My husband and I recently put my car up for sale. Thankfully, Nick did all the work. Unfortunately, I had to axe his 'for sale' sign. Not because I'm a design snob (which I am), but because I felt the sign didn't work.
It was no fault of Nick's. He made a sign that followed all the standards of your store bought signs, and then some. The fault lies with the guy that designed the original 'for sale' sign.
It's a question of hierarchy. Why in the world is the "for sale" on a 'for sale' sign GIGANTIC while all other information is left a tiny white space? Probably because 'for sale' sign guy was considering himself, and not his audience. He was thinking about selling his thing, not about someone else buying his thing. See the difference?
Is it not assumed, by the simple fact of an object displaying a sign, that said item is for sale? Is it not more important that potential buyers can quickly and easily find a way to reach the seller? I think it is. The new sign exhibits a more rational hierarchy:
- "For sale" and the phone number have equal prominence and top billing,
- The car's year, make and model plus its good gas mileage are given second-level billing, and finally
- the car's price, mileage and condition are set to be read last.
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- Left: Old sign; Right: New Sign
Do I over think things? Nick would say yes. And in the end, the car sold through a Wheeler Dealer ad, so what do I know? At the very least though, it was possible to read the phone number at 80 mph on my redesigned sign. I consider that a victory.
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