The Complete Handbook of Retail & Sale Signs

Chapter 1: Understanding Retail & Sale Signs

A retail or sale sign is, at its most basic level, a controlled piece of visual information placed with intent. But a functional definition needs more. A "Welcome" mat is graphic, but it is not the kind of sign this book covers. A menu written on a chalkboard inside a cafe is signage, as is a 40-foot digital billboard on a highway. What they share is a purpose: they are tools for communication engineered for a specific environment in order to influence a specific behavior. Understanding what retail and sale signs actually are requires you to drop the notion that they are simply decorations or announcements. They are, in the most practical sense, a piece of sales equipment. If a cash register processes a transaction at the end of the sale, the sign's job is to start the process that leads to that transaction.

Consider a concrete example: a grocery store with a sidewalk display of watermelon in July. The product is outside, sitting in the sun, obscuring the entrance behind it. Why does that store put the melons in the entry path? Because the sign is not hanging on the wall. The melons are the sign. The large, amber fruit, the handwritten price point on a piece of corrugated plastic, and the position in the direct flow of foot traffic all combine to deliver a single message: "Fresh, seasonal, bargain." This act, the deliberate arrangement of a product and a price to