Letters for shop signs & shop front lettering
There is an indisputable truth when opening a shop, a showroom, or any kind of physical locale that is meant to attract customers for whatever purpose: Shops need signs. Say it with me: Shops. Need. Signs!
Outdoor advertising signs, whether illuminated or not, are designed to attract attention and advertise your business. Company name, business logo, maybe a slogan or tagline on the storefront or facade – these are pretty much indispensable. This desired effect can be achieved with a wide variety of advertising technology products, such as Neon or Lightboxes, but one product family is absolutely predestined for shop signage and shall be discussed here today: Letters!
Illuminated 3D letters for shop signs
Let's start with the leaders of the pack: illuminated, three-dimensional letters. If they are skillfully manufactured from high-quality materials, illuminated letters look quite impressive as 3D shop front signs. In a larger size, they guarantee that a shop is visible from afar and can be easily found even when it's dark. But caution – the facade-to-sign ratio should always be reasonable so that your storefront-sign letters don’t look too flashy either.
Design-wise, the letters (or logo) should of course fit into the overall design concept for the store and respect branding guidelines, for example in regards to the colour scheme.
Illuminated 3D storefront signs are made up of individual lit letters, which is what makes them look so sophisticated – it’s easy to see the skill and labour that went into creating them. The letters can either be mounted and wired individually on the facade, or alternatively be connected via metal rails (also known as raceways) or a backplate, which makes the installation and the electrical wiring much easier.
For store signs, it’s advisable to use block letters in a sans-serif font. From a production standpoint, this ensures that the LED lighting in the glowing letters is evenly distributed. From a practical point of view, block letters and more "simple"-leaning fonts are just easier to read from a distance.
That doesn’t mean your store front lettering has to be boring! You can experiment with colours (within the stated brand guidelines, of course) or add additional elements. Case in point: the ice-cream company Katchi gives their relatively simple logo a cool vintage twist with an added glass-neon element. Not to trot out the same reference yet again, but this is really a best-practice example in many ways.
Austrian vegan supermarket Billa Pflanzilla combined two fonts – one sober, the other playful – in two different colours to create this striking illuminated letter sign above the store entrance.
Another attention-grabbing way to use illuminated letters on your shop front or company facade, apart from name- or logo-based signage, are illuminated house numbers, such as this fully-lit number 1.
Non-lit shop front lettering
If the overall design concept of your store or showroom skews more towards minimalism, non-illuminated letter options might be the thing for you.
Flat, non-lit storefront letters on a plain surface provide a classy, understated look, especially dark letters on a lighter facade. A great example is the UK-based optician brand Ace & Tate who opted to outfit their stores with black, 2D aluminium letters, thus underlining their more high-end store concept. Nighttime visibility is ensured by a sleek projecting, double-sided lightbox sign.
In-store signage is another great option to upgrade your interior design concept, as seen here at Mykita’s Hamburg store with 2D acrylic lettering. Bonus points if the sign is visible through the window from outside!
Italian high-end pasticceria Cova adds a sophisticated branding element to their booth at Hamburg department store Unger. The gold-coloured, non-lit 2D logo is mounted with wall spacers to add an interesting depth effect.
Store window lettering
Letter signs and lettering on shop windows (as opposed to the store facade) are a bit more tricky and demand creative solutions. Many stores opt for simple foil or hand-painted lettering on the glass, which is cool for short-term solutions as these are low-budget and usually easy to remove.
If you’re looking for something more long-term to illuminate your shop window, a great way to achieve this is by suspending a sign on the inside. We usually recommend neon or LED neon for this, as these are lightweight products and as such easy to hang, but letters are just as suitable for hanging. They obviously need some kind of background, such as an acrylic plate or metal raceways, on which to suspend the sign with the help of steel wires.
Tax-consulting firm WTS, for example, chose to adorn a glass-walled meeting room at their Berlin office with a suspended, front-lit letter sign on raceways, adding a touch of colour to their otherwise classically outfitted office space. This red-glowing logo could just as serve as illuminated shop window lettering.
As you can see, you don’t need a lot of expertise or experience to create a high-quality shop sign for your business that’s built to last. Sygns offers a wide range of styles and technologies that can be tailored to your store, showroom or boutique in terms of size, colour, material, and more. You can check out the variants as well as a host of example pictures on our Letters product page.
Not sure how to best translate your brand into attractive signage? Get in touch, we’re always happy to discuss your options!