Best Judgement for Interstate-side Signage

[SolitaryT]

I have a customer who wants me to build some signs for their ranch off I-90 here in Montana. I'm just curious as to be readable by the highway, what sort of size I'm looking at? Also, I'm in a small shop without the real capacity to do it, so if someone closeby wants a referral, I'd be happy to give this job to you. Either way, I'd like thoughts at ya'lls convenience.

Thanks!

 

[J Hill Designs]

here is a letter visibility chart

 

[GaSouthpaw]

I was always told letters should be 1" tall for every 10' away you want to be able to read them at road speed (or something along those lines), so- if the sign ends up 50' off the interstate, you want the copy to be a minimum of 5" tall to be legible, and the copy needs to be in an easily readable font, which is why the Highway font is "stocky".
Best I can do.

 

[PRS Bryan]

I would check with the Montana DOT.

They may well have design regulations for interstate signage that will answer many of your questions.

 

[TammieH]

I was always told letters should be 1" tall for every 10' away you want to be able to read them at road speed (or something along those lines), so- if the sign ends up 50' off the interstate, you want the copy to be a minimum of 5" tall to be legible, and the copy needs to be in an easily readable font, which is why the Highway font is "stocky".
Best I can do.

Remember you want people to be able to read the sign sooner than later 5" at 50' is optimal for standing still

and like what was said, they need to contact the State/City/County for set back regs.

With billboards, simple is better,

SolitaryT don't let your customer try to over do the copy. Depending on the size and setback, keep it down to 3 -4 lines of short copy

 

[Z SIGNS]

There is a little more to readability than letter height.

Letter visibility charts are just are just a starting pointing and tip of the ice burg when it comes to creating an effective sign.

Depends on your design and the message you want to deliver.
If you are trying to get people driving at 80 mph to read and retain the Magna Carta it does not matter how big the letters are your sign won't function.

If your pos neg space is screwed up it does not matter how big the letters are

If you doing upper case old english in red on a black background dose not matter how big the letters are.
I could go on and on

If it's something like a street number yeah a chart helps.

If your unsure do a paper mock up.

The USSC has a lot of info on this.

Hope this helps you