Indiana Pundit

 

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Kessler, I mean Keesler Sign Review


50 x 50 scanability. It passes. It has nice thick lettering that make it easy to read.

Clean. Its clean.

Uniqueness. The yellow star breaks up the monotony of the red, white and blue colors.

Color. RWB. There are too many signs with this combination. Only the star saves it in this category.

Grade B+

Related story:What makes a good yard sign

1 Comments:

Blogger Mitch said...

Dear Indiana Pundit:

Your yard sign reviews have been entertaining and enlightening for many of the Fort Wayne political observers who haven't been directly involved in campaigns. The reviews have even been educational for some of those who have.

I think, though, you have missed an economic factor in your review of yard signs. One example of an economic factor is that campaigns need to find a balance between the visual impact of a sign and its cost.

A one color sign is the cheapest to produce. If a campaign can create an effective design with one color - that's the Holy Grail.

Most campaigns will select a two color sign to achieve that balance between effectiveness and expense.

Candidates who use a third color (actually four since white is always a contrasting color) to achieve differentiation from competitors' signs usually end up spending more money without gaining additional effectiveness.

The bold use of a third color often results in a more jumbled visual presentation. The timid use often results in a sign no more effective than if the color had not been added.

I've been at campaign committee meetings - as I bet you have, too - where the candidate had to be arm-wrestled from adding a third color which would only have been used marginally to add just a pinstripe or an outline of letters.

I am in agreement that the use of red, white and blue has been overdone this campaign season. In fact, RW&B is in overuse in almost all election years.

There may be new ways in which a change of font or design could make a RW&B sign stand out. However, once a sign has been up a week or more, drivers should be able to recognize the sign from a distance by color alone. That is, a quality of a good sign is that it reinforces the name of a candidate even when the candidate's name is too far away to be read.

Red, white and blue doesn't do that; particularly when the sign is posted in a sea of other RW&B signs.

One other rule of thumb if the candidate can't be dissuaded from choosing RW&B - avoid a design that looks like it would have been at home during the Wendell Willkie era.

9:17 AM  

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