consistency in style, and choice of materials all play an essential role in each of the four office signage categories common in the Cayman Islands.

Reception/Entrance Signage

The most impressive office signage, making the biggest statement, is usually found at the entrance, on the main door, or in the reception lobby, frequently both. This is where a company has the first opportunity to announce its brand and image, where graphic design and art, colors and shapes, are combined to convey a philosophy and a sense of assured professionalism and style as soon as somebody enters.

That’s a lot of pressure and expectation placed on a few square feet of wall. Perhaps this is why there’s nearly always a beautifully presented young and attractive woman sitting in front of the sign at reception, smiling, and emphasizing the intended image of power, success, and attractiveness attached to its overall image.

Office reception signage and main entrance external office signage are often where the most money is spent making a statement. Materials will be expensive and high quality, again reflecting the image the company wants to project: signs made from brushed aluminum in 3-D raised lettering and backlit with LEDs; signs on acrylic, brightly painted with vivid colors and incredibly detailed, clear from a distance but also diamond-sharp up close, as impressive as glass but lighter, cheaper and more robust. Modern materials and manufacturing have consigned to history the old-school brass plaque screwed to the front door. 

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Information/Wayfaring Signage

It’s almost a paradox that the most effective and useful office signs are the ones that you hardly even notice. They are the signs that only register on the consciousness when you look for them – the directional signs, the nameplates on doors, on desks, the directory signs telling you which person or department is.

When professionally made, these signs are bold, but not obtrusive. They are often simple text, in size, font, and color chosen for fast readability. They contain the fewest words necessary to convey information. Think of office door signage design – a legible name and title presented clearly and within brand guidelines in a standardized format across the organization, including positioning when mounted on doors, walls, etc. These signs don’t sell anything; they don’t give instructions or warnings; they exist only to impart useful information, mostly for identification or wayfinding when it might be needed.

The choice of materials is wide: high-tech plastics and alloys, vibrant paints and finishes, laser-cut shapes and mounts, and innovative illumination can all be used to give a clean and consistent professional look to the signage, adding authority and brand reinforcement. 

Instructional Signage

This type of signage is designed to regulate and encourage certain behaviors, either from staff or visitors or both. It could be a sign asking visitors to have their ID inspected at reception, or a sign on the office photocopier instructing users not to waste paper. The thing is, this type of signage is frequently ad-hoc in style, put up in a hurry as a temporary measure to address a problem, then forgotten about. Over time, these temporary signs become shabby, dog-eared, and are a magnet for scrawled bon mots appended by office wags. (Think of any office kitchen or break room and the passive-aggressive notes taped around the walls exhorting staff to wash their cups, or clean the microwave after use, or clear out old food in the fridge at the end of the week, the sort of signs that are irresistible to the budding graffiti artist.)

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A professionally made instructional sign in acrylic or vinyl, or simply laminated and adequately mounted, brings more gravitas to the message. Firstly, it will be grammatically correct, earning more authority. It will also be harder to deface, and it’s easily cleaned. But most importantly is the psychological effect on people in the office, where a consistent look and design to the signage gives it an authoritative voice that a hand-written exhortation to recycle paper and plastic cups never will. With standardized fonts, colors, layouts, and materials, instructional signage plays an important part in reinforcing a company’s brand and image and authority. 

Promotional Signage: By their very nature, promotional signs are temporary and frequently changed. For example, modern free-standing A-Frame (sandwich board) signs are light, portable, durable, and cheap. They can be moved around as needed and replaced regularly. An A-Frame sign promoting a company’s newest product or service, strategically placed in the reception area, reaches business partners and customers who are already motivated to work with you, or why else would they be visiting? A smart promotional signage design for offices can be as effective as your best sales executive.

Promotional signage can be as simple as tent cards placed on the reception desk or in visitor meeting rooms. Promotional posters or banners on the wall can liven up an otherwise dull space. Glass office walls can be turned into a gallery space with posters or vinyl wrapping that is cheap and easily replaced when a new promotion is launched. Stick-on vinyl window frosting can quickly and effectively add privacy to a glass-walled office or meeting space and carry a promotional message simultaneously. Again, the usefulness of this approach is that it is easily replaced and is cost-effective. 

Do you think about the signage in your office? The options and choices can be overwhelming, so seeking professional assistance is the best strategy for getting the signage that works best for your company. Call Sign Solutions today and let us be your partner in brand consistency and effective communication with built-in flexibility at an affordable price.  At Sign Solutions, we have the creative skills and the entrepreneurial know-how to help you promote your products and services in the Cayman Islands – from concept to installation. Tel: 943-SIGNs (7446) or Email: info@signsolutions.ky