How To A Design A Sign: Finding The Optical Center Of Your Sign Design

Our final ingredient to highly effective business signs is understanding the concept of the "Optical Center." The optical center is the spot where the human eye tends to enter a page or design. Normally, our vision gravitates toward an area on the page slightly above the mathematical center. While the mathematical center is, of course, 50% down from the top of a page or design, the optical center falls around 46% down from the top of the page.

This theory can be applied to your signage two different ways:

The first is in the design of your sign. If you mathematically center text or a logo in your sign design, you'll notice that your information will seem a bit low. This can easily be corrected by nudging the design slightly higher within the boundaries of the layout. Take a look at the example to the right.

Notice how the design on the left appears to be slightly off center? However, the design on the left is perfectly centered, while the company logo on the sign to the right it falls at the optical center.

The second way the theory of optical centering can be applied to your signage is in the installation of your sign. In our 25 years of experience in the sign industry, we have observed that when a sign is mathematically centered precisely and vertically on a wall, it looks a little low. Again, the simple solution is simply to nudge the sign upwards to correct this visual anomaly.

In the example below, do you see how the installed sign looks a little low? A small adjustment can make a big difference visually.