What's the difference between brand signage and environmental branding?

Signage is the signs themselves, from storefronts to wayfinding. Environmental branding is the wider practice of shaping a physical space with a brand's identity, of which signage is one part.

What types of brand signage are there?

Common types include exterior signs and fascias, wayfinding and directional signs, window graphics, vehicle livery, and temporary signage such as banners and event displays.

Do you need planning permission for signage?

Often, yes. Rules vary by country, region and building, such as listed buildings or conservation areas, so check local requirements with the relevant authority and involve a signage specialist early.

How do you adapt a logo for signage?

By checking it works at scale and distance: simplifying fine detail, testing contrast in different light, and preparing versions for materials like illuminated lettering, vinyl or etched metal.

How do you keep signage consistent across locations?

With a signage specification inside the brand guidelines or toolkit: approved sizes, materials, colours and templates, so every site and supplier produces the same result.

Branding Handbook

Brand Experience

Brand Signage

Brand signage covers any physical or digital display that introduces a brand and guides its audience.

What is brand signage?

Brand signage refers to the physical or digital displays that a brand uses to make its presence known, from retail fascias to exhibit wayfinding.

It's often one of the first impressions a brand makes in the real world, seen by everyone who passes it. This makes the design of signage an essential part of brand-building, particularly for destinations, physical business and services.

Good signage does two jobs at once. On a functional level, it introduces a brand, helps people find their way, or delivers a key message. On a creative level, it expresses a brand's identity around the clock, piggybacking off its practical job to build brand recognition over time.

What makes good brand signage?

Legibility at distance

Type, contrast and scale are chosen to be read quickly from far away and at speed, by day and by night.

Instant recognition

Signage draws on a brand's most distinctive brand assets, so it can be recognised before a single word is read.

Clear messaging

Particularly important for wayfinding signage, a logical hierarchy of information tells people exactly what they need to know.

Suited to the environment

Signage design should account for materials, lighting, structure and local planning rules (even using them to its advantage).

Consistency across locations

A shared system of templates and specifications means every site looks like the same brand, and signs are easy to roll out and replace.

How brand signage works in practice: Bristol Dockyards

Expanding beyond the SS Great Britain, the rebranded Bristol Dockyards now reflects the full scope of a day's adventure. Not only dropping a postcode-sized pin on the map, but giving three central sub-experiences—The Being Brunel Museum, the Brunel Institute's maritime archive and the ship itself—space to finally sell themselves.

That meant thinking beyond the sign above the gates. To get people once again lining the banks of the Avon, the journey around the site itself needed to be built different.

Culture + Heritage

Place-making

Charity

Bristol Dockyards

Bringing their triumphant new identity to life, Bristol Dockyards' signage is designed to be unmistakable across the river. If people weren't seeing the effort that went into preserving and celebrating this historic area, they certainly are today.

From flags and A-boards through to wayfinding and museum storytelling, the brand's bold use of colour, typography and illustration is felt throughout the entire visitor journey. The Dockyards have always been a place of radical thinking, and now the brand matches up.

Outcome: Engagement nearly doubled to 54%.

Read case study

FAQs

Your brand can't afford to be ignored

Time to turn up your truth

We zero in on the one thing only your brand can claim, then dial it up until it’s impossible to ignore.

Talk to us

Related work

Signage that's unmistakable across the Avon

No part of Bristol Dockyards' visitor experience is left untouched by its new brand, proving exactly why it's Bristol's most treasured icon.

Result: Engagement nearly doubled to 54%.

A Force for Nature from the front gates onwards

Championing their role as a conservation authority, Chester Zoo's signage and wayfinding puts a deeper story behind one of the UK's greatest days out.

Result: Nearly 2M visitors, making it the most visited paid UK attraction outside of London.