The Importance of Outdoor Signage

Choosing outdoor restaurant signs? Compare sign types, materials for Georgia weather and lighting, plus cost factors, Atlanta permits and sign lifespan.

Atlanta's dining districts are crowded and getting more so. On a good block your restaurant is one of eight choices inside a two minute walk, and most of those choices get made from the street. This guide covers what makes restaurant exterior signage work in that setting, and what quietly stops it working. Restaurant exterior signage works hardest in a crowded dining district when it is sized for the real viewing distance, lit for night trade, and matched to your cuisine and price level. Channel letters and blade signs suit most Atlanta storefronts. Confirm your landlord criteria and city sign permit rules before you order anything. Why Restaurant Exterior Signage Works Harder Than Other Storefront Signs Restaurant decisions are fast. Someone walking Krog Street Market or driving down Peachtree chooses in a few seconds, often from a moving car, often in a group, often already running late. Your sign has to land inside that window. Three things separate a restaurant from other storefronts: The decision is impulsive. Many of your covers did not plan to eat with you tonight. They are picking between you and the places either side of you. Your busiest hours are after dark. Dinner service runs when daylight is gone, so an unlit or badly lit sign effectively closes your storefront during your highest revenue hours. Diners judge the kitchen by the sign. People read price level, cuisine and care off a sign long before they see a menu. A tired sign suggests a tired kitchen, fair or not. Signage is the one piece of marketing still working at 8 pm on a Friday, after the ad budget is paused and the posts are buried. Common Visibility Mistakes in Crowded Dining Districts Most restaurant signs we get called out to fix in Metro Atlanta fail for one of five reasons. Sized for the building, not the viewing distance. Letters that look right on a drawing at arm's length disappear from across Ponce de Leon Avenue. Not enough contrast. Dark bronze on dark brick reads as a shadow. Cream on cream is worse. Contrast beats size more often than owners expect. Blending into the neighbors. Where every tenant on a strip has a backlit box in the same size and color family, nothing stands out, including you. Half the LEDs are out. A sign reading "B STRO" does more damage than no sign at all. Clean by day, invisible by night. Vinyl on glass and unlit letters both vanish after sunset, exactly when you need them. A quick test. Stand where your customer actually approaches from, at the hour they arrive, and see what you can read. Most owners have only judged their sign from the parking space in front of it, in daylight. Choosing the Right Restaurant Sign Type There is no single best sign for a restaurant, only the best sign for your frontage, setback, lease and district. Here is how the common options compare.

See how commercial exterior signs in Atlanta lift visibility, foot traffic and brand recall. Book a free signage consultation with Altair Sign & Light today.

Compare channel letters vs cabinet signs for your Atlanta business: look, cost, upkeep and permit rules. Get a free quote today from Altair Sign & Light.

A quality and impactful digital sign can benefit a business in many ways. The right digital signage can help you build your brand, create a unique identity, and answer customer questions.

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Check some of our recent commercial sign projects. Altair Sign & Light offers a wide variety of custom signage throughout Metro Atlanta.

During this Pandemic Altair Sign & Light, along with ASAP Signs, had the honor of working with Piedmont Hospital installing signs at their new building. And today we wanted to give back to them.

COVID-19 has hit so many businesses hard. Fortunately, there are resources out there for both employees and business owners to help us all get through this crisis. There is a short list of some of them here.