signbrad
New Member
The original looks fine. As well as the updates. There are no major design flaws that would make this layout a "fail."
There is plenty of negative space. Margins are good. I usually look at the treatment of negative space first. It's where most layouts fail. The layout is not crowded. It can be scanned and digested in about one to one-and-a-half seconds, which is just right. Compare this to vehicle graphics that require 5 or 6 seconds or more to read. Such sign work is ineffective and wastes the client's money, and its only real purpose is to make a clueless client feel good.
Yet, no composition is perfect. There will always be flaws. Still, most tweaks are just tweaks, and not always based on serious design problems.
For example, the small letters in this layout will suffer from a degree of illegibility. A white letter on a dark background will optically grow in size. It's the irradiation illusion. It can render tight spacing harder to read on a dark background. If these are push-thru letters, illegibility will be intensified by the effect of halation. Halation is when the spaces between the letters fill with light and they may be next to impossible to read from any distance. On lighted signs, especially with dark backgrounds and white letters, letter spacing can be critical and often needs to be increased significantly for legibility. I love tight spacing. We all do. But sometimes compromise is necessary for a sign to do its job. The letter spacing of the small letters is far more important than their style (my opinion, of course). On the other hand, the small lettering is secondary copy, after all, not primary copy, and will require a closer viewing distance anyway.
A hundred different designers would give a hundred different variations. This is actually part of the beauty of sign design—the infinite variety that is possible. There are dozens of color combinations and compositions that will work well. This particular layout, with its letter style, reflects a design aesthetic that was extremely popular for a short period in history. It is, therefore, a "period" design. This is neither bad nor good. But if it was the designer's goal, he nailed it beautifully.
There is plenty of negative space. Margins are good. I usually look at the treatment of negative space first. It's where most layouts fail. The layout is not crowded. It can be scanned and digested in about one to one-and-a-half seconds, which is just right. Compare this to vehicle graphics that require 5 or 6 seconds or more to read. Such sign work is ineffective and wastes the client's money, and its only real purpose is to make a clueless client feel good.
Yet, no composition is perfect. There will always be flaws. Still, most tweaks are just tweaks, and not always based on serious design problems.
For example, the small letters in this layout will suffer from a degree of illegibility. A white letter on a dark background will optically grow in size. It's the irradiation illusion. It can render tight spacing harder to read on a dark background. If these are push-thru letters, illegibility will be intensified by the effect of halation. Halation is when the spaces between the letters fill with light and they may be next to impossible to read from any distance. On lighted signs, especially with dark backgrounds and white letters, letter spacing can be critical and often needs to be increased significantly for legibility. I love tight spacing. We all do. But sometimes compromise is necessary for a sign to do its job. The letter spacing of the small letters is far more important than their style (my opinion, of course). On the other hand, the small lettering is secondary copy, after all, not primary copy, and will require a closer viewing distance anyway.
A hundred different designers would give a hundred different variations. This is actually part of the beauty of sign design—the infinite variety that is possible. There are dozens of color combinations and compositions that will work well. This particular layout, with its letter style, reflects a design aesthetic that was extremely popular for a short period in history. It is, therefore, a "period" design. This is neither bad nor good. But if it was the designer's goal, he nailed it beautifully.
