Has GPS Decreased the Demand for Signs?

ABOVE PHOTO: GABE GRIFFIN, CLEAR SIGN & DESIGN

QUESTION:

After 15 years, do you think location-finding technology (e.g., GPS) has negatively impacted the demand for signs?

Yes: 6%

• Reduced need for navigation signs: With GPS providing turn-by-turn directions, the need for physical, detailed route markers and directional signs, has decreased. — Bobby Jordan, Fastsigns of White Marsh-Joppa, Joppa, MD
• Expensive freeway signs are more rare. Also the demand for billboards is down considerably, at least from motels and restaurants. — Jasper Burton, Cuerden Sign Co., Conway, AR

No: 94%

• GPS has not really reduced the demand for signs; if anything, it’s changed how signs are valued and what people expect from them. — Lynsey Washington, Signarama Lancaster, Lancaster, PA
• Signs define the space and let you know your GPS navigation worked. — Steven Carpenter, Archetype, Bloomington, MN
• GPS hasn’t removed the need for signs. Instead, it has pushed the industry away from purely functional navigation signs and toward branding, identity and experiential signage. Signs today are less about “finding the place” and more about “making the place worth finding.” — Dawn Homa, Signarama Brighton, Brighton, CO
• We do a ton of interior wayfinding and feel like we’re making more signs than ever as people have lost the ability to think for themselves if they are walking into the suite they’re looking for. — Aaron Pedrick, Signature Dezigns, Apopka, FL
• Repetition is the key to advertising. Customers may not need what the sign is selling right now, but if they don’t know the store is there, even subliminally, the store doesn’t get the sale when the customer is ready to buy. — Rocco Gaskins, Abco Signs, Pennsauken, NJ
• Some customers don’t realize they need good, effective signage until they get past their “if we build it, they will come” ego/mentality. We have several examples of this that support our mission. — Alan Hubbard, Pro Image Design, Traverse City, MI

One Quick Question:

Which area of technological advancement in the past 15 years has most benefitted your sign company?

Which area of technological advancement in the past 15 years has least benefitted the whole industry?