How to Create Your Own Custom Traffic Sign

Creating your own custom traffic sign can be an exciting, yet daunting process. While creating a custom traffic sign gives you the power to say exactly what you need to, you also need to make considerations for the drivers reading your signs.

In order to help make an easier creation process for you and a better experience for your drivers, we’re taking this blog post to discuss how you can make your ideal custom traffic sign.

Make Your Signs Legible

First and foremost, your custom traffic signs ought to be easily readable by passing motorists. Not only is an illegible sign useless, it can actually pose a risk to drivers who strain to try and see it. If you’re placing your custom traffic sign in an area of high traffic or complex traffic patterns, an illegible sign could end up doing more harm than good.

How do you ensure your sign is legible? Luckily, it’s not that tough.

• The font you use should be bold, clear, and generally sans serif (meaning no “hooks” or “tails” on the characters). The U.S. Department of Transportation has perfect fonts and examples available here, on their website. 
• Text Size. Naturally, your font should be large enough to be easily seen. As a general rule, your drivers should never have to strain or wonder if they read your signage correctly.
• High Contrast. An amazing way to ensure your sign is easy to read is through a high contrast. Most popular is black text on white background, which is easily seen by nearly all drivers.

Keep it Simple

“Keep it Simple” is the North Star that all traffic sign designers should follow. Just like with illegible signs, complex signs can cause unnecessary confusion on the road. The more complex you make your sign, the more likely it is to be disregarded or—even worse—misinterpreted.

That’s why custom traffic signs should be designed for scanability more than anything. By that, we mean that drivers should only have to read your sign once to understand it, and should be able to read it quickly.

Our advice? If you can use a universally-understood symbol instead of text, then do it.

Follow Local Regulations

We can’t give you specific advice on this because most local regulations differ. However, it’s always important to check your local regulations before you make your traffic sign. Ask the Department of Transportation for any clarification you may need when creating your sign.

With these three tips, we hope to have helped provide the essentials that you need to design your ideal custom traffic signs. To create your custom traffic signs today, click here to contact us for more information.