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A summary of sign blogs with links to related articles for our business sign customers.
When planning a marquee sign, you need to first consider the viewing distance of your audience. This will affect both your budget and the size of your sign. As a rule of thumb, for every one inch of sign letter height, a customer can read the sign message from 10 feet away. For example, a 6 inch marquee sign letter can be read from 60 feet away. For passing motorists, you will want a little taller sign letter for the same effect.
For a readerboard sign to be effective, it needs to be short and simple. Many organizations make the mistake and try to “write a book” on a changeable marquee sign, thus making it look cluttered. We recommend first drawing a letter on an index card or piece of paper, and tape it to your sign. Then, step back, or drive past it to see if the sign letter is readable. This will aide you in determining the correct size for your marquee sign letter.
You should next consider the gauge or thickness of the marquee sign letter. A thin flexible sign letter is adequate, but a thick rigid sign letter is better. The thin flexible letters, like Flex Change, are inexpensive but can blow away in the wind or yellow in the sun. The thick rigid letters cost more but last longer. Thin flexible sign letters require track with a thin opening to hold the sign letter in place; however, a thick rigid sign letter requires wider track.
You can now begin to layout your marquee sign. The changeable sign letters fit between rows of track. Most tracks are dual track; the top of one row is the bottom line of the row above it. The use of dual track automatically spaces the rows and reduces the numbers or tracks you need to purchase. You can fasten or glue your sign letter track to the signboard.
There is no need to slide letters in from the side of the sign, as that is tedious and can damage or scratch the changeable sign letter. Rigid sign letters push up into the top track, then drop down into the bottom track. Thin flexible sign letters pinch into the opening of thin track. When ordering sign letter track, you will need one more piece of track than the number of rows. It is also good to have a few extra in case you need to replace one.
We recommend having the sign letters in hand when laying out the marquee sign to get the correct visible opening between each row of sign letter track. You will also want a visible margin around the edge of the marquee sign. This allows a viewer’s eyes to focus on the sign letters and not the surrounding environment. Most changeable letter boards leave a ten percent margin; for larger signs, three inches is typical.
The following table provides the minimum space required for a marquee sign based on the number of rows and size of letters.
| Letter Size | Number of Rows | Minimum Height |
| 3 Inch Letter | 1 Line of Copy | 5 1/2" |
| 2 Lines of Copy | 10 3/8" | |
| 3 Lines of Copy | 15 1/4" | |
| 4 Lines of Copy | 20 1/8" | |
| 5 Lines of Copy | 25" | |
| 4 Inch Letter | 1 Line of Copy | 6 1/2" |
| 2 Lines of Copy | 12 3/8" | |
| 3 Lines of Copy | 18 1/4" | |
| 4 Lines of Copy | 24 1/8" | |
| 5 Lines of Copy | 30" | |
| 6 Inch Letter | 1 Line of Copy | 18 3/8" |
| 2 Lines of Copy | 16 3/8" | |
| 3 Lines of Copy | 24 1/4" | |
| 4 Lines of Copy | 32 1/8" | |
| 5 Lines of Copy | 40" | |
| 8 on 9 Inch Letter | 1 Line of Copy | 10 1/2" |
| 2 Lines of Copy | 20 3/8" | |
| 3 Lines of Copy | 30 1/4" | |
| 4 Lines of Copy | 40 1/8" | |
| 5 Lines of Copy | 50" | |
| 8 Inch Letter | 1 Line of Copy | 11 1/2" |
| 2 Lines of Copy | 22 3/8" | |
| 3 Lines of Copy | 33 1/4" | |
| 4 Lines of Copy | 44 1/8" | |
| 5 Lines of Copy | 55" | |
| 10 Inch Letter | 1 Line of Copy | 13 1/2" |
| 2 Lines of Copy | 26 3/8" | |
| 3 Lines of Copy | 39 1/4" | |
| 4 Lines of Copy | 52 1/8" | |
| 5 Lines of Copy | 65" |
| Letter Size | Visible Opening |
| 3 | 3 1/4 |
| 4 | 4 1/4 |
| 6 | 6 1/4 |
| 8 on 9 | 8 1/4 |
| 8 | 9 1/4 |
| 10 | 11 1/4 |
Posted: May 1, 2009
Marquee signs are used for community centers, theaters, church signs, school signs, business signs and sidewalk signs. Marquee signs display messages with changeable letters that typically slide into grooved tracking. Each changeable letter is screen printed onto plastic and is available in different sizes, gauges and styles. Select the right size letters for your marquee or your message could end up going completely wrong!
Posted: January 27, 2014
How many letters do I need for my directory? Deciding on which directory board letter kits to buy can be tough, especially when it's not known for sure what the sign is going to say
Posted: February 15, 2013
Small sign shops have always been asked to be a 'jack of all trades' and digital signage is no exception. We will need to not only know the design and marketing abilities of LED signs, but also the software and hardware technologies involved
Posted: March 5, 2015
Even though LED signs are showing up everywhere, many people still love the old school feel of a letter board with push in letters. Getting enough numbers, periods or dollar signs can sometimes be tough when you're making a board for records or prices.
Posted: November 24, 2014
Banner Board letters from yesteryear are getting harder and harder to find. The letters below are plastic and have plastic clips on the back to attach to the metal board. The boards look similar to the inner copy boards used with metal church letters, but the letters are much different.
Posted: June 23, 2015
Pronto Sign Letters were used on Zion Lutheran Church marquee sign to announce their service hours in Wisconsin. The eight inch tall letters can be easily read from 150 feet away. Pronto sign letters are available in six different sign fonts. The ADM style shown here are the widest and easiest to read. It is best to use big wide letters if your marquee is set back from the road and motorist are passing at a high rate of speed.
Posted: February 21, 2014
We are often called by churches all over the United States looking for a replacement board that works with their metal letters from many moons ago. Often times, the person in charge of changing the church marquee sign is left with the task of finding new sign letters and refurbishing the sign board. But because it an existing marquee sign, the previous church committee person had not left information as to where you can buy sign letters.
Posted: April 4, 2013
You never seem to have enough characters for a changeable letter marquee sign. Most character assortments provide more vowels and primary consonants than the lesser used alphabet. But if they give you more of one character it is at the expense of another. Most sign writers resort to being creative and turning their P's upside down for B's, or add some black tape to an F to make an E.
Posted: February 27, 2015
Theater Marquee Letters are great for old style marquees that are set up with Slotted Tracks. We offer Slotted Theater Marquee Letters, Slotted Marquee Sign Track and the Change Pole Arms for Theater Marquee Letters. No more scary ladders!
