Signage: the dimensions and the fitting, settled before the quote

Type of sign, dimensions, material, lighting, fitting constraints: the answers that decide the price, asked at the start.
A sign is quoted to the millimetre and fitted to a frontage that has rules of its own. The space available, the material, the height, the access for a platform, and planning permission where it is needed: none of it arrives on its own, and every missing answer is a quote to write again. The worst is the one that arrives after fabrication.

This is a suggestion, not a standard. We do not do your job: this list is a starting point, to be added to, cut down and rephrased to suit the way you work.

The questions

14 questions. A shopfront, a window or a totem. Five minutes of brief.

The sign

Where it will go, and on what.

  1. What kind of sign?

    What is being covered · Required

    The answers offered:

    • Fascia sign
    • Projecting sign
    • Window graphics
    • Totem
    • Interior sign
    • Awning
    • Vehicle
  2. Width

    Number · Required

    In centimetres. Measure the sign, not the text.

  3. Height

    Number · Required

  4. Material

    Dropdown · Optional

    If you are not sure, leave it on "Advise me": I will suggest something.

    The answers offered:

    • Advise me
    • Dibond
    • PVC
    • Acrylic
    • Aluminium
    • Wood
    • Vinyl only

The wording

What has to appear on it.

  1. Text to appear

    Short text · Required

    The exact name, with its punctuation.

  2. Dominant colour

    Colour · Required

  3. How it should be made

    Multiple choice · Optional

    Leave everything unticked if you are not sure: I will suggest something.

    The answers offered:

    • Illumination (backlit or LED)
    • Built-up cut letters
    • Lightbox
    • Double-sided (visible from both sides)

The fitting

What decides the equipment and the permissions.

  1. Access constraints

    Long text · Optional

    Height, pedestrianised street, narrow pavement, restricted hours.

  2. Would you like me to fit the sign?

    Single choice · Optional

    The answers offered:

    • Yes, fitting included
    • No, I will handle it
    • Quote for it and I will decide
  3. Planning permission

    Dropdown · Optional

    A sign facing the street almost always needs advertisement consent.

    The answers offered:

    • Already granted
    • Applied for
    • Not applied for yet
    • I do not know
  4. A photo of the site, and your logo

    File · Optional

    Two things here: the whole fascia or wall, straight on, and your logo as a vector (ai, eps, pdf, svg) if you have it.

And finally

Your deadline, and anything that did not fit the questions above.

  1. When do you need it?

    Dropdown · Required

    The answers offered:

    • As soon as possible
    • Within 2 weeks
    • Within a month
    • No particular deadline
  2. Anything you would like to add?

    Long text · Optional

    A constraint, a question, a detail I ought to bear in mind.

  3. Any other files to attach

    File · Optional

    On top of what is asked for above: screenshots, sketches, documents. HEIC from an iPhone is fine.

The colours to offer

A client who writes “blue” and a studio who reads “blue” are not talking about the same colour. A list of shades settles it straight away.
  • Black
  • White
  • Midnight blue
  • Shopfront blue
  • Signal red
  • Signal yellow
  • Olive green
  • Natural wood

How it works

  1. 1

    You pick your trade

    When you sign up, and the questions on this page are already in your account. You cut them down, add to them and rephrase them: nothing is fixed.

  2. 2

    You send one link

    Your client answers from their phone, when they can, and uploads their files. They install nothing, create no account and choose no password.

  3. 3

    What follows stays in one place

    The conversation, the chasing, the later rounds of questions, the deposit and the balance, and the delivery of the files, which can open on its own once the payment settles.

What it costs

Free up to five orders a month, with no card and no time limit. Past that a paid plan takes over, and nothing about the way you work changes.

Frequently asked questions

What do you need to know before making a sign?
The type of sign (fascia, cut letters, totem, window graphics), the space available, the material, how it is lit if it is lit at all, and the fitting constraints: height, access and what the frontage is made of.
Who handles planning permission?
Settle it in the brief rather than afterwards. A sign visible from a public road needs consent in most places, and finding out at the end of the job that nobody applied costs far more than the question did.

Think something is wrong?

A question that is missing, one that means nothing in your trade, a word that is not the right one: write to us and we will fix it.

Write to us at [email protected]

These questions are already waiting for you

Create your studio, pick your trade, and this brief is there. You send one link, your client answers once, and you follow what happens next in the same place.

The other trades