PDQIE - PDQ Industrial Electric 

Sign Design, Installation, Maintenance and Repair

First Impression and Safety

• Building mounted on-premise signs may be attached to the roof, parapet, marquee, or building fascia. These signs may be either parallel or perpendicular to the building surface.

• Freestanding on-premise signs are generally supported by a structure attached to or cast in a foundation. . The structure and attachments to the foundation may be concealed with a decorative covering. Freestanding signs can be further enhanced by landscaping.

• On-premise signs can be either internally or externally illuminated. For retail businesses, on-premise signs should be illuminated to accomplish communication with potential customers during nighttime hours.

• Sometimes a building itself functions as a sign. This occurs most often with franchise and chain retail operations, where standardized (or "signature") buildings and colors, as well as traditional on-premise signs, announce the presence of the business.

• Buildings also may be fitted or retrofitted with "trade dress" to design a theme. Retrofitting of a building-facade is often described as a "face lift." Both building and freestanding signs should be designed to echo the theme or trade dress.

• Changeable copy boards or electronic message centers enhance a sign's effectiveness by providing space to advertise time dependent messages. Such sign or sign additions can be electronically controlled (the electronic message center), or changed manually (the changeable copy sign).

• Interior on-premise signs are those that advertise the location of businesses located in a common building such as a mall, office building, entertainment complex. They have two major purposes:

  1. to influence buyer choices and encourage certain "point of purchase" transactions; and
  2. to provide guidance in a safe and efficient manner, as required by local regulatory authorities (such as the Fire Marshall) and federal law, particularly the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).