If you are still new to the world of digital signage, get to know the options available to you. Here are a few reasons why you need this promotional tool and the process of implementing it on your premises.

Give Yourself a Competitive Advantage

When you walk down the street in New York City or pass through the Las Vegas Strip, countless businesses fight for the attention of tourists and locals alike. A simple, static sign just won’t cut it. Instead, there are flashing neon letters and digital messages to lure people in.

Fortunately, your street might not be as busy as Time Square and you might not have as many businesses to compete with; however, you can still use digital signage to stand out. As customers drive down the road, they are more likely to notice your sign if it incorporates digital elements.

Consider the flow of traffic in your area and why drivers pass your business each day. Commuters, families, tourists, and other audiences regularly ride past your brand. Do they notice it? Your digital signage can alert them to new deals and products they must try.

Digital signage gives you an advantage over other businesses in your area. It makes your company more notable and allows you to broadcast promotional messages without paying for billboard space from a third party. This flexibility can’t be beat.

Enjoy an Improved Customer Experience

Digital signage isn’t just for the exterior of your business. You can also incorporate these signs within your business to convey valuable information to customers, visitors, and staff. Here are just a few examples of how digital signage is used across a variety of industries.

• A theatre or entertainment venue can create a carousel of promotions in the auditorium where audience members wait for the doors to open. These promos can range from season ticket deals to theatre summer camps.
• A hospital or healthcare provider can provide information for visitors to check in at the front desk or encourage all audiences to get their flu shots ahead of fall. It can also build interactive maps so patients and their visitors don’t get lost.
• A sports venue can promote food and merchandise deals to grow their non-ticket sales. They can also update fans with digital scoreboards during the game.
• A train station or small airport can provide directions and instructions to travelers. The digital signage can also alert customers to upcoming arrivals and departures. Digital signage can be an essential wayfinding tool– even for small stations.

These are just a few examples that highlight how digital signage can help customers in different industries. When people are more informed, they don’t need to rely on your staff members as much for help. This means your employees can focus on other tasks and help customers in more meaningful ways, creating better experiences for everyone.

Increase Your Bottom Line

Digital signage can play a role across your sales funnel and have a tangible impact on your business. Consider three different ways that digital signage can help you achieve your promotional and sales goals.

• Top-Funnel Marketing: attract new customers to your business with bright exterior signage. Bring back returning customers with information about seasonal deals and promotional opportunities.
• Mid-Funnel Marketing: include signage inside your business about the deals and promotions you offer. This makes your customers more informed about what you do.
• Bottom-Funnel Marketing: include calls to action to encourage customers to make a purchase. You can even add QR codes and other marketing elements to track the sales that come from your signage.

Your exterior signage can increase the number of people who walk through your door (already a measurable metric of success) while your interior signage can drive people to purchase the products and services you offer.

Where to Start in Digital Signage Development

Many people want digital signage throughout their campus but they aren’t sure how to budget and plan for this process. Fortunately, you don’t need to be signage experts – that’s where we come in. Our team at Creative Sign Designs can help you develop and execute a digital signage strategy. Here’s how it works.

• Define Your Goals: our team will work with you to determine what you hope to get out of your digital signage project. This will help us recommend specific products and placements to achieve these goals. Every project starts with a Needs Assessment.
• Choose Hardware and Software: evaluate the different signage options available on the market to determine which ones are best for your business. Our fabrication team will take it from here.
• Install, configure, and optimize: we don’t walk away from a customer until they are completely happy. We can continue to optimize your signage until your vision becomes a reality. Don’t worry, we are experts in permitting and variances and can work around your local laws.
• Create content: determine what you want your signage to say and how often you plan to change it. Some companies invest in nearly-static signs while other businesses change their messaging daily.

Keep in mind that digital signage requires long-term management – more so than static signs. While the advanced technology doesn’t have much upkeep and should last for years, you will need a content management strategy.

Someone in your company will need to update the signage to keep up with your promotions and messaging. Otherwise, you will continue to broadcast an outdated “Happy Easter” message in October.

Start Your Digital Signage Project Today

The benefit of working with a signage partner is that you don’t have to take on this project alone. Our goal is to take sign designs easy for you and effective for your business. You can feel confident working with a partner who has a proven track record in digital signage installation.

Contact our team at Creative Sign Designs today and launch your digital project.

Let’s look at a few ways you can use monument signage and channel letters to update the entrance to your office, theme park, multifamily property, or retail business.

What Is Monument Signage?

Monument signage refers to ground-based signs that are usually placed at the entrance of a property near the parking lot or close to the road. Think about the giant SeaWorld sign along I-4 or a sign made out of stone that greets you as you enter a neighborhood. Those are examples of monument signage.

These signs introduce drivers and visitors to the brand while also becoming part of the local environment. They can either be designed in a bright way to attract the eye or in a natural design to match the local flora and fauna.

What Is Channel Lettering?

Channel letters are custom stand-alone letters used on exterior signage. They are used on signs where the letters are attached to a base, rather than printed on one piece of material.  Channel lettering can help you express your creativity because they are one of the most flexible lettering options on the market.

Look at our design for Sparkman Wharf to see bold channel letters in action. These letters light up with custom LED neon flex tubes and are easy to see from across the road. The Wharf is also a fun gathering point in Tampa Bay, which means visitors and locals alike want to take pictures with this statement signage.

Tips for Using Monument Signage & Channel Letters

If you want to get creative with the entrance of your property using monument signage and channel letters, try a few of these best practices.

1. Play with colors and lighting.

There are multiple levers you can pull with your design style for monument signage. Two of the main features are your colors and signage lighting.

Your color choices often reflect your branding. However, you can decide which colors are featured most prominently and which ones provide accepts to your brand. For example, you may decide to opt for a fresh white sign with blue accents – even if your logo is light blue on dark blue.

Color choice and lighting work together to create a unified look. You can uplight your sign (where lights on the ground illuminate the letters), backlight it (where the light comes from behind), or use a variety of other styles to create a unique look. Your lighting can create a sense of motion or establish your brand firmly in that location.

Think about the colors you want to use, and then turn to your lighting. When these two elements work together, they can create a sign that draws in all kinds of eyes.

Related: 4 Ways to Use Lighting To Complement Your Exterior Signage

2. Use unique brand styles.

You want monument signage that attracts customers and makes them want to learn more about your business. Think about the ground-based signs you see for national parks. The clear yellow letters and brown background are easy to see while conveying a natural feel. The U.S. National Park Service branding is recognizable across the nation (and even the world).

At Creative Sign Designs, we have worked to guide customers on their signage through their branding. At Busch Gardens, we created monument signage for their entrance, utilizing the unique tree logo that is designed to look like a roller coaster. The monument looks like a tree growing from the ground but is uplit with LEDs to make the colors pop just as much at night as during the day. Your creativity starts at the design table. We can then take your brand and make your signage outstanding.

3. Use LED illumination.

Your exterior signage needs to be clear and reliable. You don’t want to install a sign made of cheap materials that will look worn or break within a few months or years. Not only is this a bad experience (your customers will think your brand is low-quality if you can’t keep your sign fixed), but it also creates more work for your team and costs you more to keep your sign working.

One of the great things about LED lighting is that it isn’t that much more expensive than your down-market alternatives. In fact, it can help you save money in the long run. LEDs last 50x longer than incandescent bulbs and can reduce energy consumption by up to 70%. If you want your signage to be noticed, it needs to be reliable. LED lighting can help.

Related: 5 Considerations For Exterior Sign Maintenance That Lasts For Years

4. Get creative with your materials.

One of the benefits of installing monument signage is that you don’t have to worry about choosing light materials that can be mounted on a wall or on a pole. This means you can look for heavier materials that also match your brand.

Consider developing a base made of stone or framing your sign with natural stones from your region. You can also play with different metals and monument thickness to create an engaging experience that people want to look at. The sheer flexibility with this signage makes it one of the most creative options for displaying your brand in your business.

Get Creative with Monumental Signage & Channel Letters

You don’t have to be especially creative to design monument signage that attracts your customers – you just have to hire the right people for the job. At Creative Sign Designs, we have a team ready to help you with the creative design of your monument signage.

Let us help you. Request a consultation today and see how we can help you identify where your monumental signage should go and how you can design it to attract attention.

Wayfinding and exhibit signs in a theme park are functional. They tell people where they are and where they want to go. But, they do even more than that. With the right design concepts and environmental branding, wayfinding and exhibit signs can dramatically enhance a theme park property and improve visitor experience.

Here are six creative ways to use wayfinding and exhibit signs in a theme park.

1. Wow Visitors with a Strong First Impression

In the world of theme parks, the excitement starts as soon as families reach the parking lot. Colorful signs, upbeat music, and engaging characters greet and guide you. You can use exhibit signs in a theme park to amaze visitors at your front entrance.

During its name transition, ZooTampa at Lowry Park executives turned to Creative Sign Designs for help creating something amazing. This zoo is an iconic Tampa Bay destination, and we knew we needed to create something that would grace travel brochures and local marketing footage. The words they used were monumental and a major masterpiece at the front entrance.

Recommended Reading: Using Statement Signage and Lighting to Make Your Location a Community Landmark

2. Highlight Safety Measures

In the world of theme parks, safety is the top priority. Guests need to have a safe day in order to have a fun day. Wayfinding and exhibit signs help visitors stay safe. They have instructions on everything from how to pull down lap bands to guidelines for feeding animals so kids don’t get bit.

The more creative the signage, the more likely it is that people will see and read the displays. A detailed sign without any unique colors or shapes will blend in, which could increase the chance of an accident. Make sure your branding carries on to all aspects of your theme park signage. This will create a better experience and help your customers in the long run.

3. Introduce New Characters and Places

Many parks have mascots, fun characters, and storylines that promote their experiences. Creative exhibit signs in a theme park can incorporate these characters and stories to continue the adventure.

When our team updated the wayfinding for LEGOLAND Florida, we made sure to include LEGO characters enjoying the adventure and helping guests find their way. This introduced the theming and helped visitors understand who these characters are.

Wayfinding and other environmental graphics are particularly important if you are introducing new characters who your guests are unfamiliar with. If your visitors don’t know who these characters are or why they should care about them, you will have a hard time increasing engagement through immersive experiences.

4. Improve Visitor Patience with Wait Time Notices

Theme parks are fun. Waiting is not. While many guests are willing to wait in long lines to enjoy new and thrilling experiences, some people can grow impatient, especially on hot summer days.

Signage plays a major role in customer care and wayfinding through lines. You can use signs to guide people and let them know how long they should expect to wait. These signs can be vague and creative (such as “Almost there! What’s around the corner?”) or provide a set estimate for how much longer until they board.

5. Educate as Well as Entertain

Theme parks serve their communities as sources of education just as much as places for entertainment. At Busch Gardens and ZooTampa, for example, visitors have opportunities to come face-to-face with animals rarely found in the wild. They learn what these animals eat, how they behave, and why conserving their habitat is so important.

Exhibit signs in a theme park contribute to this education process. Kids can learn that the male seahorse actually carries the young around in a pouch or that the cheetah is the fastest animal on land. Bright, creative signs keep families informed and fuel a love of learning that can last a lifetime.

6. Create an Immersive Experience

Running a theme park means operating a large-scale business, but your guests don’t want to think about that. They are focused on having fun, breaking away from the work and school stress of life, and exploring a new place that they have never been before.

Quality signage is meant to immerse visitors and captivate their imaginations. A great example of this is our work for Busch Gardens. They recently reopened Gwazi, the beloved wooden coaster that had been closed for maintenance. The renovations gave it iron stabilization while maintaining the structure that guests love. It was renamed Iron Gwazi, and park designers turned to us for help with the signage.

The Busch Gardens team wanted to use the structure as part of the design. During the day, a fearsome snake with glowing yellow eyes challenges guests to board this adventurous ride. At night, the snake is hidden and guests only see the glowing eyes and sharp teeth in a hooded figure above the Iron Gwazi name. Your wayfinding and exhibit signage do so much more than tell guests where to go. It makes every element part of the experience.

Use Creative Wayfinding and Exhibit Signs in Your Theme Park

At Creative Sign Designs, we are based in Florida, the theme park capital of the world. From grand-scale theme parks like Legoland to small roadside attractions, we help companies amaze visitors and create memorable experiences for families of all sizes and backgrounds.

To learn more about our work, check out our theme park signage page.

You can also reach out to our signage consultants to talk about your vision and get an estimate for your project. We want to turn your theme park dream into a reality. Let us help you with designing and building creative wayfinding and exhibit signs for your theme park. Contact Creative Sign Designs today.

Minor details in how people navigate your hotel can have a significant impact in the eyes of guests. It can turn an average property into a destination that guests seek out and plan to visit again and again.

If you want to provide this level of experience to your guests, learn more about how you can take a creative approach to hotel wayfinding.

1. Start With an Audit

Before you can get creative with hotel wayfinding, you need to get the technical aspects out of the way. This means conducting an audit to determine your wayfinding signage needs.

Start by gathering a list of notices and information that people need to see. For example, you may need to update the interior signage system that guides people to the correct room number, and consider other guides, like parking wayfinding and notices for guests in your loyalty program. The audit will also need to review legal needs (like size and visibility) to make sure the signage is effective, regardless of its design.

2. Review Your Signage Needs

Once you have audited your existing signage, take steps to identify new signage that you might need.

For example, do your guests often ask about the location of the pool or struggle to find the elevators when they first check-in? Adding new signage to your hospitality property can help ease these guest worries and take the burden off your team to help with wayfinding.

Additionally, you may find that you don’t need a full signage rebrand, but rather just a few new notices to guide customers. Evaluate the information you need to convey and make a note of how you can improve it with signage. A few well-placed signs can significantly improve the guest experience.

3. Tell a Story With Your Wayfinding

Once you have conducted your audit and needs assessment, you can enjoy the creative hotel wayfinding process. Work with your branding team and hotel leadership to decide what kind of story you want to tell with your wayfinding.

For example, we worked with LEGOLAND Beach Resort to develop a creative hotel wayfinding experience and upgrade their wayfinding Totem system. Along with ensuring that the signage was clear, we stayed true to the Lego brand. We incorporated the Lego bricks into the design and created a fun experience for kids. Finding the right hotel room meant exploring new worlds on the way to adventure. This is how your signage can tell a story.

Of course, not every story is going to be as high-energy as Legoland. The Wyndham Grand Resort also needed improved wayfinding. The brand wanted to highlight elegance and care while guiding guests to relaxing beach experiences. Our signage story made navigation easier (reducing stress for travelers) while staying true to the classic Florida style.

Related: Environmental Branding: Using Your Commercial Property to Tell a Story

4. Add Creative Elements to Your Design

The logos, colors, and font choices you select within your signage play a major role in your design, but they aren’t the only parts of your signage. The physical signage material, the lighting, and the environment all contribute to your branding.

In fact, these elements can put your creative hotel wayfinding above the rest.

Use environmental graphics that play off the surrounding area and incorporate design elements within it. A beach resort may create signage that looks like it is made of driftwood to help the information blend with the environment. With environmental design, the signs stand out while still enhancing the customer experience.

Lighting can also help with wayfinding and setting the tone. A backlit sign adds a sense of luxury to your brand, appealing to existing guests while attracting new ones. You can also use wayfinding lights along your walkways to create romantic (but safe) experiences for guests. These small details can have a big impact in your overall hotel look and feel.

5. Make Sure Your Signage Lasts

All of the time spent on your design and materials is valuable, but it is still important to consider the durability of your signage. You don’t want to invest significant funds into a rebranding only to need new signs within a few years.

As you develop creative hotel wayfinding solutions, keep a few things in mind.

• How easy is it to clean the signage material that you choose? Will you need special products and will it take your employees longer to maintain the signage?
• What type of signage maintenance will you need? How frequently will you need to replace bulbs for backlit signs or replace lost letters?
• What natural elements can wear away your signage? The sun can quickly bleach a sign within a few months if it is made with the wrong material.
• Is your signage sustainable? What environmental impact comes from the lighting and materials chosen?

High-quality signage should give you the look and feel that you want in your hotel experience without driving up your maintenance costs. For example, energy-efficient LED lights may cost more up-front, but they will last longer and drive your electricity costs down.

Use Creative Hotel Wayfinding to Create a Better Guest Experience

When guests take pictures of your property to share with friends on social media or post on online reviews, do your signs stand out as eyesores? Do you frustrate guests who have a hard time navigating because your signage is unclear or too spaced out?

Signage plays a significant role in how people view your hotel. It can enhance your brand and help guests focus on big-picture experiences.

If you want to improve guest experience by adding creative hotel wayfinding elements, contact Creative Sign Designs today to see how we can elevate the look and feel of your interior and exterior signs.