Home and decor
Printable Signs
Garage and yard sale signs, direction arrows, welcome signs, room and door signs and seasonal signs, with letters sized from how far away they have to be read. The tool tells you the finished letter height, so the sign works from the road rather than only on screen.
Four steps
How to make a printable sign
- 1
Pick a preset
Garage sale, arrow, welcome, door or seasonal. All the wording stays editable.
- 2
Write it short
Fewer words means bigger letters, which means it reads from further away.
- 3
Check the letter height
The tool reports it in millimetres. Aim for 100 mm if it is read from a car.
- 4
Add an arrow
Print two signs pointing opposite ways for traffic from both directions.
- 5
Weatherproof it
Slide it into a clear plastic pocket and tape the open edge.
The only rule that matters
A sign is read from a distance, and letter height is the only thing that decides whether that works. The trade used rule of thumb is about 25 mm of capital height for every 10 metres of viewing distance.
| Read from | Letter height | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| A moving car | 90 to 100 mm | Garage and yard sale, directions |
| Across a driveway | 40 to 60 mm | Welcome, party this way, no parking |
| A few metres | 20 to 30 mm | Shop door, open and closed |
| Arm's length | 15 to 25 mm | Bathroom, private, pantry |
This is also why the headline shrinks when you add words. The slider sets the largest letter height you will accept, and the sign uses the biggest size at or below it that still fits. GARAGE SALE reads from a great deal further away than GARAGE SALE THIS SATURDAY FROM 9AM, and the detail belongs on the small line underneath where it will be read once somebody has stopped.
Where to put a sale sign
- Two signs, opposite directions. One sign only catches traffic arriving from one side of the road.
- At the junction, not at the house. By the time a driver can see your house they have already committed to the road.
- Waist height or above, facing the traffic squarely. A sign flat against a post at an angle is invisible from a car.
- Take them down afterwards. In many places leaving them up is a fly posting offence, and it is the fastest way to annoy the neighbours you just sold things to.
Making it last outside
Paper taped to a post is unreadable within an hour of rain. Slide the printed sheet into a clear plastic punched pocket and tape the open edge shut with parcel tape: it costs pennies, takes a moment, and gets the sign through a wet weekend intact. For something permanent, glue it to corrugated plastic from a hardware shop.
Related printables
The Wi-Fi password sign is the one most households print, banner letters spell out longer messages as bunting, and party printables cover place cards, menus and tags for the event itself.
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