Signage refers to a general term for signs that guide, direct, function, index, or indicate, among others. Depending on regional customs, signage is often referred to as: advertising signage, identification signs, directional signage, guide signs, door signs, floor index signs, road signs, indicator signs, illuminated signage, three-dimensional signage, and so on. #Signage#

Signage materials and manufacturing processes are incredibly diverse, and it's precisely because different materials and techniques have different names that it can be quite confusing. Today, as a signage manufacturer's editor, I'd like to share some information about signage materials and manufacturing processes with you, accompanied by signage images for a detailed explanation. We categorize common signage into the following 24 types:

ID Tags: Acrylic carved ID tags; base plates available in various colors; choose the acrylic color based on the base plate color designed by the artist; the text is also laser-cut acrylic and applied on the surface. The acrylic letters can be spray-painted in a matte finish to contrast with the glossy base plate. Check out the effect of this acrylic carved ID tag.


Acrylic Engraved Signage
2. Type Signs: Acrylic silk-screened or UV signs; signs made from transparent or colored acrylic, laser-cut into shape, with silk-screened patterns or text on the front. Transparent acrylic can have UV-blocking or reverse-printed patterns/text visible on the front, while other colored acrylics can only be printed on the front. The previous set of pictures of transparent acrylic UV-blocking signs is for reference only.


Acrylic screen printing or UV label
3. Third Category Signs: Painted Metal Stamping or UV Printed Signs; painted base can be made of metal (commonly iron, steel, aluminum), painted acrylic, aluminum plastic, PVC board/Snowboard, etc. The surface paint color can be customized, available in glossy or matte finishes. Text or patterns can be screen printed on this surface, and complex designs can also be UV printed.


Baked Enamel or UV Printing Signs
4. Fourth Category Signage: Double Color Board Engraved Signs; the base plate features single-color text on a double-color board, with other colors of text or patterns done using UV or screen printing techniques. The base plate can be shaped or square/circular.


Two-color board engraved sign
5. Category 5 Signs: Acrylic Heat-Bent Signs; These are quite familiar. The L-shaped signs commonly used for scanning payments on desks are made using this technique, with the content printed on the back with UV printing.


Acrylic Heat-Bend Signage
6. Category 6 Signage: Metal Bending Signs; also known as luminous signs, these are signs formed by machine bending, welded, sanded, painted, and reversed with acrylic, featuring LED illuminated characters. This process is widely used.


Metal Bending Sign
7. Category 7 Signs: Perforated Signs; Perforated signs are not limited to metal designs, as they also include PVC skin board perforated lacquer, acrylic perforation, aluminum-plastic panel perforation, and more. Perforated signs can be designed with illuminated or non-illuminated letters. Even small perforated signs have a wide range of applications.


Hollowed-out signboard
8. Category 8 Signage: Vacuum-formed Signs; Made of vacuum-formed acrylic panels with a metal steel frame base support. Commonly seen at gas stations as vacuum-formed illuminated signboxes. Check out the effect of the vacuum-formed signage.


Blow Molding Signage
9. Category 9: Corrosion Signs; Traditional corrosion signs are familiar to most, but when combined with other materials, they can create a variety of signs. However, regardless of the designer's approach, the primary manufacturing techniques are mainly carving and corrosion.


Corrosion Identification Sign
10. Category 10: 3D Letter Signs; the 3D letters can be made of metal, acrylic, or other 3D precision letters like PVC, which are combined to form a functional sign. We refer to these as 3D letter signs. Check out the previous set of 3D letter signs to see the effect of the precision 3D letter signs.


3D Letter Signage
11. Category 11: Notice Board Signs - Whether for companies, factories, or even our residential community elevator walls, we require signs for posting announcements. Regardless of the material used for the sign, we refer to them as notice board signs; they are generally made of acrylic, as you can see in the previous photo of how others have made them.


Bulletin Board Sign
12. Category 12: Plaques; Certification plaques, medals, dealer authorization plaques, or various plaques issued by industries, which we categorize under "plaques." These are special types of signage, with varying designs, materials, and sizes. Below is a set of plaque signage photos for your reference.


Signboard
13. Category 13: Nameplate Signs; Nameplates include machine nameplates, tree nameplates, etc., which are easy to understand. The key point is that machine nameplates are generally made of zinc alloy, with stainless steel and aluminum plates being the most common; while acrylic, two-color boards, and aluminum plastic boards are also prevalent. Take a look at a set of photos to showcase images of nameplate signs.


Nameplate signage
14. Category 14 Signs: Parking Lot Directional Signs; These are required for any location with parking, whether it's a shopping mall or a building. Anywhere there's a parking area, a P-letter parking sign is necessary to guide drivers to the parking entrance and exit. Therefore, the P-letter parking sign is a standard sign that must be provided at every parking space. Let's take a look at the previous set of parking lot signs.


Parking Signage and Identification Plates
15. Category 15 Signs: Underground parking entrance signs; Typically, when entering the underground parking garage of a building, a nearly 6-meter-high directional sign is mounted on the wall above the entrance. These signs are either reflective or non-illuminated, primarily serving as indicators for the parking entrance.


Underground parking entrance sign
16. Category 16: Hanger Tags; Hanging signs are commonly used in shopping malls and supermarkets, serving as area identification cues; they are typically hung with two rods, available in both simple and decorative styles; most supermarkets use illuminated versions. View a set of hanging tag sign photos.


Hanging Tag Label
17. Category 17: Side Wall Signs; Side wall-mounted signs, besides commonly used in restrooms, are actually more frequently applied in many public areas. Places like administrative units, libraries, parks, and other public venues require signs that can be easily seen from a distance. A photo set would better illustrate the side wall-mounted signs.


Side wall signboard
18. Category 18: Directional Signage; Most of these signs are made of metal with powder coating, are laser-cut, and feature sheet metal craftsmanship with built-in LED illuminated displays; commonly used as advertising signage indoors in shopping malls or complexes for guiding customers.


Guidance sign
19. Category 19: Underground Parking Signage; Many high-rise buildings have interconnected underground parking garages. The sense of direction underground differs from that on the ground, so there are usually more directional signs in underground parking, especially in large complexes. Underground parking directional signage is a type of signage created for specific environments, predominantly featuring illumination due to the darker lighting conditions underground. Illuminated signage can also serve as lighting.


Underground parking lot directional signs
20. Ten Types of Signs: Hotel Signs; Hotel signage is a system design solution; Room number signs are part of each hotel's identification system.


Hotel Signage
21. Eleven types of signage: Traffic signs; Traffic signs are further divided into many types, including safety warning signs, reflective signs, informational signs, road signs, etc., which we collectively refer to as traffic signs; the road name guide signs on common highways or main roads can be categorized under the broad category of traffic signs. Traffic signs are mostly made of aluminum plates, with 3M reflective film applied to them; the reflective film comes in advertising and engineering grades, with different quality levels affecting the price.


Traffic Sign
22. Twelve types of signs: Painted signs; Painted signs are closely related to vehicles, essential for parking spaces, parking lot poles, walls, major roads, etc., indicating where car owners can park, solid and dashed lines, and distinguishing different areas in underground parking lots.


Painted Identification Sign
23. Thirteen Types of Signage: LED Electronic Signage; Large LED screens are not categorized as signage, but small ones that are placed on desks or viewed at close range are referred to as Electronic Screen Signage. Why are they included in this category? Because as digital technology becomes more synchronized in the future, their usage will increase, as they can sync with mobile data. Therefore, they are also known as Digital Signage.


LED electronic display sign
24. 14 Types of Badges: Name Tag Badges; Although used less frequently, they are still in use by some, and they cannot be omitted from the statistics. Name tags are also known as name cards, and they come in acrylic engraved screen printing, aluminum alloy, and stainless steel etching. The shapes include irregular, round, square, and more.


Name Tag
Here we share 24 common signage types. If my sharing is helpful to you, don't forget to follow. Look forward to the next issue where I'll detail the signage production process.