Illuminated Vs Non-Illuminated Signage: What You Should Know

If you’re getting ready to order signs to promote your company, you may not have thought about one important question: will they be illuminated or non-illuminated? Sign shops offer both types of signs, and there are plenty of compelling reasons to choose one over the other. Keep reading to learn what makes each of these types of signs unique, what they’re used for, and how you can order them.

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What You Should Know About Illuminated Signs

Illuminated signs include any type of signage with built-in lighting. This can include channel lettering, backlit signs, electronic signs, and more.

There are 3 common types of lighting used for illuminated signs:

• Light-emitting diodes, or LED
• Fluorescent lights or standard lightbulbs
• Neon lights

Advantages of Illuminated Signs

Illuminated signs don’t just look great – they also offer many advantages over your typical unlit signs.

• They’re easy to see, even at night and in dark conditions. Unlike plain signs that might be difficult to spot when the sun goes down or during a storm, a lit sign will always stand out.
• They draw attention. It’s hard to miss illuminated signs when driving by or walking down the street, and that makes it much easier for you to get your message across.
• They increase the reach of your marketing campaigns, both figuratively and literally. Not only do more people tend to see illuminated signs, but they’re also easier to spot at a distance.
• They can used indoors as well as outdoors. While most illuminated signs are used on the outside of buildings or in high-traffic street locations, you can also use them inside buildings. Try putting them to work as emergency signage, directional signage, or eye-catching pieces of art.

What You Should Know About Non-Illuminated Signs

Non-illuminated signs are any signs that don’t have their own internal light source. You can still light them up, but you’ll need an external light like a spotlight or lamp to do it.

Non-illuminated signs are typically made from the same materials as their illuminated counterparts. They can also be designed with visual tricks like contrasting colours to make them more visible in low-light conditions, even without a built-in light source. Professional sign makers know how to design these signs for maximum impact, so don’t be afraid to ask for guidance if you need it!

Benefits of Non-Illuminated Signs

Non-illuminated signs also have some notable benefits.

• They’re cheaper than illuminated signs. They don’t use electricity and require much less repair and maintenance work over time.
• They offer more flexibility. Without the constraints introduced by internal lighting, you can make non-illuminated signs in any shape, size, or colour you want.
• They’re easy to move around. You can use them in both indoor and outdoor settings, and they don’t need to be placed close to a power source.
• They work great for 9-to-5 businesses. Since these establishments don’t see traffic outside of daylight hours, they don’t need to worry about attracting customers in dark conditions.

Differences Between Both

The main thing that sets illuminated signs apart from non-illuminated ones is their lighting. Because these signs come with their own light source, they glow brightly in all conditions and are always easy to spot. That kind of visibility can be extremely valuable for a small business struggling to stand out.

However, this extra visibility comes with a higher price tag. Running an illuminated sign 24 hours a day uses a lot of extra electricity, and these signs also need extensive maintenance to keep them working properly. These extra costs are often worth it thanks to the extra revenue they bring in, but it’s important to verify whether that’s true in your specific situation.

Neither type of sign is always better than the other. The best sign company for your needs is one that takes your unique needs into account when recommending signage products to you.

Which One Is Right for Your Business?

Illuminated and non-illuminated signs both have their strengths and weaknesses. Which one is the right choice for your business comes down to a few key factors.

First, some cities do not allow illuminated signs to be displayed in certain areas. If your city has similar bylaws, you’ll probably have to stick to standard signs to comply with them. You can still grab your customers’ attention in other ways – just ask your local banner sign company for tips on how to use other signage to your advantage.

Second, some businesses don’t operate outside of daylight hours. If this is the case for you, you might not get much use out of an illuminated sign. An unlit sign will get the same job done for less money, making it the best option in this case. If your business relies heavily on nighttime foot traffic, though, you’ll definitely want to invest in a sign that will continue to attract customers even after the sun has gone down.

Lastly, consider your budget. While illuminated signs aren’t hugely expensive, the extra wiring and specialized installation they require does drive the price up a bit. You’ll also incur ongoing costs to keep your sign lit up. If you don’t think you can afford these extra expenses right now, it might be best to go with a non-illuminated sign for now. You can always upgrade your signage later on when you have more money to work with.

Trust Sign & Graphics for Illuminated and Non-Illuminated Signage

Whether you decide to go with an illuminated sign or a standard unlit one, it’s important to choose a sign company you know you can trust to do the job right.

The Sign & Graphics Manufaktur is your go-to sign company. We produce custom signs and designs for businesses in all sorts of industries around the GTA. Our professional team of designers, fabricators, and installers will help you take your sign project from initial concept to final product. Contact us today to discuss your signage needs and learn more about how we can help your business put its best foot forward.

Back

When you stand in the street at night, the first thing that comes into our sight is the street lights on the road, followed by all kinds of illuminated signage and plaques. As one of the most common illuminated signs, backlit signs are vital for our business.

What Is Backlit Signage?

Backlit signage is illuminated on the back for each letter or element and has the halo effect when lit.

Backlit letters are a great medium to promote your branding, events, discounts, and other customized message in daylight and at night.

Backlit Vs. Halo lit Vs. Reverse-lit Vs. channel letters

We usually hear about the different names for illuminated letters.

The name halo-lit, reverse-lit, and backlit are for the same type of signs.

At the same time, channel letters are a collection of front-lit, backlit, dual, and non-illuminated letters.

If you are interested in more details about the channel letters, please kindly refer to guide for custom channel letter manufacturersfor the types of channel letter signs.

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Benefits of Backlit Signage

Promote your brands in 7*24 hours

It is the most time to highlight the brand at night, the illuminated letters and messages make your brand stand out and quickly noticed, and it is also a long-term exposure free of charge.

Energy-efficient, requiring lower voltage

Compared with neon illumination options, backlit letters use significant energy cost savings LEDs; also, it is a one-time investment that can operate for five years at least, and don’t need to print out news signs frequently.

Widely used in outdoor and indoor

Compared with non-illuminated letters, backlit signages are an excellent option for outdoor, indoor, and day and night. You always find the most cost-effective ways, including the possibilities of materials, light sources, etc.

Various colors quickly draw attention and increase visibility

From the various shades of LED, letters’ painting colors, and graphics options, we can use the backlit letters to convey our brand’s personalization, increasing brand recognition, attracting more potential customers’ attention, and generating more business.

How To Make Backlit Signage?

Backlit signage is mainly backlit letters and backlit lightboxes.

Below we mainly introduce the backlit letters.

Because neighboring LEDs light can strengthen others, the halo brightness of a single illuminated letter will gradually weaken if further each letter away. Usually, we need to increase the distance between light and the mounting wall.

There are two main types of backlit letters.

Inner acrylic backer with spacer

The acrylic backer fixes flush with the stainless steel returns and use the standoffs and spacer away from the wall, making specific halo glow lighting issues.

Acrylic edge-lit and lights diffuse on the back

It uses a thicker acrylic backer and opens a slot to screw with stainless steel returns. We can see the acrylic edge-lit and diffuse the light on the back.

What Material Is Used For Backlit Letters?

Backlit signs mainly include face, returns, backer, inner LEDs, and install accessories.

Backer

The durable and weather-resistant materials for the backer is opal white acrylic or translucent sandblast acrylic sheet. Acrylic is a different name for Poly(methyl methacrylate) or PMMA. It has an excellent high gloss finish and makes the light diffuse. On the other hand, it has the advantage of being lightweight to install.

Face and Returns

Aluminum or stainless steel are good options to avoid the light leaking. To achieve brighter lighting, we paint white on the interior walls to reflect as much illumination and reduce the probability of “hot spots.” While for the outer surface, we can do the paint, vinyl, etc., which gives an awesome decorative looking when not lit.

Inner LED illuminated

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have replaced neon as the dominant illumination method for channel letters.

Different color spectrums can get different colors. To get the unique colors for our signage, we should choose the proper LED light colors after considering the factors of place we will install and the emotional response the signs will send to our potential clients.

The lower the number, the warmer the light. The higher the number, the more bluish or cooler the light.

Other essential factors are the number of LEDs strips or LEDs modules and the permutation pattern of mounted LEDs. Multi-row strips of LEDs modules also give brighter lighting compared to a single-installed strip. The LEDs are mounted directly onto the acrylic backer that makes the light directed toward the inside of the lights, then reflected out.

Install accessories

A paper template indicated the installation and cable holes location, LED Driver, and plug is essential accessories. Others include studs, spacers, silicones, VHB tape, hammer drill, and sign installation service.

Light diffuse panel

Another option to optimize LED illumination is adding a diffuse light panel.

A backer panel is a contoured aluminum sheet. The higher quality acrylic fabrication has been combined with superior clear lighting on clear white cast acrylic to provide pure and diffused light.

How Is Halo Lit Signage Installed?

For the types of Inner acrylic backer with spacer

1. We prepare the mounting accessories,1:1 scale paper mounting pattern, LED DriverDriver, etc.
2. Fix the paper pattern in the correct place you want to install it, then punch the holes on the wall for stud bolts and cables
3. Remove the paper pattern
4. Attached are the standoffs to the pre-drill holes
5. Mount the cables through the cable holes
6. Put the acrylic backer on the wall, make the studs filled with silicone adhesives, then assemble the studs through the backer
7. Fix the acrylic backer on the wall
8. Match the sign face onto the acrylic backer, and fix it with the countersunk screw from the side

For the types of edge-lit and diffusing lights on the back

1. Prepare the mounting accessories,1:1 scale paper mounting pattern, power driver, etc.
2. Fix the paper pattern in the correct place you want to install it, then punch the holes on the wall for stud bolts and cables
3. Remove the paper pattern
4. Make the studs filled with silicone adhesives, then assemble the studs into the backer
5. Mount the cables through the cable holes
6. Push the individual part of the LED-backlit signage with the stud bolts into the stud bolt holes
7. Push the individual part of the LED-backlit signage with the stud bolts into the stud bolt holes

When And Where Is Halo Lit Signage Typically Used?

Halo-lit signage can be widely installed interior or exterior, as long as you want to display your brand or message to passersby, such as hotels, financials, hospitals, restaurants, bars, and many storefronts.

When you make a plan where you would like to install your signage and what it looks like in the size, colors, and lighting, you can tailor your brand. If you are unsure about the details, please don’t hesitate to discuss the suitable solutions with us.

Contact us today for more information if you have additional questions about backlit signage, budget, design and lead time, etc.