Monday, March 16, 2015

It's a Sign

Hey Y'all! Happy March!  We just got a featured Post on Crafty Affaire Market's Facebook Page for our totally awesome banner!  Woo!


Remember this bad boy?



This is the new sign we made for our booth.  We really loved our old sign-it was coral, it was bunting, it was....hard to read.  Well that's what people told us. Oh, and their necks craned like puppies looking at a treat while they tried to read it. So we knew we had to change it!


We loved it and it fit our brand image but people couldn't read it, it was hard to hang up, and it got a bit washed out on a white background.  Sadly, our banner wasn't working.  

That's a hard thing to hear as a business owner;  that customers don't love something you made and that represents you  :(   So much work and effort went into creating this banner, it was hard to give up.  It IS important to remember that if it's not working, we have to let it go.

We took this situation and turned it into an opportunity for us to revamp our booth and sign!  


Firstly, we thought about how we wanted to be represented.  I'd recently had custom stamps made to use on my bags and tags so we chose to echo the look of the tags on our banner (BRAND CONSISTENCY!)  And we used the same font and same cameo silhouette logo.


We considered ordering a banner, but to keep costs low and have ultimate control over the final outcome we chose to make it ourselves.  Everyone's had that moment where you design something, send it to the printers and it never turns out the way you wanted :( We used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out a template for the letters and lined it up on the fabric.   For full details of how to make your own banner, check out Jill's post.


We attend shows that use both black and white pipe and drape, so we wanted something that would stand out on either colour.  Black fabric with white paint was a bold choice.  We chose classic colours with a lot of contrast.   This way if we ever chose to change our colours we wouldn't have to make a new sign.  We decided to edge the banner with some burlap ribbon so that it would stand out on black draping.

We made the sign about 6 feet long and 2 feet wide.  This gave us enough room to make the letters readable and to fill up the back of our booth. I know a lot of people put their banner on the front of their table, which I kindly advise against (if you have an option). It's too low to read.  People will have to back away from your booth/table to read it...and well, then they're far away from your goodies. If the show is really busy, there will always be people in front of it, and people just won't know who you are.

Due to not having a back wall, we had to hang our banner in front (less than ideal!)

Another key thing to remember when making your sign - think about how you'll hang it.  If we were to do it again, we might consider adding a couple of grommets to give it more durability when hanging.  

Remember our coral bunting sign?  Can you find it in the last picture with the sign on the back?  Yup!  We turned it around and used it for an extra pop of colour in our booth...and it gave us a NEW idea for our booth next year.  My booth design is constantly evolving, but I know this sign is here to stay.  It's bold.  It tells everyone who I am.  It associates a font and logo with my business (and then I use the same font and logo EVERYWHERE! Brand consistency and image.)

We hope this helps you with your branding and booth planning.  For more tips on how to make your booth its best, check out this post!    
We'd love to know which tip was most helpful for you! Leave us a comment and feel free to link to pics of your booth so we can ooh and aah!

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