Vehicle lettering is a variety of custom vehicle graphics. The letters are printed on vinyl substrates with a sound adhesive backing. Once installed, the custom-printed text has a smooth, paint-like finish on your vehicle.
Whereas the vehicle wraps tend to cover major portions of a vehicle and can feature customized vehicle lettering and graphics that focuses purely on text with no graphics. This makes vehicle lettering a more minimalistic and affordable option. When you follow our tips, vehicle lettering can be a very effective marketing tool.
Tips for Readable Vehicle Lettering:
Vehicle lettering can help you personalize the vehicle and advertise your company. However, your lettering is only helpful if people who see your car on the go or parked can easily read the text. To achieve this goal, ensure you follow these guidelines.
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Use Legible Fonts:
With hundreds of thousands of fonts, choosing the right font can seem overwhelming. You can narrow your choices significantly by prioritizing fonts that align with your current branding. More significantly, however, the font you use for your lettering should be legible.
Choose the simple serif or sans-serif fonts that a person can read easily. Just make sure the font does not distract readers from the message. Suppose your logo features a more artistic font that isn't easily readable. In that case, you should include your logo, contact information, or web address in a clear, simple font below the logo.
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Choose Contrasting Colors:
To make your vehicle lettering easily readable, choose your colors carefully. Suppose you're placing your lettering on your vehicle's body. In that case, you must select a color that contrasts your vehicle's paint job.
The most popular colors for vehicles usually are black and white. Choosing a contrasting color is simple if your car is one of these colors. Generally, black text contrasts light-colored vehicles like white, gray, or silver. Likewise, white text is ideal for dark-colored cars, such as brown, navy, and black.
Suppose your vehicle is neither dark nor light but more of a vibrant shade like red, blue, yellow, or green. In that case, you may choose a shade on the opposite side of the color wheel, called a complementary color.
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Follow the 10-By-1 Rule for Text Size:
The size, or "pitch," of your vehicle lettering is also crucial for legibility. The governing principle here is that the larger the text, the more visible and powerful it will be. So, how large must your letters be to be legible for people driving or walking by? A thumb rule the sign industry uses is the 10-by-1 rule. According to this guideline, in vehicle lettering and grapics in Maryland, letters 1 inch tall are readable up to about 10 feet away. For every inch you add to the lettering's height, you gain another 10 feet of visibility and readability.
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Keep the Message Simple:
Less speaks more when it comes to impactful advertising, but this is especially the case when creating an ad someone may only glance at a fleeting moment as they drive by. A similar example is a billboard on the roadside. For billboards, experts often recommend limiting the message to seven words. You can use these same guidelines for your vehicle lettering.
Some people use their lettering for branding their vehicles. For branding purposes, all that is need is your logo and slogan if you have one. Besides branding, however, many business owners include a clear call to action like "Call for a free estimate" with a phone number.
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Place Your Lettering Strategically:
Finally, you should place your vehicle lettering in a place on your car where it will get sufficient exposure and be easy to read. Place lettering in multiple locations so that you attract attention from multiple angles.
Generally, it's the best to favor higher portions of your vehicle since this area will align with other drivers' fields of vision. However, on the back of your car, you can place graphics or lettering farther down like on the tailgate of a truck.
Unlike most advertising surfaces, vehicles have mobile parts that can impact your advertisement. Consider how your text will look while your vehicle's doors are open, for instance, or even the windows rolled down slightly. An expert installation professional can help you choose the ideal location for your vehicle lettering.
