Sign Legibility is Not a Style

THERE WAS A TIME in this industry — early 1990’s — when designing a sign required a different kind of patience.

We didn’t have endless font libraries at our fingertips. There was no zooming in to 6400% to tweak a curve. Layouts were often hand-drawn in blue stabilo, adjusted and redrawn. If something didn’t look right, you couldn’t hide behind effects or layers — you had to fix it.

And one of the things we paid very close attention to was spacing.

Not just where things sat on a page, but how they felt to read.

Kerning. Line spacing. Balance. Rhythm.

Those weren’t advanced techniques. They were just part of the job.

Somewhere along the way, as software became more powerful and faster, those quiet disciplines started to slip. Not because designers don’t care, but because the tools make it easy to move quickly without always stopping to look closely.

But in signage, legibility is not a style choice. It’s the job.

A sign has a responsibility. It needs to communicate clearly, quickly and without effort. Whether someone is walking through a retail space, navigating a hospital or moving through a busy industrial environment, they don’t have time to interpret design — they need to understand it immediately.

And that comes down to fundamentals.

Kerning is one of the first places I look. Default spacing is rarely if ever correct. Letters need to be visually balanced, not mathematically spaced. A poorly kerned word can slow a reader down, even if they don’t know why.

Line spacing matters just as much. Too tight, and information becomes dense and overwhelming. Too loose, and the connection between ideas gets lost. Good spacing guides the eye naturally from one line to the next.

Hierarchy is another area where I see things start to drift. When everything is bold, nothing stands out. When too many fonts or styles are introduced, clarity is lost. Strong signage is disciplined. It knows what matters most and supports that message without distraction.

There’s also a growing need to think more intentionally about accessibility. Contrast, font weight and readability for aging eyes are not secondary considerations — they are essential. A beautiful sign that can’t be easily read by a wide range of people isn’t doing its job.

These are not complicated ideas. In fact, they’re quite simple.

But they require something that’s becoming increasingly rare: slowing down long enough to see.

In the early days, we didn’t have a choice. We had to look closely. We had to measure, adjust and trust our eyes. And while the tools have changed, that way of thinking still holds incredible value.

In the first two columns of this series, I’ve talked about planning before design and designing with fabrication in mind. This is the next layer: designing for clarity.

Because at the end of the day, a sign that is easy to read is a sign that works.

And that has never gone out of style.