Everything you need to know about school signs

With any type of signage there are often two kinds of benefits, one being the functional side and the other more emotive. We asked David Allen about the key, practical benefits: “In a school you will need to serve several key functions, these include wayfinding, health and safety and simply telling people who you are and how to contact you. There are many types of signage you can use to achieve this, some have to be functional but others can be creative and design led.”

It is the design of your visual solutions that is how you can then evoke different looks and feels. Taking a sign with the word ‘entrance’ on it and turning it into an impressive statement that showcases your school’s brand and professionalism, making students, their parents and your staff proud of where they study and work. Sara Jeffery explains: “There is huge scope to create an impressive showcase with your school signage should you wish to rebrand entirely or simply upgrade one piece of signage. In doing so, you are creating a great first impression and showing visitors your school values, helping to navigate people around the premises, which gets increasingly important for larger schools and universities, ensuring everyone is kept safe while on your premises both inside and outside.”

Most of the benefits of good signage apply to three separate groups of people, students, staff and visitors but there is one particular benefit that will have a direct impact on pupils and those that spend the most time at your school. Jeffery continues: “Probably the most overlooked advantage of having engaging signage is the impact it has on your students. Although they may not appreciate their surroundings making classrooms and communal areas bright, colourful and inspiring really makes a difference to their motivation and how they feel when they’re at school. It’s the same as adults who work in dull and dark offices often report feeling unmotivated compared with those who work in a refreshed space, who feel creative, energised and engaged.”

You may be looking to upgrade the signage of your entire centre of education or just one area or sign. Either way, knowing where to start can be a challenge. “We always suggest doing a physical walkthrough of the site, building or room where you’re looking to change or enhance the signage,” says David Allen. “This will help visualise where there might be elements missing and highlight any potential questions that staff, students or visitors may come across such as where a certain classroom is or where the exits are for example.”

With a walk-through start with your external signs and take a note of every piece of signage you come across, the most important elements will be any wayfinding, health and safety and building signage. “Being able to visualise your current signage will help massively in this process” continues Allen, “replacing signs tends to be slightly easier as you already have a base to start from but also thinking about what signage is missing and any gaps you may see, that said, it’s very easy for people who are always on-site to know where the classroom they need is for example, but our experience and knowledge helps us to visualise what information is missing and needed.”

After a thorough external visitor experience walk-through heading inside your building will be the next step, here we can use a much wider variety of signage solutions including window and floor graphics, custom wallpaper, interchangeable wayfinding systems such as directional signage, nameplates and campus maps. “You tend to have more options with your internal signs and graphics and there are lots of bespoke and creative ways to get your messaging across” notes Sara Jeffery. “The look and feel of your entire signage project will hinge around the branding of your facility when it comes down to the design specifications, first impressions are really important when it comes to prospective students, their parents and any external visitors you may have.”

Choosing which signage you need can be the most daunting part of the project and that is why Signs Express offer free no-obligation site surveys to do the walk-through with your teams.