In continuation of the last blog of The Importance of Being Enthralling, I wanted to also bring to attention the importance of a good, inviting, user friendly website. Our website was created with the combined efforts of Site Motif, Evidia and the staff of Next Day Signs.

Site Motif was the company that helped create our new logo in 2007, and when we decided to upgrade our website they were one of the first people we thought to contact. They created a layout design to give our website a nice professional feel while keeping in mind other factors such as; which design would be best for our customers to navigate through, which layout would be the easiest for us to work with for updating our gallery or text and give us an edge over our competitors.

Evidia helped with the expansion of the website, creating for us a unique online ordering system. Our customers now could not only place orders for graduation banners, general banners and real estate riders, but they could also design it themselves.  An expansion that proved successful in increasing our sales and saving time. Evidia also helped us to create this wonderful blog, which I know you and my grandmother wait ever so patiently for me to update every Monday. She’s awesome like that, hi grandma.

If you are interested in the creation of a website for your business or the expansion of an existing one, I strongly recommend these two fine companies:

SiteMotif.com

Evidia.com

I found out today that one of the restaurants I enjoy eating at is undergoing financial problems, due to a lack of customers. I know what you’re thinking, not much of a surprise with this economy. Well, it wasn’t that much of a surprise to me either, but it wasn’t in relation to the economy. The restaurant is great, and absolutely stunning inside, the menu prices are more than reasonable for the large food portion you get, and the service is good and quick. Still, it wasn’t a surprise to me, because the outside of the building did not reflect the status of the inside of the restaurant.

The restaurant was originally built for another nationality of food than the one it serves now, and when it was bought by the new owners they did little to change the exterior. They removed the old restaurants dimensional lettering from the wall, but did not repair the wall. When they ordered a new outdoor acrylic lit panel, all they had was their restaurant name in a black font. There was nothing to express the quality of the restaurant to enthrall customers to give it a try. Especially when the outside demeanor would remind them of a different nationality of food than what was being served.

We’re told never to judge a book by its cover, but most often when it comes to money and food (in this day) we’re less willing to take a risk. Especially when we’re bringing along a date, significant other or our families. There’s an importance to setting an impression that shouldn’t be underestimated. Not saying that we should all go flashing neon lights, but a certain personality and style shouldn’t be absent from our outdoor advertisements.

A graduation banner is always a nice touch for anyone graduating from High School or College. It adds to the celebration, it can be a surprise, and as an added bonus, it helps people find the location for your party. On a graduation banner you can have; the graduates name, their school mascot, graduating year, a personal message and then your choice of another image or for a small additional cost you can have a photo of the person placed on the banner.

As normally all High school students, and a large majority of college students graduate in late May or early June, right now is the best time to consider whether or not you want to get a graduation banner. The best deals are available and the turn-around time is quick. As the graduation date looms closer the turn-around time for a banner can sometimes be pushed back due to a large increase in orders.

The best deal we currently have on graduation banners is through our online ordering:  https://www.ndscols.com/graduation-banner.php

With this ordering system you can design the banner you would like whenever it is convenient for you. The prices are also discounted 15% from if you were to order them in person or over the phone. And that is one deal that stays year round. If you prefer to order in person though, you’ll have a 10% discount if you order before May 10th. So make sure you figure out what you want to do!

While I’ve worked in Columbus for the past few years, it was only within the last six months that I started to live inside of Columbus. It was then I realized how hard it was to recycle in Columbus, and I’m still trying to find closer locations of recycling bins to where I live, I just can’t make myself throw it all away to sit in a landfill when I know they can become something else, first hand, because many of the products I work with are Green products that have been recycled.

The number one thing being coroplast, corrugated plastic, that’s the material most used for yard signs. I’m sure you’ve seen them on the side of the street with a little wire stake in it to hold it up, you’ve certainly seen them during the heavy months of political elections. Coroplast isn’t always used for yard signs, sometimes it’s used to make bigger signs, the sheets come as large a 4′ x 8′ and in a variety of color. The next biggest recycled material we use is scooterboard, it’s like wood, a tough durable material used as inserts in real estate frames.

Now, if you’ve spent any time looking through our gallery of finished works, I’m sure you’ll see that yard signs and real estate signs are a good portion of our sales. And they’re not our only Green products; we also have items like bamboo pop up stands for trade shows and High Density Polyethylene used for routed signs. So really, I just can’t make myself stop recycling, it would be bad for business.

For new business owners or those looking to buy a new business, it’s important to keep in mind that to place up a new permanent business sign or to update a pre-existing one, you need to have a city permit. City permits, their rules and regulations vary from city to city. For example, Dublin may have very strict rules on permanent signs going to be placed on the downtown street because they are aiming to keep a certain historic district feel. If you have a sign placed without having a city permit the city can request for your sign to be taken down and on certain occasions fines can be charged.

The process of waiting for an approval on an application can take weeks, and there is no way to expedite the process. To save yourself headaches and the struggle of making sure your new business has a sign on its grand opening day, take the time to research and apply for a permit in your area.  Below is a link for the City of Worthington’s website and their applications for sign permits:

http://www.worthington.org/index.aspx?NID=468

For the last weekend of the ski season at Mad River Mountain, there was a cardboard sled-building event. All entry creations could only be made with cardboard, paint, zip ties, and duct tape, with the exception of sled decorations. With the Yuengling brewing company as a sponsor, there were chances of a few cash prizes to be won. So the team of ‘Yuengling Medflight’ (comprised with members of the Mad River Mountain Ski Patrol, and a few of our staff as well) decided to go the extra mile and place decal lettering on their ‘vehicle’.

While the Yuenling Medflight didn’t win any prizes in the race, the team agrees it was extremely fun to build. View a picture of the creation on our Facebook page at:  http://www.facebook.com/NextDaySignsColumbus

Our first American amendment right, freedom of speech, can sometimes open a can of worms when a person’s opinion can be very offensive. And when the subject of opinion is under the scrutiny of society, tensions can raise pretty quickly depending on what you think. Being a sign company of both personal and professional signs, we’ve had an array of people who wanted their opinion or cause written in big bold letters for everyone to see. Some of the signs we were able to make without a second thought; sport enthusiasts using puns to cheer on their favored team, support signs for a cause and political signs have never caused much of a stirring inside the store. However, with a variety of different movements and protests often covered by the news, we did wonder, where would we draw the line with sign making? Would there be a line?

After consideration we all agreed that a line would be made. We would continue to remain a business with no political or religious affiliation, and produce any type of personal sign, provided that the sign did not deprecate a particular group of people. And while we’ve never needed to enforce this particular ruling, I felt better for the decision. The way the subject had been approached and discussed made me really appreciate the company and people I work with.

Over the past six months I’m sure you’ve noticed the guys that stand on the corner and spin arrow signs. They flip them up and down, spin them around and every once in a while hold them still so you can read what it says. Before I had actually seen them, I had been making a few arrow signs, unbeknownst to me their spinning fate. It seems the idea started back in 2002 in Ocean Beach, California, with a few friends who decided to play around with a sign.

The sign itself is coroplast, corrugated plastic, a light weight plastic material that makes it easy to flip, and the corrugated chutes make it durable enough not to break. Sizes range from an arrow width of 3′ and 4′ and a length of 5′ to 6′. While most apartment complexes use this way of advertisement to show off their apartments or rent specials, I think schools and organizations with youth are really underestimating how useful these can be for their groups. It’s a great way to advertise car washes, cookie sales, and other events, plus the kids have something fun to do. And hopefully that ‘something fun’ doesn’t include fighting over whose turn it is to flip the sign in the air.

To some people the most confusing part about ordering a sign is the exchange of artwork, pictures or files. I think it’s the jargon, you start mentioning dpi, pixilation and eps files and even a smart person can have trouble following if they don’t know the native tongue. (Even I get confused by the designers at times, which is why I’m writing this blog, so perhaps maybe we can both learn.) Let’s start with pictures, let’s say you have a family photo you want to put on a birthday banner. The first thing we’re going to ask is if you can send us an electronic picture with at least 125dpi. DPI means Dots Per Inch and is a measure of the resolution of the picture, it lets you know if making the picture bigger will turn it into lego blocks of pixilation or keep it’s realistic looks.

To check your pictures DPI, simply look up the picture under whichever file you have it saved under. Select the image and (for those using a PC) right click to see a drop down menu of options, normally at the bottom you’ll see ‘Properties’, click on that. In Properties there should be a tab for Details and under Details it will say the size of the picture and it’s DPI. The more DPI your picture has the larger it can become without getting pixilated. We once made a 4′ x 6′ banner out of one photograph, that photo had a DPI of 240.

Now that you know how well your pictures can enlarge, let’s say you go a step further and wanted to design your own banner and then send us the artwork. The best files for us to work with are .eps, .pdf, and .jpeg. These are simply file formats, and depending on what program you’re using (Word, Adobe, Photoshop, etc.) when you go to ‘save as’ you can select which format you would like. On our website across the top black border, the last option on the right side is ‘Send Us Files’, this leads you to our YouSendIt account which you can use to send us your artwork.

If you have any further questions don’t hesitate to ask! That’s why this blog is here in the first place, as much as I would like to think it’s because of my adoring fans.

Have you ever been to the Columbus COSI and taken a walk through the ‘Progress’ exhibit? It’s pretty spectacular to witness how society has changed over the generations. I have two favorite parts, the first part is listening to the telephone calls, as there is a set of recorded calls that you can listen to if you pick up a phone. The second part is the ’1962′ section of Progress, the storefronts that set to display the latest technological version of the refrigerator or television.  And of course, those famous diner styled neon signs.

If you really like those old fashioned signs, both in neon, aluminum and other substrates, did you know there is a museum for them? The American Sign Museum, located in Cincinnati, OH, has a variety of old signs from the gilded to the hand-carved, from Las Vegas to the east coast. With a collection that continually grows, the museum is in stage for a remodeled expansion that will open this Spring. Certainly a unique trip to make for both kids and adults, it could also be inspiring for any new business owners to remember what it was like for places like ‘McDonald’s’ or ‘Holiday Inn’ when they first started.

To find more information on COSI’s Progress Exhibit please follow the link of: http://www.cosi.org/exhibits/progress

And for more information on the American Sign Museum, please follow the link of: http://signmuseum.org/index.asp