Logo design for Watford businesses

Lit letter by letter

Watford Borough Council's Shopfront Design Guide, adopted in February 2013 to support a saved policy of the Watford District Plan, sets out how a sign may be lit. It accepts halo lighting behind individual letters, internally illuminated lettering, or a small number of well-placed spotlights or trough lights. Within conservation areas or on listed buildings, full internal illumination of signs will not be acceptable. The government's guide to advertisement control (Outdoor advertisements and signs: a guide for advertisers, June 2007) adds that the deemed consent for internally lit letters and halo lighting does not extend to premises in a conservation area, so lit letters there are a matter for the council before you order. Check with the council which guidance and rules apply to your street today.

None of the options it accepts is a lit box. For halo lighting, each letter is cut out and stood off the wall with a light behind it, so the outline of the letter is what people see at night. That needs solid letters with open counters and no hairline joins. We draw wordmarks that way and supply the vector files a signmaker cuts from.

The guide also asks that lettering on signs and fascias respects the character of the shopfront and the street, and is spaced and sized appropriately. Spacing is a logo decision as much as a signmaker's: a wordmark with letters crammed together, or a tagline set so small it vanishes, cannot be spaced well on any fascia. We set the spacing of every wordmark by eye at the size it will be read, and keep any descriptor line large enough to survive being cut.

Read next: Shopfront signage design

Flat colour on a matt fascia

The guide asks for box fascias to be avoided and for non-acrylic, matt finish materials on heritage assets. On colour it is just as direct: colour in signs can enhance or intrude upon the streetscape, so it may be necessary to tone down corporate branding to harmonise with the shopfront and the street.

A logo built on a gradient, a glossy highlight or a glow is designed for a screen, and it has nothing to fall back on when it is painted flat on timber. We design every mark to work in solid colour first, and every logo includes a single-colour version. If your colours are bright, we will make sure the mark still looks like you in a deeper, quieter shade, so a toned-down sign does not feel like someone else's business.

Read next: What logo colours say to customers

One sign over the pavement

The guide allows only one box or hanging sign per shopfront, says projecting box signs are not suitable in conservation areas or on heritage assets, and asks that a projecting or hanging sign sits no higher than the fascia and clears the highway by at least 2.14m. A conservation area is one a council has designated under section 69 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as an area of special architectural or historic interest whose character or appearance it is desirable to preserve or enhance.

One sign, seen from below and from along the street, means the icon has to carry the brand alone. Every logo we deliver includes an icon-only layout, and we judge each concept at small sizes as well as large, because that is how a hanging sign and a phone screen both show it. If your business has no shopfront, the same icon is your profile picture, your van door and your favicon. See everything included in Logo Design.

Read next: Wordmark or icon: which logo do you need?