Road Side Sign

Roadside signs are a particularly important information source once travelers are near your business or event. They help your customers to find you. Roadside signs can be hindrances if, they are not done professionally and kept well maintained. If signs are unattractive, hard to read, home painted and unkempt, your operation is likely to start with a bad impression.

The entrance to your business should be clearly marked with a parking lot or a pull-off area on each side of the road. A road sign should, as a rule, be placed at least 2,500 feet before the entrance of your business, to allow travelers a safe stopping distance. Keep in mind that it takes a 1/4 mile to safely slow down at 40 mph.

Place several advance road signs out from your initial sign that state the distance to your business; JONES’ PRODUCE, 2 MILES. Signage should start from the nearest Interstate or major Highway and clearly direct visitors to your business location.

NOTE – Check local zoning restrictions in your area BEFORE placing signs along a roadway.

Roadside signs should contain six words or less, with a 1 or 2 word focal point to catch the traveler’s interest.
To be visible at 50 feet, letters should be at least 1 3/4 inches high.
To be seen at 100 feet, paint them 3 1/2 inches high.
For 200 ‘ – 7″ high; 300′ – 11″ high; 400″ – 14″ high and 500’ – 18″ high.
Brush strokes should be 1/5 as wide as the letter’s height
Use 7” to 12” letters and a good contrast of colors where travelers are going 50 MPH or faster. The most easily read color combinations are black, dark blue, bottle green or scarlet red on white, yellow, orange or light green. It is not always the size of the letters that make them readable, but the space or margins around them.
Create a simple logo that provides easy recognition. A sample sign might be – a triangle with an emu inside with FARM TOUR, EMU FARM or EMU OIL / EMU MEAT underneath.

A3602 – Direct Marketing of Farm produce and home Goods University of Wisconsin Extension