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Our Team of Experts are standing by to Answer Your Questions: (877) SINCE79 toll-free (214) 339-2227 Dallas (817) 861-1234 Fort Worth/Arlington (972) 850-3300 Other DFW Areas (254) 582-7446 Hillsboro/Waco Areas (903) 561-5959 Athens/Oklahoma (940) 365-3433 Denton/North Texas Email our Sales Team:
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Sign Design CenterFREE, Professional, Sign Design and Marketing Services*
Free Professional Design and Marketing Services*If you want to be successful, look successful! Profits begin with your businesses image, and a businesses image begins at the street. What will your business look like, appealing or appalling? Be sure to read the informative "Business Pitfalls" (tab to the left.) Good signs incorporate Marketing.Identify, Communicate, create the Image you desire. Signs must be memorable to help a business succeed. As an example, Dr. Brad Boeke recently hired us to design a new sign and logo to replace a sign we built for him 10 years ago; he was changing his business name. He told us “I couldn’t remember your company’s name but I remembered the logo – the brush going through the letters – and I remembered the distinctive letter style.” Obviously the work we put into our own design paid off.
An effective sign, one that will help you succeed, is much more than just the message on it's face. Whether it's channel letters, a wall cabinet sign, a Monument sign, pole sign, electronic message center or video display, pylon sign, or other signs a sign is 3-dimensional, it is seen from far away, and it probably lights at night. Sign thickness, minimum stroke, construction materials, lighting choices and colors (day and night), 3-D paint options, and installation requirements all must be considered to make a sign "work." These considerations are detailed in this website. Don't overlook the message, the size, and the impact of your sign compared to other signs around it. Remember that you are competing for attention. Rather than purchase a larger, blank, rectangular message center and display your name and all other information on it, consider incorporating signage that constantly displays the messages you want to constantly display. It will cost less, and look better! For pylon signs or pole signs a single cabinet encompassing the pole, rather than two displays, one welded to each side of a pole, is much more preferable. Don't paint your signs the same color(s) as your neighbors! Stand out. Don't accept the cookie-cutter colors so many competitors recommend probably because they don't have a paint booth and can only offer pre-painted metal colors! Are they recommending a color to you because it's the best for you, or because its the best for them? You don't want to look like everyone else. Can you name a successful business who's sign is not a distinctive color? Hard to do. Why? Psychologically a unique accent color increases your sign's appearance of success. If you want to be successful, appear successful. Interior designers are taught to use accent colors as a key feature of any "look" for this very important reason. When deciding on letter colors, faces and returns, also consider which direction(s) the sign(s) will face. Shadows from building elements and the letters/raceways themselves can dramatically affect the daytime readability of a channel letter sign unless you incorporate LetterLites™ faces. For signs facing East, South or West consider using a backplate in a contrasting color, or LetterLites™ faces to break the effects of shadows. Read more about back-plates by clicking the tab in the left column. Borders make signs more readable...quicker. The single exception to this rule is electronic message centers where the entire face lights in color; but if your message only contains wording and the background is blank, project a lighted border. A second color in a sign's lettering increases retention. Outline neon on channel letter lettering more than doubles the effectiveness of a sign; day and night. The importance of day/night signs to you cannot be overstated. The difference is truly night and day! In today’s business environment the need to use both light and color to attract attention during the day is becoming more critical. A simple set of channel letters won’t help your business survive anymore; sophisticated shoppers expect more. North Texas averages 5 hours of bright sunlight, 7 hours of reduced sunlight, and 12 hours of no sunlight daily. With the controlled lighting in our Sign Lighting Laboratory and Showroom we can show you how a sign looks during full daylight, on the cloudy days, and at night. “We prosper because of our sign. Signs Manufacturing’s unique understanding of the use of colors and light both day and night causes our business to always be the most visible. No one else could work their magic!” – the 407 club Consider Signs Manufacturing Corporation's Special Effects options for channel letters; Trembler™ signs, Backplates, Backlights, Spectralites™, Letterlites™. New, modern-look signs that use lighting to advertise during the day, such as LetterLites™ Channel Letters and PinLights™ Cabinet Signs are well worth considering. Consider having your architect include shadow boxes in your sign band design. They allow us to do so much more with daytime lighting to make your business stand out; using almost no electricity. The result can be the appearance of a much bigger sign, for practically free. But your shadow box must be sized to our sign design to be effective. We will work with your architect to accomplish this. We can help so long as your landlord and the City understand the importance of good signs and allow you to install signs that will help your business. Unfortunately this isn't always true. Choose your location(s) wisely (and receive your landlord's approval of your signs package BEFORE you sign your lease.) City Signs Ordinances, and Landlord Lease Restrictions, can doom a business. We have lots of experience. We can help you design signs that will meet City and Landlord sign restrictions, and your needs. We've done it over 150,000 times. Most City Sign Ordinances can be accessed by visiting our "Permits & Approvals" page after accessing our "Installation & Service" page if you care to learn about them without contacting us. However we have worked with them for so long we know most of them by heart. We can design and build your next sign while maintaining Social Distancing guidelines
Our showroom is open and sanitized so you can safely review the different options available for your new signage. Also, we have many options to help design your new look, from collaborating remotely (from your own home bridged to our design team) to designing with you in our Projection Room, which is large enough to maintain Social Distancing. The ImageKrafters™ Design Consultants, and The Design Tank™ Digital Design Studio
“Let’s drop your signage location in The Design Tank™and see what floats!” Signs and logos that help businesses succeed are not an accident. The Small Business Administration determined that poor sign design causes 89% of business failures. (Importance of Signage - tab in left column) "Jim's Place" may be the name of your business, but as a sign it will do NOTHING to attract new customers! What does the business do? How many major retailers can you think of that don't have a logo or incorporate a distinctive letter style, or both? Something to help people remember them. If you are concerned at all that the signage you are currently developing might not help your business to succeed we have a staff of design personnel and artists with many years of experience, our IMAGEKRAFTERS™ Design Team, who can work with you to develop a successful sign. Our Design Consultants have designed well over 150,000 signs. They recognize the minute aspects of design that creates winners and losers in signage. Things like kerning*, tracking*, and leading*. And we understand the critical elements of the sign itself that adds to or diminishes the effectiveness of signs. Just considering storefront lighted "channel-letter" signs, we have over 1,000+ different ways we can manufacture your sign to make it stand-out as totally unique. Best of all, most of these options are relatively inexpensive. The principal owner of Signs Manufacturing™, a university-trained marketing professional, formed several successful businesses for large and small corporations and was heavily involved in the marketing and advertising necessary to make a business successful prior to starting Signs Manufacturing™ with the Family. He created a sign company renowned for understanding marketing issues, a huge void even today, and helping customers become successful. Every member of the Family has a University business degree. In fact 10 members of our Team are degreed professionals. Because of our education and experience Signs Manufacturing™ is a different kind of sign company. We want to be an important part of YOUR team. Use us. We know what it takes to make a business successful, so we develop “looks” and processes that benefit our customers by giving them continuously better, more productive signs at continuously lower prices. Many examples are on display in our Showroom. Professional Design and Marketing assistance is usually free with a sign purchase. Schedule an appointment now. Identification Signage SpecialistsYour identification sign, your storefront sign in most cases, if done properly, creates your opportunity to be successful. And once it does so it must maintain that image for years and years if you are to remain successful. Your sign must provide you with enough of the right customers so you can reach your break-even point if you can sell them once they enter your establishment. There is a big difference between what a successful dollar store's sign should look like, and what a doctor's should. An accident lawyer needs a different sign and image than a patent attorney should have. Do you want someone who installs car wraps helping you make critical signage decisions? We're identification signage specialists. We've created well over 100,000+ major identification signs. What Identification Signage Must Be
What are Day-Light Designs™?
For instance, we pack backlighting to create a subtle glow during the day. If you are going to light a sign during the day the lighting better look good! This is easier to accomplish because of our use of SolarBrite™ LongLife™ LEDs which are so much brighter than competitive LEDs. If we didn’t use SolarBrite™ LEDs we couldn’t design and build signs that offered such an advantage when compared to competitive signs (Both our competitors, and your neighbor’s signs.) We don’t waste electricity, simply because our signs always stand out, even when both are lighted. “We prosper because of our sign. Signs Manufacturing’s unique understanding of the use of colors and light both day and night causes our business to always be the most visible. No one else could work their magic!” – the 407 club Soften Your Signage if you CanWhile it usually costs more to manufacture a rounded-corner sign than a square-edged sign, you should allow us to do so if your budget will allow. Why? Because your sales will probably improve! 
In the mid-1960’s Procter & Gamble changed the labeling on their Tide® detergent. The new design eliminated the round “target” in their logo. Sales immediately dropped. They immediately redesigned the logo to add-back the round “target” and sales immediately jumped back up, then increased. This revelation caused a revolution in car designs as well as everything else. Learn from this; it is now a proven marketing fact that softer, rounded, less “sharp” logos psychologically create a more favorable impression. When Head & Shoulders® hair shampoo was first being developed, samples were distributed to college students in both rectangular and in rounded containers. Test results were that students loved the product in the rounded containers, but thought that the product in the rectangular bottles made their scalp itch. Have you noticed the round “swirl” in the Head & Shoulders® logo? Visit our Showroom to compare multiple examples of signage with both “squared” and “rounded” corners and “looks.” Decide for yourself before committing to a sign design that can determine the success of your business. Automatic Electronic Thermal Lighting Controls*When our founder was very young he managed a supermarket, a grocery store. He discovered that he could affect the store's business by simply turning “on” the store's signs on less-than-sunshiny days. Cloudy and/or rainy days would have a higher sales volume than bright days, IF HE REMEMBERED TO TURN THE SIGNS ON. And with the tinted window glass so prevalent in the South it is often-times hard to tell if a business is even open. These are lessons every business person should be aware of. And, with today's modern LED illuminated signage, it costs practically nothing to make your store really stand out! What is the main reason our Sunburst™ LED outdoor digital signs increase a store’s business so dramatically? Lighted signs draw much more attention than unlighted signs, even during the day! Because we recognize how important this is, we will now install automatic electronic lighting controls on every lighted sign we manufacture*, factory calibrated to turn the sign “on” and “off” at times when lighting will help you do more business. Over the past 40+ years, we have documented EXACTLY when a sign’s lighting should be turned “on” to increase visibility on dark and/or rainy days, overcome shadows, and exactly when at dusk a sign should be turned “on.” The whole purpose of the sign, after all, is to attract attention to your business. We make your sign both more attention-getting AND more legible. The setting varies for signs pointed East, West, North, or South, and varies for signs containing neon and/or LEDs, fluorescent or HID lighting. It also varies by how the sign was built. Our automatic electronic lighting controls also sense shadows making signs less legible, and turn “on” the internal lighting accordingly. Optimum settings are custom-set for every sign. Another example of our doing everything we can to insure that our signs make your business the most successful. As far as we know, no other sign manufacturer does this, for free or otherwise, for their customers. If possible, have your electrician also wire a time clock to control the power supplying your signs. The time clock should be set to keep the sign “off” at times they should never be lighted, say 2:30 AM to 5:30 AM, the rest of the time whether the sign is “on” or “off” should be determined by our automatic lighting controls. USE ELECTRICITY WISELY TO MAKE YOUR BUSINESS THE MOST VISIBLE, BUT CONSERVE ENERGY. Recognize that Intermatic and Tork time clocks, used by most electricians, are not finely adjustable, and at certain times of the year dawn and dusk occur at quickly-varying times, gaining or losing over 15 minutes of daylight each week. If you only have a time clock controlling power to your signs, savvy business owners must reset their time clocks constantly and carefully, and manually override them to turn “on” their signs on dark days. Good luck getting your employees to do this religiously – THIS IS ALSO WHY WE INCLUDE CALIBRATED AUTOMATIC THERMAL LIGHTING CONTROLS ON EVERY OUTDOOR SIGN WE MANUFACTURE.* Incidentally, we DO NOT use photo cells or photo eyes. They are neither precise nor reliable. Anecdotal data suggests that increased profits resulting from this feature alone more than pays for the entire cost of the sign EVERY YEAR. Unconvinced of the importance to you? View our control system in operation, and our supporting testing, in our Sign Lighting Laboratory and Showroom. Then you can decide if you agree that this is a critically important improvement in signage effectiveness. *Dependent on size and design. For instance, it is not possible to incorporate automatic electronic lighting controls in individual channel letters under 4’ tall if they are being installed mounted directly on the wall with no raceway or wireway. But any size channel letters with raceways or wireways can incorporate automatic electronic lighting controls. Sign Design Safety IssuesSigns that are too small to be read easily under existing driving conditions cause traffic congestion and accidents, in addition to not helping a business become successful. Carefully examine our Letter Visibility charts listed as "Visibility" in the tabs in the left column of this page. Monument signs can potentially block traffic visibility and cause accidents at driveways and intersections. Moving them away from the street makes them more dangerous and less effective (above) unless they are significantly larger. Externally lighted signs cause traffic congestion and accidents on dark or rainy days, and at night according to Penn State studies. Monument signs, because of their smaller lettering when compared to pole signs and pylon signs, cause traffic congestion and accidents, verified by a different Penn State study. An excellent place to learn about the critical, mechanical, aspects of sign design necessary for a safe and successful sign is at www.usscfoundation.org/USSCGuidelineStandards.pdf. It would be nice if cities would read this before creating sign ordinances; there would be less congestion and fewer accidents in business districts. Businesses in the City would be more successful, also! Electrical Sign Design Safety IssuesIt is a criminal offense in Texas for a unlicensed individual to design an electrical sign, or an electrical system. A licensed Master Sign Electrician or Master Electrician is required, or a design company approved by statute, regardless of whether the signs was manufactured within or outside of Texas. We have both Master types involved in designing our signs. Our employee's State of Texas Electrical and Sign Master License numbers are: 00002753, 00007305 and 00238434. If you wonder if a sign-seller can legally design, install and service electrical signs in Texas go to http://www.tdlr.texas.gov/LicenseSearch, enter "Electricians" in the "Inquire by License Type" box and the name of the sign business or person in the "Inquire by Name" box. Why are “Listed" Signs Critical to You?
Virtually ALL cities, as well as the State of Texas, adopt the National Electric Code as law.
The National Electric Code (NEC) requires that for electrical, structural, and installation safety all electrical signs be "Listed" (tested and labelled with an appropriate Listing Mark.) Certification (testing and labeling) organizations acceptable in the USA to test to the multitude of Standards signs are required to meet are determined by OSHA. For you the Listing Mark is insurance. It means that the sign has been tested to insure that it is structurally and electrically safe, and will be installed properly. You benefit from the knowledge that it is not solely us telling you that our signs are safe, this is what the testing laboratories and the US Government says also.
Will your sign be tested and approved for safe use in a Wet (Outdoor) location? Not if it’s not Listed! If the sign you are purchasing does not have a ETL or UL Listing Mark label the sign is probably not legal to install, anywhere in Texas. There are a few local city ordinance exceptions. Buy carefully. For more detailed information on "listing and labeling" click on the "Labeled and Listed" tab in the Knowledge Tree™ tab in the left column. Electric Sign Authority Listed SignsGood signs require more than sound mechanical and electrical design. While Underwriters Laboratories and other listing companies test and approve mechanical, electrical, and installation aspects of sign manufacturing, only the Electric Sign Authority (ESA) supervises the design, marketing appeal, appearance, and longevity of signs. Look for the Electric Signs Authority (ESA) Listing Label (right) in the advertising of Sign Companies committed to providing their customers with a better advertising and marketing product that will look good for years. Our ESA Listing number is: ESA107474. Discover how we make signs to last; including the use of CNC manufacturing, rust-proof metal, structural-steel frames, high-end automotive paint, high-impact plastics, and most importantly, sophisticated protective coatings. All our signs include these many hidden features, critically important to you but often ignored by competitors to lower their cost. We even add self-cleaning properties. We champion brighter, energy-saving signs solutions that save customers money while protecting our environment. No matter what type of signs you are considering, please explore our "Lighting Choices" tab for that product, with its own "Energy Savings" tab. Click on our "Energy Saving Signs" tab on the "Sign-Types" page to view a comparison of energy consumption for all types of electrical signs. The Signs Manufacturing Your-Location Sales Team's Personalized ServiceNo matter what types of signs you are interested in, our sales team, consisting of 11 highly-trained individuals, is at your beck and call. Let us meet with you in your office, or at your new signs location, or home, or anywhere. You will probably have a firm quotation, not a non-binding "estimate" like most competitors provide, for what you want during our meeting; certainly no more than a day later. Are You a "Visual" Person?It is difficult to picture what a sign is going to look like. What do you picture when we say "triple-layer multi-colored lighting with a textured backplate?" Our showroom is designed to solve that problem. Most people are visual ... they need to see something firsthand to understand what it is and whether it has value to them. Seeing is believing! Visit our Showroom to see for yourself.
Visit Our Unique Sign Lighting Laboratory and Demonstration Showroom with LED Video DisplaysUnique in the entire sign industry, Signs Manufacturing™ built an 85’ by 50’ (over 4,000 sq ft) indoor sign lighting laboratory for testing the longevity, visibility, and effectiveness of all the lighted signs we manufacture. The Laboratory is open to the public, for FREE, adding an LED Video Display Showroom because we realized how important one would be to consumers. If you are considering purchasing an LED Video Display or Digital LED Message Center sign this exclusive opportunity will be particularly important. You must determine what type of sign, and which LED spacing is best, so that your sign will be successful, considering how you will use it. Therefore:
are always available for you to compare. We invite you to also observe all other types of signage, viewing them up close as well as from a distance, under varying light conditions (and stay out of the weather while doing so!)
Will your Sodium Vapor or Metal Halide parking lot lights affect the colors of your sign at night? How visible will your pylon sign’s border neon be during the day? Should you consider PinLights™, LetterLites™, SpectraLites™, or Trembler™ signs? Brighter Signs™ neon or SolarBrite™ LED lighting for channel letter signs? Fluorescent or HID lighting for your monument sign? Do Daylight or Cool White fluorescents make your sign’s colors look best? What are the differences between a flex-faced, a Lexan™, and an acrylic-faced sign cabinet? How will shadows affect my sign's readability during the day? Should the wall behind my sign be light or dark colored? Would a different type of sign look better on my brick wall? Should I consider a routed sign face with push-through letters?
No one else can offer you this unique opportunity. Be sure to take advantage. Your business will be better because you do. If you don't visit it could cost you thousands in sales every year. Can you afford not to? "I almost made a huge mistake by not listening to you and visiting your showroom prior to buying my sign. I thought I knew what I wanted, after listening to so many salespeople...boy, was I wrong. My vision of the sign did not jibe with what it would really turn out to be, even after viewing so many drawings. It was obvious the moment I entered the showroom. If I had stuck to my guns my sign would have been a disaster. I would have wasted a lot of money." Cecil Drake, Drake Communications
Photo Gallery of SignsClick "Here" to view pages-and-pages of signs we have built. The “Average” Cost of Advertising
* US Small Business Administration figures. Assumes 10,000 cars per day – a very conservative figure for ANY business street, only 1 person in each car, and only a 10 year useful life for the sign. ALL very conservative! Most of the Newspaper, Television and Radio consumers reached are not in most businesses marketing area, a 5 mile radius of their store according to the US Small Business Administration. The actual cost of reaching a POTENTIAL consumer by these means is unknown, but much higher. Mailing list costs are not included. The “Known” Costs of Advertising with Signs Manufacturing™ Built Signs
* Also assumes 10,000 cars per day – still a very conservative figure, the known National average of 1.59 people in each car, and a known 30+ year (so far) useful life for our signs. Includes our known costs of owning and operating the signs (historical electricity, insurance, property taxes where applicable, in North Texas.)
Protecting Our Works*A cautionary word or two about Copyright Law: Copyright protection exists in original works of authorship in any form of expression from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Works of authorship include written, pictorial, graphic works, etc. (our "Works.") All Signs Manufacturing Corporation's Works are Copyrighted, and may NOT be reproduced in any manner without the expressed written permission of Signs Manufacturing™. This includes artwork, communications, quotations, emails, etc. We do, in writing, allow Works like the drawing to the right and our product "Sign Buyer's Guides" to be viewed internally within an organization, but never to be reproduced. Please don't reproduce or communicate our Works to obtain competitive bids. Occasionally we discover our Works in the possession of other sign companies, or discover that our Works have been used to produce signs (because they're usually on the front of businesses they are easily discovered.) To protect ourselves we must prosecute whoever transmitted our Works. We do not enjoy having to do this. Because we allow access to our Works for free does not mean that we are transferring ownership of our Works.* * Our Works only become the property of others, including our clients, if they have been specifically purchased. In virtually all instances our Works remain Signs Manufacturing Corporation's protected property forever. Just for FunJust for fun, go to our "Not-so-Good Signs" tab to the left, above, to witness Signs Manufacturing Corporation's "The Not-so-Good Signs, the Bad, Ugly, Stupid & Dumb Signs" Awards Contest! State Licensed Sign Installation and Sign ServiceWe are a full-service sign company. We provide sign site surveys, sign permits, sign installation and sign maintenance services for electrical and non-electrical signs for our customers as well as other sign companies. We provide this work in Dallas, Fort Worth (DFW), and ALL of North Texas and Northeast Texas. State Sign and Electrical License Numbers: TECL17503, TSCL18015, TSCL18016.
ZIP Codes 75001 thru 76958. Area Codes 214, 254, 430, 469, 682, 817, 903, 940, and 972. Serving Collin, Cook, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Fannin, Franklin, Grayson, Henderson, Hill, Hood, Hopkins, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Lamar, Navarro, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant, Titus, Van Zandt, Wood, and Wise Counties in Texas. We also have signs in 43 different states, and 6 other nations. LiteratureWe believe we are the only sign company that offers informative literature on signage, our "Sign Buyer's Guide" series. Our most popular Guides are:
FOR ORDERING OR ASSISTANCE CALL:214-339-2227 254-582-7446 817-861-1234 903-561-5959 940-365-3433 972-850-3300 877-SINCE79 toll free
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Copyright© 1979-2024 Signs Manufacturing Corporation - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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However, sign design involves many more details than a good looking letterhead does.
Also unique in the entire sign industry, Signs Manufacturing™ offers our customers the ability to experience, and participate in, their sign being created by our ImageKrafters™ team of professionals, in The Design Tank™ digital design studio, using our proprietary SignDawgs™ creative software.
Knowing
that our signs will be illuminated during the day (see below) we design our signs and
lighting for daylight effectiveness; to take full advantage of our daytime
lighting.
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