Keeping Your Vinyl Sign Looking Great

How To Keep Your Vinyl Sign Looking Great

Business sign maintenance is a vital component of an overall brand management plan. Customers often form impressions of a brand long before the first person-to-person contact. A well-maintained sign reflects key attributes consumers expect from businesses they support: conscientious, supportive, resourceful, sincere, practical, capable, and customer-oriented.

Whether it’s intentional or not, think about the message sent by old, faded signs, and those with missing letters, peeling paint and low-quality lighting. Routine maintenance and timely repairs demonstrate appreciation for customers, and protect your assets by extending the life of your property signage and lowering operating costs.

Protect Your Signage Assets With Proper Care & Maintenance

Extending the life of your custom signage starts with a well-designed routine and preventative maintenance plan. Properly fabricated signs should look attractive and work 24/7 drawing in loyal and new clientele for 10 to 12 years—barring damage from direct impact or extreme weather events. Regular maintenance doesn't just freshen the appearance, it gives your team an opportunity to look for minor damage that could lead to premature failure, and costly repair or replacement.

Regularly Clean Your Sign

Dust and dirt can dull the appearance of your vinyl sign, especially for outdoor displays. A gentle clean every so often will keep it looking fresh. I recommend using a soft cloth with a mix of mild soap and water to wipe down the surface. Avoid any harsh chemicals or rough materials that could scratch or wear down the vinyl. This simple cleaning routine helps maintain your sign’s bright look without damaging it.

Maintaining Exterior Signs

Consider these do's and don'ts when designing an outdoor sign cleaning and care plan.

Do:

Clean all exterior signs on a regular basis. Pencil in a cleaning day, and bring in extra staff if necessary to start on schedule.
Keep signs looking their best with a quick refresher after ice storms, heavy rains, and blowing wind strong enough to drive airborne road-grime and debris into signage.
Always turn off power to signs with electricity before cleaning
Use a nozzle sprayer and spray at least a foot away from the sign to avoid impact damage
Clean easily reachable surfaces by hand, using a mild liquid detergent and soft sponges or lint-free cotton cloths.
Pay special attention to crevices and corners where dirt and debris are more likely to collect and pack.
Rinse thoroughly.
Wipe dry, if possible, to prevent water spots.
Check the frame, base, sign face, letters and other components for cracks and other damage—schedule repair as soon as possible to prevent further damage.
Restore power and make sure all lights are working, properly positioned and illuminating your message.

Don't:

Use power washers above 200psi—high pressure may cause damage and/or premature failure.
Use water above 180 degrees.
Use harsh chemicals, metal cleaning tools or scrapers, paper towels, newspaper, rough brushes or other abrasive clothes. Doing so may scratch or pit sign surfaces and finishes.

Maintaining Interior Signs

Protecting your interior signage investment starts with choosing a proper location. Install signs away from direct sunlight, as harsh sunlight causes discoloration, fading, and warping. If you must install signs in areas where direct sunlight flows through windows or doors, use blinds or drapes to block or filter the light. There are many sun-filtering window treatments on the market today that block harmful UV rays, while allowing natural light transfer.

Even though interior signs are generally protected from inclement weather, they still need regular cleaning and inspection. It’s a good idea to monitor indoor signs more frequently for splatters and spills, excessive fingerprints and other hazards. Convenience stores, for example, may need to wipe down signs in proximity to soda fountains and food counters more often.

The cleaning schedule for a doctor's office with interior signs to direct patient flow will naturally be different from one designed for a high-traffic gas station. Each business should assess their customer flow and create a cleaning and inspection schedule that complements their regular activity.

Regardless of the frequency, spot clean metal or acrylic signs using a warm, mild dish soap and water solution, and soft, lint-free wipes or cloths. Then, rinse, and wipe down with a soft cloth. To avoid scratches, never use harsh chemicals, sharp objects, and abrasive fabrics. Skip commercial cleansers and glass cleaners, as these formulas may weaken sealants and damage your sign.

Maintaining LED Signs

Cleaning LED signs is very similar to cleaning other interior signs. However, you can spot clean your LED fixtures using a commercial glass cleaner, such as Windex, and a soft towel. Avoid harsh chemicals and commercial solutions containing butyl cellosolve, including Lysol and Pinesol.

Extend the life of your LED signs—and save energy costs—by powering down your signs when the business doesn't need them.

Proactive maintenance includes responsible preventative and repair policies. If you spot damage, take immediate action to repair or replace your sign.

Following these simple steps can help your vinyl sign stay looking sharp and vibrant for years to come. As experienced sign makers, we know that a little care goes a long way in making sure your sign continues to make an impact. Remember, if you ever have questions about sign maintenance, we are here to help!

What Is a Vector Image?

“What is a vector image! I don’t know what this is. Do I have one of those? Do I need one?”

If you have ever had any graphic design done, you have probably been exposed to the term vector graphic and had these kinds of questions. Don’t worry, this is a good thing. Let’s start with the basics and learn “what is a vector image!”.

Raster graphics vs Vector graphics

Raster graphics ( jpg / png / tiff files )

Most people are familiar with .jpg images—like those you would get from your digital camera. If you have ever zoomed in very close, or blown up a .jpg image too large, you may have noticed that the image becomes blurry and the colors turn into small squares or dots. The small dots are called pixels and this kind of image is called a raster graphic. If you have ever had to edit a digital photo, you know how time-consuming changing just the littlest thing can be.

Left: Full image. Right: Image zoomed in to show square pixels that make it rasterized.

Vector graphic (ai / eps / svg files)

So what is different about a vector image? You see hundreds of vector graphics a day and probably don’t realize it. Most logos are vector files. More specifically, a vector graphic is an artwork made up of points, lines, and curves that are based upon mathematical equations, rather than solid colored square pixels.

This means no matter the size or how far zoomed in the image is, the lines, curves, and points remain smooth. The artwork will never have jagged lines or blurriness.

Also colors are separated into their own shape (vs a bunch of little squares making a colored area), which makes changing colors within these graphics as easy as the click of a button.

Why this matters…

After learning the basics of a vector graphic, you need to know why it’s important.

#1: Vector graphics produce professional looking branding. They are a big part of most printed or published materials. Logos, for example, should always have a vector format. Those smooth lines and shapes produce the best quality printed materials, having a solid, consistent color and crisp, clear text. You can use your vector logo huge on a billboard, small for your pens, or for a screen printed t-shirt. Icons and more illustrated-looking artwork is also good to have in vector files.

#2: Vector graphics will save your graphic designer time. This will save you money and produce higher quality results.

#3: Vector files do not lose quality. Jpg and other pixel based files will loose file data every time they are opened and saved.

For the everyday user, vector graphics are something you will rarely use if you don’t have the software to open them (such as Adobe products and QuarkXPress). Most people will refer to vector graphics as an .eps file. They may also us a .ai extension for Illustrator files or .svg for website applications. While you may not ever personally use these files, or even have the programs to open them, it is very important NOT to delete your vector image files. If you ever plan on having graphic design work done or want your logo placed on promotional items you will be asked for vector graphics files.

“So what if I don’t have a vector version of my logo?”

Get in touch with the original designer of your logo to find out if a vector version of your logo was ever produced and request a copy of it. If there is no vector version available, often they can be recreated from a raster graphic, depending on its complexity and quality. It’s important to have a brand identity kit for your organization that contains this version of your logo among many other things.

“Do I always need a vector file if I’m having design work done?”

Not always. There are ways to use other file formats, but the type of work you are having done will ultimately determine whether or not you will need vector files or not.

Ultimately, if you are having design work done, make sure to talk to your designer about your files formats, so you can collect the appropriate files or have them created if they are not available.